No, it’s not both sides. A decade ago on the left anti-vaxxers were a small fringe group that was concerning, but was small enough to be ignored as long as it didn’t grow.
Guess what? It grew.
The left didn’t put RFK in a cabinet post.
RFK was allegedly chosen BECAUSE he is such an evil right wing bastard who also at least used to have a lot of support on the left. He was a celebrity appointee and much of his appeal in that regard used to very much be “both sides”.
This new anti-vax is overwhelmingly on the right and a much bigger issue.
Yes and no.
Yes in the sense that it is mostly right wingers who are insisting that the measles vaccine will give you super autism and blah blah blah.
No in the sense that lefties have decades of “alternative medicine” and parenting guides (see: A lot of the plague parties over the years). And no in the sense that we very much feel the need to say things like “Okay. Everyone needs to get fucking vaccinated so we can have herd immunity. Err, I am sorry for what was done to you. Everyone needs to but if you have a good reason to not trust the government then you should be free not to.”
And, don’t get me wrong: What the US government did to Black people was pure evil. It is also just one example amongst those spanning all of human history where actions ranging from unethical to downright monstrous were used for medical experimentation and… there are no signs that is ongoing (yet. RFK is cooking…) so…
I’ll say the same thing I said back in 2020 (?): If you are that concerned, drive an extra hour and go to the white people CVS. Just get fucking vaccinated.
It didn’t grow from Gwenyth Paltrow or the left. The growth came from a wholly independent source.
The history you’re providing is valuable. I just don’t like that the opening line was “both sides”. To people who have trouble understanding more than one or two sentences at a time it makes it sound like something it wasn’t. There are a lot of those people, and it turns out to be important.
To people who have trouble understanding more than one or two sentences at a time it makes it sound like something it wasn’t.
Yeah. Those people are the problem and I refuse to rewrite history to try to protect the twitter generation
Just like I don’t like pretending that history is different because it doesn’t line up with our teams narrative. Because what is the point of history if not to learn from it? And once we start rewriting it to fit political narratives… I mean, everyone knows that is why Obama failed to prevent 9-11, right?
My responses were certainly not rewriting history. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) has been a thing for a long time. Your first line does a disservice to the rest of the much more nuanced and interesting comment.
You did what a lot of us do. You saw something you didn’t like and immediately felt backlash and a need to insist it was wrong. We all have this blindspot because we spend our entire digital (and sometimes analog…) lives in a bubble where our (favorite influencers’) Reality is constantly reinforced and anything that differs is hidden by The Algorithm.
The good thing is that, once you actually read, you realized you agreed with much of the sentiment being expressed. But you still have an overwhelming need to insist something is wrong because… it goes against your Reality.
Which… is how a LOT of people became so anti-science.
It IS wrong if that’s the one line you read. And I’m not worried about me having a blindspot because of it (in this instance), but everyone else it might influence.
Guess what? It grew.
RFK was allegedly chosen BECAUSE he is such an evil right wing bastard who also at least used to have a lot of support on the left. He was a celebrity appointee and much of his appeal in that regard used to very much be “both sides”.
Yes and no.
Yes in the sense that it is mostly right wingers who are insisting that the measles vaccine will give you super autism and blah blah blah.
No in the sense that lefties have decades of “alternative medicine” and parenting guides (see: A lot of the plague parties over the years). And no in the sense that we very much feel the need to say things like “Okay. Everyone needs to get fucking vaccinated so we can have herd immunity. Err, I am sorry for what was done to you. Everyone needs to but if you have a good reason to not trust the government then you should be free not to.”
And, don’t get me wrong: What the US government did to Black people was pure evil. It is also just one example amongst those spanning all of human history where actions ranging from unethical to downright monstrous were used for medical experimentation and… there are no signs that is ongoing (yet. RFK is cooking…) so…
I’ll say the same thing I said back in 2020 (?): If you are that concerned, drive an extra hour and go to the white people CVS. Just get fucking vaccinated.
It didn’t grow from Gwenyth Paltrow or the left. The growth came from a wholly independent source.
The history you’re providing is valuable. I just don’t like that the opening line was “both sides”. To people who have trouble understanding more than one or two sentences at a time it makes it sound like something it wasn’t. There are a lot of those people, and it turns out to be important.
Yeah. Those people are the problem and I refuse to rewrite history to try to protect the twitter generation
Just like I don’t like pretending that history is different because it doesn’t line up with our teams narrative. Because what is the point of history if not to learn from it? And once we start rewriting it to fit political narratives… I mean, everyone knows that is why Obama failed to prevent 9-11, right?
My responses were certainly not rewriting history. BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) has been a thing for a long time. Your first line does a disservice to the rest of the much more nuanced and interesting comment.
A Bottom Line like
?
You did what a lot of us do. You saw something you didn’t like and immediately felt backlash and a need to insist it was wrong. We all have this blindspot because we spend our entire digital (and sometimes analog…) lives in a bubble where our (favorite influencers’) Reality is constantly reinforced and anything that differs is hidden by The Algorithm.
The good thing is that, once you actually read, you realized you agreed with much of the sentiment being expressed. But you still have an overwhelming need to insist something is wrong because… it goes against your Reality.
Which… is how a LOT of people became so anti-science.
It IS wrong if that’s the one line you read. And I’m not worried about me having a blindspot because of it (in this instance), but everyone else it might influence.