I am not a Q-follower nor am I anti-Q (if there even is such a thing).
I will say I look at what a person has to gain or lose posting articles...or being interviewed...And seems like those who are questioning vaccines have the most to lose...So easy to go along to get along...Eh this is what CDC or FDA says, so we are going to follow their “guidelines.”
And if this seems to light my fuse—Guilty as charged...I post anywhere I can get information including Q threads... And they are often waaay ahead of the curve in terms of news...
So sorry if that offends you or if it means you think I am a moron...I don’t care.
This damn virus and vaccine fascism affects me very personally because I have family who are going to lose their careers (yes, careers—education past B.S. and years of experience) due to the Orwellian pro-vaccine group-think being perpetrated by the propaganda media and the fascist regime. Family cannot in good conscience get the jabs—if they want to live for another 40 years and maybe have children...So they are going to become Uber drivers...or whatever.
I just did not see any information posted by you or anyone else on Quackwatch. Maybe I missed it...
Waaay too many “fact check” organizations are receiving funding from Soros or Gates or others...Again, find reliable fact checkers...I don’t doubt that there is bad information on both sides of the arguments...but don’t automatically side against the alternative view...Again, as a rule, those who buck the trend have the most to lose. So I seriously want to know who funds the Quackwatch?
So I want a fact-check of the fact checkers...If you are not pro-vaccines, I apologize...But I will say this is far beyond getting a jab in the arm...This is about liberty and freedom...at least it is for my family.
I can certainly understand why this subject is emotional and painful for you. I am so sorry about your family members. That is so, so rotten! Again, I am against vaccine mandates.
I don’t think you are a moron and I am not offended. I think you love your family and want them to live long and prosper. That’s good and healthy.
I know what it is to be an advocate for family members’ health, having looked after my elderly parents for many years and being their caregiver and advocate. My mother lived happily 12 years longer than doctors predicted, my father almost as many. It’s a very hard job.
I researched how to best care for them, sifting through all the hype and iffy claims and looking for solid evidence. For example, right after my Dad’s surgery for a particularly aggressive squamous cell skin cancer, I saw a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that nicotinimide (form of B3) reduced recurrence of that type of cancer by 70% and asked his surgeon about it at his follow-up appointment. He seemed delighted with my question, saying he had seen it, too, and took the time to answer my questions about dosage, getting a quality supplement, etc.
I saw studies about another supplement (one very much hyped on “alternative” type health sites), but the studies did not pass muster for me (I took postgraduate courses in research design), but, hoping, asked the doctor in charge of his radiation treatments about it, really hoping there were newer for better studies I had not seen. He said he was hopeful about that supplement, too, in the beginning and it looked promising, but so far no real evidence it worked, and he pointed out the same flaws in the studies I had noted.
The thing is, when our loved ones’ health is at stake, it’s so easy to look with too much hope, and hard not to get too emotional. I know! I loved my wonderful Dad so much! As I am sure you love your family. And our fellow Freepers love theirs.
I know we can’t just “rely on the experts” but need to take responsibility for our own health, and do our best to learn how to do that. The experts are not always wrong, either.
This whole Covid thing has become so politicized, which is not just a travesty, it’s downright evil. Politics should not matter to science, but these days it does. Politics certainly should not matter when lives are at stake, but here we are.
I can understand not trusting government officials, including the CDC, on Covid guidance. They have contradicted themselves, taken stances based more on politics than science — and even outright lied to us about masks.
On the other hand, we need to do due diligence when assessing claims from sources outside the government and mainstream medicine, as well. *Everything* coming from the CDC and the medical establishment is not necessarily wrong, and *anything* coming from alternative sources is not necessarily right.
Even here on FR, we have become so polarized when it comes to Covid and the vaccines. Anyone who questions points made in an “antivaxxer” article is called a “troll” or “government shill” or some such, and often a little mob comes from the Q thread to insult all who question (as on this thread). Someone who questions points made in a “provaxxer” article are laughed at as “nuts” and “tards”. While it may be fun for some, it’s hardly productive discourse.
Too many seem to think one either believes Covid is “just the flu” (or even a hoax and no such virus exists) or one believes it’s the equivalent of airborne Marburg. Well, I believe it gives us more reason for concern than the flu, and that we are just now learning of its long-term effects, which are not pretty. It also appears that a goodly percentage of the population has some natural immunity and that the vast majority who are young and healthy either develop no symptoms or mild symptoms no worse than the flu. Still, the young and healthy do sometimes die of it and some who recover have long-term, possibly lifelong disabilities. So we should not take it lightly, but then again nor should we panic like we are living through the days of the Black Death.
There seems to be no ground for reasonable debate, just taking one extreme side or the other and seeing anyone who sees validity in the points taken by the “other” side as an “enemy” or “troll”. Frankly, I can see valid points made by both sides. I’m really only interested in the truth, which can be hard to come by these days.
Sometimes, I can’t help but think of the well-known G.K. Chesterton quote:
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”
I’m certainly not saying you’re one of them, but some people who have stopped believing the government (and I don’t believe a lot of what comes from our government, either!) will believe in anything. I’m just not ready to believe in anything.
These are trying times. There is so much unknown about this virus — no one knows all the answers yet. We know more than we did, at least, but not enough.
As for the rather draconian measures taken by governments over the Covid scare, I’m with you all the way. Our liberty is at stake, as well as our lives. Vaccination should be a personal choice, not a government mandate.
I truly wish you and your family well and that all keep their health and their livelihoods intact. I am sorry we quarreled — it was apparently without good reason that we did, and hope no hard feelings. There are none on my part.