Obviously, you are a very intelligent person and in reality, the two of us disagree in very few areas. I am a little surprised by some of the arguments that you have used because I kind of expect better from you.
I apologize for my exuberance which comes from a lot of first hand experiences. At times these experiences have caused me to lose my patience as I have with you. I do believe that it is better to keep things more civil that I just did.
If you were able to look back far enough into my posting history you would find that both my wife and I were frequent visitors and sometimes paid by the Kirkland Life Care Center, the first nursing facility in the country to have multiple deaths from the original form of the virus. We had many friends who were still working there when tragedy struck.
None of the news reports about the situation there were very accurate and many of them were highly misleading. So I have been very aware from the beginning that in this situation the MSM reporting all needs to be viewed with a healthy amount of skepticism. And then outside of the MSM, even some reports that I thought were total conspiracy BS have turned out to be completely accurate. So, what do we learn from that? I don’t know. Certainly, the censorship and pressure on doctors and even researchers to stick with the party line has been unprecedented. If that does not concern you then I think that you are suffering from extreme confirmation bias.
“I apologize for my exuberance which comes from a lot of first hand experiences.”
That is very big-hearted of you, and rare among people. I appreciate it. Frankly, I have been fond of you since our initial discussions over the legalization of marijuana, and the effects that had. I think we have a lot of areas of agreement.
I know that the whole COVID situation is a big event in society, and those focused on politics, politicize everything. It replaces religion for many Leftists. Of course they have politicized it.
COVID policy has been rife with over-politicization - even red Guard-like ideological tests in workplaces, including among medical providers. I largely disagree with the overwrought, overcontrolling policies and mandates that have been enacted, but I don’t buy the horror stories about the vaccines. I honestly think that they are a significant benefit, and I have been following them (and the reports of research) fairly closely throughout the pandemic.
I got two Pfizers and a J&J, and nobody made do it. I encourage my own family to get them, but don’t badger (I propose they quit smoking a couple of times a year as well).