Mandating the vax.

[InbetweenDreams]

I can remember as a child (back in the 50's) we were all vacinated when we started school each year..  I don't recall anyone getting parents approval (didn't need it back then),, and no one complained!!!!  Maybe a few tears from those who were afraid (very young kids of course)...

Yep and it was the same for me growing up in the 90's. Had to have it in school as a requirement. So it is not any different now than it has been. I can kind of see the argument about a vaccine that hasn't been fully approved by the FDA, those who need an epipen or have some other severe reaction, medical condition to refuse to take it but otherwise people should.

Nowadays, many people are of a different mind-set...  Political leanings & religious/personal beliefs seem to get in the way of good-old-common-sense...  I see this almost everyday and it makes me worry about the future of human society... 

The truth is:  Getting a vaccine is a good thing.  There are no downsides to getting a vaccine (with the exception of a few who need an epi-pen for allergic reactions)..

There would be no need for a government mandate if people would do the right thing..  60 years ago folks would have gladly gotten a vaccine that would save the lives of their friends/family/co-workers or even a stranger on the street!!!

I don't know why people have changed so much in the last 60 years,,, it could be they get to much misleading information from too many sources nowadays...

I'm not sure what happened. I remember a lot of anti-vax stuff coming out on BS websites but it was so painfully obvious that this stuff was nonsense. Stuff about green monkey enzymes or whatever, I mean just stuff that to the ignorant sounded like a boogie man.



The one thing that is unclear is how it became politicized. I guess people watching too much cable TV News, stuff like Fox News and CNN. I rarely watch either and to my disdain I have observed more people becoming more extreme and one-sided. It is as if people forgot how to think. And it's not that I'm any more impervious to all this than anyone else.

Perhaps we would do better as a society if there wasn't so much information being thrown around in all directions by some many media outlets...  I guess it is too late for us to go back to those days when we trusted the news we got from the daily newspaper and the one channel on TV that broadcast the news once a day at 6 PM.

This is the society we now live in...  And it will destroy us.

Sin-cerely,
Jim

I think it is the same effect you have with politics in general, everything must be theatrical, everything must be blown up. After all since people don't get newspapers delivered, getting people to click, subscribe, share and so on. Everything, regardless of which politician must be made to sound like they're stifling progress in the country, trying to destroy the country and it is so exaggerated it's hardly anything you can call journalism. Social media is a bigger problem, it gives everyone equal footing and sometimes the biggest of idiots have the loudest of voices, and some of the most hateful people who think folks like us ought to not have civil rights and so on.

Social media is largely unhealthy when the companies that own them know you so well they can control your mood and do whatever it takes to keep you on their platform. Facebook, for instance, they know that Instagram is harmful to teenage girls, that they're more likely to attempt suicide. They found that viewing instagram makes people more depressed and makes people stay on the app longer, reinforcing this negative feedback cycle. But it goes well beyond all that, they can control the flow of information and news, they have a huge effect on politics across the globe, the Philippines for example with the whole thing with Rodrigo Duterte.

[Adam88]

Last I saw, you are not the owner or admin of this website.  

A fact for which I'm grateful.

[CellarDweller]

the feeling is mutual.

[Adam88]

the feeling is mutual.

I'm sure it is. Can't have someone ruining your little echo-chamber, can we?

[Bhp91126]

I guess as long as there is more money to be made from keeping people divided, than from unifying them, there will always be news, opinions, alternate facts that doubt 1+1=2. People enjoy thinking they have an edge over others, are part of a likeminded group and have easily defined adversaries they can ”˜hate’. Also, the world is so complex these days that nothing is clear cut and easy to understand and there are many bad actors trying to profit from sowing doubt and creating division.

Frankly, we’re screwed and humanity is doomed, let’s party

[ChadCoxRox]

This party poop would make a good Squid Games contestant. ...gone by episode two.

[Adam88]

I guess as long as there is more money to be made from keeping people divided, than from unifying them, there will always be news, opinions, alternate facts that doubt 1+1=2. People enjoy thinking they have an edge over others, are part of a likeminded group and have easily defined adversaries they can ”˜hate’. Also, the world is so complex these days that nothing is clear cut and easy to understand and there are many bad actors trying to profit from sowing doubt and creating division.

Frankly, we’re screwed and humanity is doomed, let’s party

Thats the thing though, I don't really see any hate coming from the "anti-vax" community. In reality, most of them aren't really anti-vax, they're anti-mandating the vax. The stream of vitriolic rage is pretty much all from the vaxxer side. Intense anger at other people for...not doing what they want? I don't get the hostility to be honest. If they had the shot, they're fine...unless it doesn't work or something? It's like screaming with rage at somebody for smoking or something. Sure it's bad, but it's their choice. Same for the vax, they see it as "bad" not taking it, but if someone else chooses not to then why freak out about it? It's their choice. 

I for one am getting tired of seeing it everywhere. Everyone knows about the shot. The ones who don't have it yet aren't getting it out of choice. We need to move on and stop pushing it.

[meridannight]

  This entire episode of American hysteria has pointed out a far more dangerous threat to me than Covid. And it's what people will try to force others to do out of fear that the government sows into people. We went from "just two weeks to flatted the curve" to "take the vaccinations or you lose your job, your income, and you will no longer be able to feed your family which is already in trouble because of our shut downs" in less than a year. If thats not some dystopian psudeo-Nazi bullshit, I don't know what is.

There's also the fact that people who don't want the vax aren't trying to take it away from you. But you on the other side ARE trying to force it on others. You are the aggressors.

I agree with you completely, Adam. It shocks me the way this thing has rolled out, and how easily people have surrendered their basic rights and have turned on others. As you can very well see from how this very thread has gone...

Just wanted to say, it's good to see someone with their mind still intact.

[ChadCoxRox]

"It shocks me the way this thing has rolled out, and how easily people have surrendered their basic rights and have turned on others."

Easily? EASILY????
Just how many friends and family members have died in your circle friend? I have not surrendered my basic rights. What an insensitive and self-serving remark, made out of the context of compassion and respect.

Thanks for making the day brighter.

[Insertnamehere]

Of course, not. There are some people who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons. What about them? Nobody thinks about them.

I would be surprised if any mandatory vaccination included this group of people. Hasn't happened for any current standard vaccination program so far, so that "nobody thinks about them" bit is simply not accurate.

One thing for you to consider, since you are bringing the topic up: this group, especially immuno-compromised people, need most of everyone else to be immunized in order to be protected from the various diseases vaccines prevent. Ideally 85% or more of the population. Encouraging everyone who CAN get the vaccine, to get it, is a must. 

Now, mandating the vaccine? I don't agree to this as a solution. 

For the long term you really need to tackle the crazy misinformation that seems to be running rampant lately. Educate, inform, tackle the crazy conspiracy theories, tackle the bullshit pseudoscience and you might just achieve that goal without resorting to mandates.