He’s stating a fact about what influences people. We are more strongly influenced by vivid stories than by data - it’s one of our many “irrational” heuristics. And it’s one of the reasons why the Republican lies can succeed when the data shows them to be utterly false. The son is saying to use vivid stories like that of his mother’s demise to help influence people to get vaccinated, because that is how most people are influenced.
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Surely this is the foreseeable and inevitable consequence of the policy that the Czech Republic has adopted: proof of having had Covid is allowed as an alternative to vaccination “to gain entry to many social and cultural venues, including cinemas, bars and cafes”. In the context of social media misinformation on vaccines, it’s practically begging people to try catching Covid deliberately.
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As written it sounded extremely close to an argument made by anti-vaxxers.
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That is the root of the conflict in so many fields of discussion right now. Presenting factual evidence, no matter how correct, is ignored by people who don’t have an emotional connection - unless they have sought or received training in evaluating facts.
My wife works in health communications, so spends all of her time trying to translate factual science into something that motivates action (in her case with policy makers). Without some bogus emotional hook, it is impossible to get the attention of a policy maker or a random person.
The right wing figured this out years ago, and has now more or less abandoned the factual side of the policy argument in favour of pure emotional hooks. For good reason, the center and left are still trying to act like facts and policies matter more than emotions. That works when engaging with reality, but not when trying to get through to people who believe in their hearts that their feelings matter more than anything.
No, I don’t have an answer beyond radically improving the education system.
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Yes, I can see that now.
I should have added: “the problem is getting to immunity, and what that entails. A sane person wouldn’t want to chance ‘natural immunity’ with ebola, for example.”
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Ontario dashboard with the reduction % from vaccination.
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This is simply not true. There are numerous examples of diseases for which the level of protection provided by “natural immunity” is different from “vaccine immunity”.
I’m going to politely suggest spending a bit of time on PubMed reading actual peer reviewed articles on the topic.
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Even without the risk of death, someone who makes a living from singing ought to avoid respiratory illnesses as much as possible.
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One would think that would be absolutely bleeding obvious.
Infuckingcredible.
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I’ve been saying this for years now, but we are in an epistemological crisis. A degree in philosophy (thesis on not-quite-science and epistemology) should not have prepared me for the future we have, but here we are. All I can say in my defence is that the 80’s were a different time.
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My friend (early last year, when this all seemed to begin subsiding) said:
“It didn’t have to be this way!”
A cogent and cohesive US president in 2020 would have presented a plan to the EU, South America, Africa, Oceana, and everywhere else.
Not that those places couldn’t have come up with their own solutions, but FUCK, this is getting old.
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OK. Thanks, this is news to me, but then I’m not a medical professional, so I’m basing my opinion on whatever COVID research appears in the news, and that indicates the difference between immunity from vaccine or infection is negligible.
From the article: "Infection-induced immunity and vaccine-induced immunity are pretty similar. On the whole, studies found that the efficacy of infection-induced immunity was about the same as what you’d get from a two-dose mRNA vaccine, and sometimes higher. " There are other variables as well, how well the immunity lasts over time for example, but it seems to depend on the variant.
But sure, if I’m going to make a broad statement about immunity that applies to any disease then I’m getting myself into trouble.
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