Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/25/covid-deniers-unswayed-by-shocking-pictures-of-coronavirus-consequences.html
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They’ll never be swayed unless they’re put to work in the ambulances, ICUs, and morgues. But there is a solution: no benefits, tax returns, or some other important “thing” until they get a vaccination.
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The disturbing photos don’t sway those who disbelieve because they think the photos are fake and/or unrelated to covid. Thinking all evidence of covid is fake is part of their belief system so there is no evidence that can be used to change their mind (except, maybe if they are unfortunate enough to contract it though I’m sure some will just say it was “a nasty case of the flu” or some dumb shit like that).
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There’s no curing stupid.
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For unrelated reasons I have been seeing a hematologist, and last week the subject of COVID denialism (or shruggism anyway) came up and I observed that for unknown reasons the news coverage mentions pneumonia, taste, smell, toes, etc. but never seems to make the news is COVID ED. COVID cock, if you will. And yes, said circulatory system specialist assured me, the erectile tissues of the penis are high on the danger list [1].
Just in case anyone is in position to educate someone touchy about that kind of thing.
[1] Likewise the clitoris, but a lot less obvious. Also perhaps less likely to cause freakouts.
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You will never find anyone who died of it to tell them otherwise.
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What’s most likely to affect them are air travel restrictions. They’ll whinge like the sobbing insurrectionist about the “unfairness” of it all, but if they want to take a flight to which “freedom” entitles them they’ll have to show some proof of immunity or inoculation.
“Vaccine Passports” are going to cause a lot of interesting situations, good and bad, but their effect on Covidiots will be very delicious. It’s going to start happening soon:
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/vaccine-passports-summer-2021/index.html
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On the bright side, it could lead to a resurgence in funding for Amtrak.
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It’s really hard to get through to the people I know.
They don’t doubt any of the pictures, and admit a lot of people are dying. They just believe it’s nothing out of the ordinary. They say this many people die of things that look like covid every year, that there probably is a covid, but it is just one of the normal flu variants we always have.
In the future their argument will be more transparent. The statistics will show an incredible amount of excess mortality above the average. That will be too late to make a difference, though, sadly.
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As though the flu is anything to sneeze at (pun intended). Why anyone would treat the flu as no big deal is beyond me, and I can & will tell anyone that even a “mild” case of COVID is the opposite of fun.
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That’s included in their argument too, though. They say “just the flu”, yes, but on the other side of that they are arguing that the flu is this bad, too, always. I get reminded about the tens of thousands of people who die of the flu every time these people try to proselytize me. I get lectured about how all the flu deaths get counted as “pneumonia” and everything else, so to them it seems normal that 400,000+ people have died.
It’s been like a weird Darwinian natural selection of arguments over the last year, and that one seems to be the one that it all has been winnowed down to. It’s basically “Yeah, the flu kills enormous amounts of people a year, this is yet another flu, nothing to see here, move along.”
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one of the worst years for flu in recent history was 2018 ( no clue if that’s because of trump undermining us flu response, but it makes you wonder ) with an estimated 61,000 deaths.
even 610,000 from covid would just be an extra zero. so no big deal right? zero isn’t much at all /s
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In fact, the only person who died from it that we’ve heard from says it’s not a big deal. Death is no worse than the flu, sheeple!
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The statistics will show?
They already show tremendous excess mortality.
Doesn’t seem to make any difference now, not sure why it would make any difference in the future.
Humankind’s capacity to cling to confirmation bias is immeasurable.
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So, one of the possible side effects is that their junk won’t work any more? I haven’t heard about this before, although it makes sense if the circulatory system is affected.
This might be an angle worth pursuing; these yahoos seem to shrug off the possibility of death, but tell 'em “No, you probably won’t die, but no more shtupping!”, then that might get their attention.
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I know a guy who lost his father to Covid-19 and still gave the hospital staff flack when he was told he’d have to suit up in PPE to say goodbye. It’s a goddamn death cult.
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If they were rational people, it would be considered a sign of rationality not to be swayed by pictures showing anecdotal evidence. There are plenty of gruesome corpses from lightning strikes, but it would be irrational to therefore start staying at home to avoid getting hit by lightning.
Unfortunately it’s clear that this is a social disease, and that their denialism is based on trusting their untrustworthy “friends”.
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There is this underlying subtext in those arguments that is practically Social Darwinism. These people are essentially saying, “Only the weak die of things like the flu or COVID,” which, if you think about it, is akin to saying, “People who die of the flu or COVID deserve to.”
When they say, “It is just like the flu,” they are not saying that nobody dies of COVID. They are actually saying that we should not care about the weaklings who die of COVID. That has been their underlying argument from the beginning, even if they do not say it out loud.
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This.
There are tons of racist assholes who believe in their heart of hearts that the Holocaust was faked…
I’d love to see a Venn diagram of the two (no… I actually wouldn’t. Don’t need any more depreciation in my already low estimation of humanity).
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