im just glad essential workers (who are often poor and minorities etc) can get the vaccine now because at the beginning of all this they were in harms way regardless of political persuasion. And now as kids are able to be vaccinated and those most at risk are the ones who have put themselves in that position on purpose, my concern for the willfully unvaccinated is waning day by day.
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There’s actually a lot of research connecting intelligence to both cults and conspiracy theories.
Short form, the ability to recognize patterns and process information is not necessarily dependent on having accurate information to process, and rational thought is rarely as psychologically rewarding as indulging your emotional biases.
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Additionally: humans are very very good at compartmentalization.
People who will think rationally about most things will still choose to be religious and intentionally not think much about it. Or if they do they end up using motivated reasoning where they start at a desired conclusion (eg Jesus loves me) and work backwards from there (Because Jesus loves me, my child dying painfully a few days after birth must be some kind of test or punishment).
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I think I need to laminate this sheet and put it in my wallet
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Wow. He sounds like a mechanic who doesn’t have working car…
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And Trump and his wife got secretly vaccinated.
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This.
My cousin was an “essential worker” (butcher at a grocery store), and didn’t make it to the point when vaccines were available.
The infuriating thing is that deaths like his are avoidable. Wear a mask. Wear it right. And invest in a good fucking mask, not just something that allows you access to a store. And even if you don’t believe that it’s going to work for you, do it out of fucking common courtesy for the bastards that have no choice but to be exposed to you.
Same thing with vaccines. If you can, get the series. The people who can’t due to medical issues (real ones, not the fake shit that all the Q snowflakes make up) are at the mercy of the rest of the “herd”.
I think what this pandemic has taught us is that the human herd is amazingly selfish, stupid, and needs a good culling (which seems to be happening now). Pity that so many innocents are getting caught up in everyone else’s selfish little dramas.
As for a higher red hat death rate? Their body their choice eh? They choose to die at a higher rate by not protecting themselves, then whoop de fucking doo. I can’t be bothered to give a rat’s ass about your death if you have the opportunity for absolutely free protection and then rail against it. I just wish all these idiots would sequester themselves somewhere isolated and leave the rest of us alone.
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Is it cruel of me to call this a kind of natural selection?
I think at this point it is. Vaccines are available. You can minimize the risk by wearing a mask and keep, if possible, the distance of one Springsteen. If you don´t… Well, you are as dumb as your australopitecus ancestor that thought it was cute to fuck with a smilodon.
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Don’t get your hopes up. It’s not nearly lethal enough to change the balance politically.
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Intelligence for sure. But a reality-based college education (not just a credential) tends to counteract the blandishments of charlatans. It’s not a sure thing but it increases the odds that one won’t vote for a cartoonish grifter or consume horse medicine.
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Not part of the curriculum, but one of the things I learned at uni was that it is possible to be highly intelligent, really smart, and very well educated - and still be just a fucking stupid asshole.
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There’s no cure for arsehole. Honestly, I can’t think of any arsehole I’ve known who changed their ways. One acknowledged, proudly, that he was one, but voluntary self-identification that provides a warning might be as good as it gets.
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Asshole Conversion Therapy1) - now there’s a business plan!
1) I know, I know. I request a waiver on this one, pleading empathy fatigue regarding assholes.
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If I may be allowed to go a little further…
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Education is no guarantee against supporting fascism, though. It’s about tribalism. There are plenty of educated people who firmly believe in white supremacy and all that garbage. In part because some people equate being smart with being superior so it’s pretty easy to map that onto that kind of racial theory. People embrace it because it makes them seem like they are “thinking outside the box” or “against the grain”…
Trump spoke to that mindset very effectively from the time he announced his candidacy.
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Well, since education at the college level is becoming less about critical thinking and more about job training, that’s out the window. More and more universities are leaning into the corporate model of higher ed, which will only exacerbate this problem.
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Wait til Republican politicians find out that dead Republicans can’t vote.
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Their old pal Jerry Mander will make sure that even that won’t cause them any headaches.
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well, i’m thinking more in terms of the Qanon thing, not fascism or racism. but i agree with your point for sure.
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I’d argue that they are connected, though. There is plenty of overlap between Qanon and the conspiracy theories that inform racist and fascist views. It’s the underpinning of Trumpism.
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