The Two Americas
I hate to do stuff that we already know. We have smart people here that know a lot more than I do about a variety of subjects. However, a simple perusing of social media makes clear that there are two Americas. We always knew that much, but it is becoming increasingly obvious where these dividing lines are.
What I’ve seen makes one thing clear: it’s not about facts versus fiction or science versus science fiction. It’s not even about Republicans versus Democrats. The simple dividing line comes down to who or what we choose to trust and believe in.
The calls to “do your own research” are really just a farce. At the end of the day everyone ends up trusting someone who they deem to have the answers. I didn’t read any scholarly journals before my eye doctor injected my eyes this morning. I trusted that as a specialist he knew what he is doing.
So, all the folks saying they don’t trust the FDA or CDC are trusting someone when they give themselves a medication meant to cure river blindness or head lice. Someone told them that works. They don’t know what’s in it, so the protests about not putting a foreign substance in their body is pure bullshit.
These are similar to the calls of tyranny for mandating that you need the shot or frequent tests to keep your job. It’s as if these mandates have never been done before. Our kids never had to have vaccinations to go to school. I never had to submit to a fingerprint scan and background check to teach or volunteer at my church. Except I’ve had to do all of those things and our kids had to have those shots.
So, to cry about overreach now is just selective outrage. It’s similar to cries about excessive spending, running deficits, and any other government overreach. We are all okay with the government getting involved in some things or spending on some things. The question has never been if, but what exactly you get involved in and spend money on.
Similarly, some love to romanticize on how they are independent thinkers that don’t blindly trust authority. Sure. If it makes any of us feel better we can go on saying that. The truth is not whether we trust authority, but the people we choose to trust and give credence to. I’d love to say my people are better than your people, but that kind of discussion gets us nowhere.
My wife asked me if it was too hot to run. I’d said no. Am I a weather or exercise expert? No. I’m simply someone that cares about her and wouldn’t intentionally steer her wrong. Somehow, that’s where most of these anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers are at. Deep down most of them care for the friends and family and wouldn’t want to hurt them. They’d just rather trust another friend or family member over an expert they don’t know personally. It’s really as simple as that.
Selective outrage = exhaust from the Republican outrage machine. If they didn’t have vaccines or masks, they’d howl about something else. This time next year they’ll find something else to get spun up about. It’s what they do.
They know masks and vaccines work, and most of their mouthpieces (Hannity, Carlson, et al) have had their shots. But they have to keep shoveling red meat, or b.s. in this case, into the slavering crowd. That’s also what they do.
1You’re on topic though. I read John Pavlovitz Stuff That Needs to Be Said & and Ms Juanita to keep some sanity in my ‘languishing’ life at the moment! A short TED talk about some of our moods and feelings of late-defined as languishing.
https://johnpavlovitz.com/
2“Doing one’s own research” presupposes one has both research and critical reading/thinking skills. That eliminates the Qcumbers who possess none of the aforementioned.
Everyone here is vaccinated, except our two young sons for whom the vaccines await approval. To protect them all of us continue to practice social distancing and wearing masks. School? Oh hell no, not “in-person” school. That would require knowing that all personnel, parents and anyone with whom they have contact are vaccinated. Trust? That ended with the ***king moron** and those who voted for him.
Debate? Research? That has already been asked and answered in every term since Ronnie Rayguns played Bonzo in the Oval Office. In short sane folks are tired of the clean up required after every QOP bad joke holds the office.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMxtB8Qe3Cs/YTkYoGseHJI/AAAAAAACPhc/DnixosXDPaYpv15ZrURi7wuRJLt0e8EZgCLcBGAsYHQ/s750/5%2Bdave%2Bwhamond.png
3“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.”
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
[I found this in my notebook from when I read that 1961 book, but did not write down the page number for the citation. Sorry, but hey, I was still in high school and did not know scholarly rules.]
4Read the piece and it basically says ‘merica is divided into 2 parts…really st00pid people and most everyone else.
5Being ignorant of something is NOT the same as st00pid…you have to really work at it to be st00pid, so no excuses for them.
“Good morning ladies and gentlemen, and welcome aboard Freedumb Airlines Flight 395 from Dallas to New Yawk City. This is your captain speaking.
“Don’t worry, I ain’t one of them fancy-assed pilots who went to flight school and has a pilot’s license. The gummit can’t tell me what I can or can’t do. I watched a whole buncha videos on the you-toob all about how to fly one of these 747s, and it seems pretty darn easy. Steers just like my pickup. That’s called doing your own research.
“And we ain’t gonna let no idiot in the control tower tell us when we can taxi out or when we can take off. What makes him think he knows more about it than I do? I got four big engines and I will push them throttles to the wall whenever the heck I want to. It’s not like some state trooper can pull me over, right?
“So sit back, relax, and don’t worry about no mask or no seatbelt, cuz serioiusly what good are they gonna do if we crash?
“Wow – there sure are a bunch of switches and lights and knobs and things up here. This should be fun.”
6How do people become fearful, self-destructive, hate-filled?
Well, I pick religious “education.” YMMV.
7Surly: page 474. Publication date 1951.
That’s called doing your own research.
8Why do we have two America’s?
Because every day, all day, for 40 or more years, right wing propaganda specialists Fox ‘Hate’ News have been telling us Liberals are the enemy.
Words matter, they change minds. We are witnessing a whole generation brought up on right wing Hate.
Fox ‘lie and blame the Democrats’, along with Conservative politicians and the Religious Right have been promoting, encouraging and supporting wingnut hatred of ‘the Others’.
Oldie but goodie …
9“Republicans can NOT win on the issues. They’ve got NOTHING. All they have is a divide and conquer class war that pits ignorant racist and bigoted people against the rest of us in a meaningless battle of wedge issues and the already proven to fail George W. Bush agenda again of tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, privatization and war profiteering and nothing else, so all they can do is blame black people, gays the government, anybody and everyone else for their own failings.”
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2012/01/09/1053088/-An-open-letter-to-the-people-who-hate-Obama-more-than-they-love-America
“Deep down most of them care for the friends and family and wouldn’t want to hurt them.”
Yes.
10Unfortunately the road to the emergency room is paved with good intentions.
I agree with almost all of the piece about “The Two Americas” except the statement that “it’s not even about Republicans versus Democrats.” Well maybe not but I’ll just go out on a limb and say that a large majority of those that don’t listen to science, medical professionals, etc. are repugnanticans. They support lies vs facts, don’t believe in climate change or fighting covid with proven actions. That would be very unrepugnantican and appear weak and giving in to the libs.
11Lex, you hit a lot of nails on the head in your comments.
I think the vast majority of these folks have never consulted a real expert. They don’t go to a real doctor, just look it up on line, don’t use a real attorney, just hand write their will (if they even have one) and so on. They have been taught by social media to rely on social media for all information, then pick the easiest way out!
12My favorite commentator, “Liberal Redneck” Trae Crowder hits in on the head in under 2 minutes at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrLIk5RPA5E
13Enjoy!
“Do your own research” is the cry of the Flat Earthers. Their “research” consists of looking at other Flat Earthers videos.
It’s like researching the existence of Big Foot by reading the supermarket tabloids.
14The very essence of democracy lies in the ability to trust strangers. This trust is based on both faith in the instrument of governance– in our case, the Constitution and the body of law implementing it– and the knowledge acquired through education and experience.
Right now, a lot of people lack either one or both of those prerequisites, relying instead on practices worthy of a tribal society.
15slipstream @8: that illustrates Nick’s point. Even without double-checking, I have the choice of trusting and believing 15 year old me from decades ago, or you. And without using a search engine, I believe you.
Most Republicans would dig in and argue that there’s no way it was published in 1951, they just know it was 1961 because that’s what they believed all this time. I figured I just read my old notes wrong … but checked and sure enough, I wrote down the wrong date. Since I always use pencil, now I get to erase it and put in a note “see slipstream”. Being right sometimes means being correctable, an idea that religous fundamentalists find abhorrent.
In any case, thanks for the correction!
16Today after 4 p.m. an email came in at work (might as well have been slipped over the transom at that point since our particular
17building closes at 4 p.m.) with the mandate that all staff must either show proof of vaccination or weekly negative Covid test. IMHO, HR has been chomping at the bit to do this so thanks Unca Joe! for giving them cover to do so without interference from the murderous idiot in Austin. I work at a private non-profit science education organization so the despot/governor could have potentially messed with our funding. Since I work with science nerds our department has been fully vaccinated since May. And as per HR and common sense we’re still masked up. I strongly suspect most of the staff have been fully vaccinated since the spring but for any stragglers HR is giving a one-time bonus of $100. Everyone showing proof of earlier vaccination gets the bonus too! But like Joe said my patience with the vaccine refusers has worn thin so I’m most ungraciously, meanly pleased that those who still refuse (grrrrr) to get a vaccine will have to pay for their own weekly Covid tests. Hey, it’s a non-profit, don’t waste money on stubborn deniers.
“my patience with the vaccine refusers has worn thin”
The x rated version of patience wearing thin:
(Don’t look below if you don’t like profanity, or click the link if you don’t like a seriously full to the top truckload of profanity. But it is funny.)
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/oh-my-fucking-god-get-the-fucking-vaccine-already-you-fucking-fucks
18During your lifetime, do you remember pandemics of polio, smallpox, mumps, whooping cough, or diphtheria that forced a global halt to commerce and travel? Why or why not? Please be as specific as possible.
19Right on target, Nick! The same people who badmouth the vaccine are he ones ingesting medicines for horses and cleaner for fishtanks! This stuff CAN kill you and if it doesn’t it won’t end up making you any smarter.
As for pandemics, I sure do remember polio! When the vaccines came on line I was already in undergrad school and I waited in line to get my shot. My kids and grandkids got the MMR stuff when they were little. As for Diphtheria, there is folk lore in my family that it killed one of my infant ancestors. Her parents only wished there was a vaccine to save her.
My mother caught the “Spanish” flu when she was a pup largely because nobody knew anything about what was coming qt them. There was a world war in progress at the time and there was censorship on allied newspapers.Only the Spanish press was printing anything about it. She was left with half her eyesight, half her hearing and a heart condition that only got worse as she aged. Despite surgery and meds, it killed her. Yes, at 72 years of age the Spanish flu managed to claim another victim.
For the anti-vaxxers and the no-mask-mandaters, they are licking suicide4 in its ear!
20Perhaps it’s time for useful information to go into history books – Spanish flu, polio, why we have the Electoral College (to give power to lower-population agricultural states in the South), the real impetus behind WWI (thank you, Barbara Tuchman), what blacks and women had to go through to be granted the vote,…
Y’all can add more. I’m really appreciating this thread.
21There was a disturbing article in the Oregonian this morning about a S Oregon “respected” “doctor” (Dr Timothy Powell) blogging ant-vax and anti mask propaganda. He’s the CEO of the largest urgent care facility in Douglas county, one hardest hit covid hotspots in Oregon. This is trumpf country teeming with far right conspiracies and misinformation. Many school districts in that part of Oregon are thumbing their noses at the governor’s mask mandates in schools. Dr. Quack Powell says children should not be vaccinated or forced to wear masks. He claims the adverse reactions to vaccines are not being communicated and that vaccines or at best 40% effective. I believe Lara looney Logan spewed similar trash on fux news yesterday. He concedes in his blog that the data he cites is “not considered to be true” but concludes “neither has it proven to be false.” So who do you think the far right S Oregon repugnanticans are listening to? They listen to this quack despite the fact that their hospitals are slammed with unvaccinated covid patients and those dying are also unvaccinated (and being stored in refrigerated trucks). So they’re going to test his theories on school kids.
22@Rick—Thank you. That was f***ing great.
23Steve from Beaverton @22
Hard to comprehend how someone “educated” could be SO far out of the mainstream. Was the Doctor asked to show his work to demonstrate how he knew vaccines were “only 40% effective” ??
Colorado just launched its “breakthrough” desktop. Current display shows the vaccinated & unvaccinated populations — and does the math to show the vaccinated are
3.4 x less likely to have a confirmed COVID case,
3.7 x less likely to be hospitalized, and
5.8 x less likely to die.
In July, 8.1 deaths per million population for vaccinated, 46.9 deaths per million for unvaccinated. I’m not REAL good at math, but the impact appears to be MORE than 40% effectiveness, no matter which measurement is used.
24Rick#18 – I should not have enjoyed that as much as I did. Thanks!
25Fight lasted longer than drumpf ever managed to last between one lie and the next, barely.
I survived diphtheria and have an emergency tracheotomy scar to show for it.
26https://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.com/2021/09/a-little-hannah-arendt-for-labor-day.html
Ms Arendt must have been some popular at one time. Never heard of her until recently.
Thanks Steve @ whatdoikniow blog from bigger than half the continental US….Alaska.
27You’re welcome, e platypus. Thanks for dropping by and for leaving a link here.
28From Dailykos- Anti-vaxxer Chronicles: ‘Faith over fear’
29This is a pretty predictable chain of events if you read it to the end:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2021/9/13/2051921/-Anti-vaxxer-Chronicles-Faith-over-fear
Slipstream, I remember my daddy not letting me play with the next door neighbors because they had a family member with tuberculosis.
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