I feel like I'm living in crazy world over here. With the exception of some of my immediate family, everyone I know has been bewitched by the covid and vax narrative.
I'll admit, back in the start of 2020 I was shit scared. Seeing images of people collapsed in the street in China etc. I was totally sure it was coming for me. But bit by bit the cracks started appearing and with what we all know now, I feel like I'm totally awake, at least in regards to covid/vax shit.
But it doesn't seem to be... enough? There's literally nothing I can say to my asleep friends and colleagues that they don't immediately jump on me for. E.g.:
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If i say "information about Ivermectin is being suppressed, and actually it looks like it has a lot of potential", they say "it's been debunked and nothing is being suppressed, it just doesn't work!". I can show them link after link but they always say it's from an untrustworthy source or the data is being presented in a biased way.
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If I say "the vaccinated people carry just as many viral particles as the unvaccinated according to the CDC", they just say "NO THEY DON'T", and again, links showing it are poo-pooed as being untrustworthy or misrepresented.
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I told a colleague today that lockdowns and restrictions that are based on vax percentage are silly because even vaxxed people get sick and can spread it around, and I was told that 1. it's not true (vaxxed people don't get as sick), 2. there's no viable alternative and 3. that doing it is "prudent public policy".
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My own father told me "Get yourself and your kids vaxxed, I don't want my grandchildren dying from it. Even 38 year olds like yourself are dying from a mild delta covid." (He didn't seem to grasp the fact that he said "dying of a mild covid")
And of course you can't tell them to look anything up themselves because you know as soon as they type something into google (which they'll use, of course), they're bombarded with a billion "fact check" articles.
I'm trying to be brave and trying to be resilient but I feel like there's nothing I can say that they can't just dismiss by saying it's not from trustworthy sources. And then whenever I mention any new stuff they scoff and think I'm a nut job. I'm starting to think "Am I just persisting with the anti-covid-vax narrative because I'm addicted to being David fighting Goliath? Do I just love being the underdog, or just being contrarian? Is that just my identity now? Maybe they're all correct and I'm just trying to make a personality out of being the opposite...". It's getting to the point of intrusive thoughts...
Thanks for reading if you made it to the end of this rant. I'm just tired of trying to wake up the people I care about only to be scoffed at and told I'm the reason people around the world are dying, and that I shouldn't be allowed to work/go out etc. How can I stop feeling so demoralised and let down by the world these days?
Stop trying.
You're right. Actually I have been trying to be less 'edgy' about it and just say "Look if you want the vax, go get it. Just don't tell me off for not wanting it." and trying to end it there. But it doesn't placate them. They just blame me for not being "community minded" or some shit.
OP, when people are disagreeing with your conclusions, then you have to dig down to the premises that those conclusions are based on, and deal with those issues.
Most people today don't seem to understand basic logic. You should learn a little because it might help in your conversations.
One basic form of logic goes like this:
EVERY TIME you are discussing a political issue, it is a CONCLUSION that you are discussing at the surface level.
BUT ... those conclusions are BASED on PREMISES that are NOT being directly discussed.
This is the #1 reason WHY people disagree on these topics. It is NOT the conclusion where we disagree. It ist he HIDDEN PREMISE(S) where we actually disagree.
So, consider this:
You have to examine EACH PREMISE to determine IF the conclusion is true or false. If one or more premise is NOT true, then the conclusion cannot be said to be true.
When someone tells you that Covid is deadly, they are using a FALSE PREMISE to base their conclusion on. Namely, that "The media always tells the truth."
In this case, your REAL disagreement with that person is their false belief that the media always tells the truth.
Of course, there might be another hidden premise, something along the lines of, "OK, the media SOMETIMES tells a lie, but they would NEVER tell a 'Big Lie'." That is another false premise that you would have to deal with, if you encounter it.
Here's another situation:
The people you are dealing with most likely disagree with either Premise #1 or Premise #3. That is why they disagree with your conclusion.
So ...
You have to drill down into WHY they believe something (what the premises are that they accept, which lead them to their conclusions).
MOST people NEVER examine their own premises. In fact, MOST people have NO IDEA that they have accepted premises that OTHER PEOPLE (media, family, friends, co-workers, associates, random "experts") have brainwashed them into believing.
MOST people NEVER understand WHY they believe something. They "just believe it" and then argue it. They defend their position (conclusion) BECAUSE they don't know why they believe it. They THINK this is what they believe. In reality, it is a CONCLUSION based on PREMISES that they believe, but have no idea they believe these premises.
So ...
You might ask them questions (rather than trying to feed them facts) that get at their premises (and ignore for the moment their conclusions) such as ...
These types of questions will get at the ROOT of why they REALLY disagree with you. Then, you attack those premises that they are probably not even aware of.
This is what Socrates did, and he changed the world.
This is awesome. Thanks heaps fren!
I love this place!