Addicted to Fear
One likely reason why outright nonsensical countermeasures have been embraced is because fear paralyzes rational thinking. People who are terrified of dying from COVID cannot comprehend how ridiculous masking is because they cannot reason their way through the problem logically. What’s more, they don’t want to. As explained by McDonald, they’re not curious at all.
“This is my little diagnostic technique: Does the person express curiosity to know something different than what he or she knows right now? If the answer is no, I don't even go further with that person in conversation. It's absolutely pointless ...
Ambivalence is another word that we use in motivational interviewing. We assess for ambivalence. Is the person trying to hold two different, opposing positions at the same time? Because that leads to a resolution. If there's no ambivalence at all and there's no curiosity, I don't really know where you start. So, I'll ask, ‘What is it that you understand right now about what's happening?’
If I sense some ambivalence, if I sense some lack of confidence, then I'll ask a follow-up question. I'll say, ‘Are you curious? Are you interested in learning about some other information or some other viewpoints that you might not be aware of right now?’
And often, if I've got to that point, the person will say tentatively, ‘Yeah, maybe.’ If I get, on the other hand, ‘Absolutely not,’ or more of a condemnation, ‘What do you mean? Are you one of those anti-vaxxer hoaxers?’ Then I know I'm probably not going to really proceed very successfully, so I let up. I back off ... If someone's addicted to fear, I just wait and see if they're open and willing and ready to lose their addiction.”
In short, unless a person is open to new information, it doesn’t matter how many peer-reviewed studies you throw before them. Facts and data don’t matter if they don’t have curiosity or this ambivalence. As explained by McDonald, this is not a data war. We won that a long time ago. It’s a psychological war, and it really needs to be thought of that way.
Dr. McDonald pretty much says that some are lost forever, so we shouldn't waste our time on those people. Just focus on the ones who show curiosity and ambivalence towards the pro-vaxx narrative.