On vaccine denial I think there is also an ego issue involved. The fragility of some people's egos to admit they are wrong by getting the vaccine is more than they can handle. I know a person who suffers from this and it's obvious.
100% correct! Research shows that if you give someone the facts that prove they are wrong, they become more entrenched in their positions. There are many complex psychological processes involved in that phenomenon, but ego must be one of them (so says someone who has no training in psychology--me!).
Some days, NYT is worse than WaPo. Thank you for highlighting Rubin’s column. She does seem more “objective” than many others, though of course that is a loaded subjective term. The vaccine insanity seems to be culling the herd indiscriminately, at great cost to us all. As for Gavin Newsome, he may be a California governor, but his case concerns many of us. Yours is a voice I look forward to hearing amid all the name-calling hysteria of the current iteration of public life.
I don't get the unvaccinated people who are getting hospitalized. They don't trust medical science when it tells them to get vaccinated, but they do when they get sick from COVID? Hmm, life is a puzzlement.
We must accept that we are a divided country but between the very committed on both sides there exists a wide swath of many who can be won over. They must be approached with compassion and soft arguments not condemnation. This middle group are vital to countering the insurrectionists vitriol. It seems there is a well funded and established element that can use slogans and clever approaches like "sanctuary cities and counties" to weaken and disrupt local government. There must be a coordinated and empathetic movement to counter these efforts winning over the middle ground of voters with calm and neighbor to neighbor discussions.
Hi, Charles. You are right that our fate is controlled by the middle group--they are mainly independents who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. We need to keep them close by our side in the coming years. While we can hope that there will be slippage in support for the GOP among Republicans, those will be small numbers. In 2016, Independents voted for Trump 48% vs. Hillary 44%. In 2020, Independents voted for Biden at 60%+.
Robert, I am so very disappointed and angry at the media’s take on Biden. I definitely want balanced, truthful news, but I am beyond understanding the degree to which our society has fallen to the noxious, immoral, “foxed” movement of everything that a democracy is not. Any recommendations and/or suggestions?
My eldest son never used to vote (he's ion his mid-40s) because he didn't think his vote mattered. He started voting about three years ago because he saw the craziness of the Trump era. A few weeks ago, he had finished his final vaccine and was ready to see friends. About 6 fellows met up and all agreed to vote and have done so. They are all residents of Los Angeles and voted not to remove Gavin Newsome. They voted online or by mail or whatever they do there, and there was definitely a triple effect going on!
I can think of a couple of good arguments for the hesitant. If you're a person of faith, consider that God must have given us the vaccine, or at least the ability to discover it. And think about this: More than 200 million Americans have had the vaccine and there are virtually no deaths (in fact, I think the number is actually zero) that have been traced to the vaccine, while more than 650,000 of us have died from Covid. In the end, however, I fear that we cannot convince the doubters. They can only convince themselves. And many of them are doing so, which is why the number of vaccinations rises.
Those arguments make sense. The one I worry about is religiion. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, white evangelical Christians rank near the bottom of vaccination rates. If people believe they are doing God's will by not getting vaccinated, it's difficult to overcome that argument. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
On vaccine denial I think there is also an ego issue involved. The fragility of some people's egos to admit they are wrong by getting the vaccine is more than they can handle. I know a person who suffers from this and it's obvious.
100% correct! Research shows that if you give someone the facts that prove they are wrong, they become more entrenched in their positions. There are many complex psychological processes involved in that phenomenon, but ego must be one of them (so says someone who has no training in psychology--me!).
I have no training either but it becomes apparent.
Some days, NYT is worse than WaPo. Thank you for highlighting Rubin’s column. She does seem more “objective” than many others, though of course that is a loaded subjective term. The vaccine insanity seems to be culling the herd indiscriminately, at great cost to us all. As for Gavin Newsome, he may be a California governor, but his case concerns many of us. Yours is a voice I look forward to hearing amid all the name-calling hysteria of the current iteration of public life.
Thanks, Jim. It will be very close in California. Everyone is working hard to prevent a catastrophe
I don't get the unvaccinated people who are getting hospitalized. They don't trust medical science when it tells them to get vaccinated, but they do when they get sick from COVID? Hmm, life is a puzzlement.
Sometimes, and only sometimes, people change their minds when they bump into reality.
That reality includes injuring other people's children. If you kill someone's child driving drunk, you go to jail.
Thank you for your clear minded newsletters, a great help in these times!
Hi, Kit. Nice to hear from you, and thanks for your kind words.
We must accept that we are a divided country but between the very committed on both sides there exists a wide swath of many who can be won over. They must be approached with compassion and soft arguments not condemnation. This middle group are vital to countering the insurrectionists vitriol. It seems there is a well funded and established element that can use slogans and clever approaches like "sanctuary cities and counties" to weaken and disrupt local government. There must be a coordinated and empathetic movement to counter these efforts winning over the middle ground of voters with calm and neighbor to neighbor discussions.
Hi, Charles. You are right that our fate is controlled by the middle group--they are mainly independents who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. We need to keep them close by our side in the coming years. While we can hope that there will be slippage in support for the GOP among Republicans, those will be small numbers. In 2016, Independents voted for Trump 48% vs. Hillary 44%. In 2020, Independents voted for Biden at 60%+.
Robert, I am so very disappointed and angry at the media’s take on Biden. I definitely want balanced, truthful news, but I am beyond understanding the degree to which our society has fallen to the noxious, immoral, “foxed” movement of everything that a democracy is not. Any recommendations and/or suggestions?
My eldest son never used to vote (he's ion his mid-40s) because he didn't think his vote mattered. He started voting about three years ago because he saw the craziness of the Trump era. A few weeks ago, he had finished his final vaccine and was ready to see friends. About 6 fellows met up and all agreed to vote and have done so. They are all residents of Los Angeles and voted not to remove Gavin Newsome. They voted online or by mail or whatever they do there, and there was definitely a triple effect going on!
I can think of a couple of good arguments for the hesitant. If you're a person of faith, consider that God must have given us the vaccine, or at least the ability to discover it. And think about this: More than 200 million Americans have had the vaccine and there are virtually no deaths (in fact, I think the number is actually zero) that have been traced to the vaccine, while more than 650,000 of us have died from Covid. In the end, however, I fear that we cannot convince the doubters. They can only convince themselves. And many of them are doing so, which is why the number of vaccinations rises.
Those arguments make sense. The one I worry about is religiion. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, white evangelical Christians rank near the bottom of vaccination rates. If people believe they are doing God's will by not getting vaccinated, it's difficult to overcome that argument. Doesn't mean we shouldn't try.