Thanks, but with the turmoil in my life at the moment what'd one more change mean? I've sent PMs to the other mods to poll them on my "suitability" for my position and shall abide with the decision. Note that I do not get a vote in the matter as that would not be proper. If it's a split, however, my inclination is to resign.
Right. And the nay-sayers won't accept the science and the facts no matter how compelling the evidence. It's borderline religion, and -- face it -- a good conspiracy theory is usually a heck of a lot more fun than the actual truth.crfriend wrote: ↑Sun Jul 18, 2021 12:18 pm False and misleading information is decidedly unhelpful in stressful times, and sowing FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) is similarly unhelpful. Nobody is asserting that the vaccines in use are 100% safe; what's being asserted is that they are safe enough for use in the general population in an attempt to stop this pathogen in its tracks. Delaying that will only increase the number of variants, some of which may well be worse then the original, and cause hte trajectory to falter and potentially fail. All we're trying to do is avoid another 1917.This reminds me of some of the old arguments I used to hear back when seatbelts became mandatory on all drivers and passengers. The argument was in some very RARE circumstances, when the driver wrecks and needs to be removed from the vehicle quickly, the latch of the buckle may become jammed, or otherwise inaccessable rendering the victim stuck in the car while it burns/sinks/etc..
I'm astonished that nobody has questioned me on the "Third Shooter" absurdity. As a test case, I used that in conversation with a good friend yesterday -- and he got it, but it took several seconds. He motioned me to pause for a moment and simply said, "Third shooter?" Personally, I love a good conspiracy theory. and have started a few myself for fun. However, I categorically refuse to go along with them when there are lives or property at stake. I could have taken the "Iron Fist" route and simply deleted the FUD outright and potentially deactivated the poster if the infraction was serious or frequent enough (which it has been). I didn't because I know that would have caused howls of protest and cries of "NAZI!" So I tried calm, and rational as an approach and when that fell upon blind eyes (There's a surprise!) decided to play the absurd card which got me called "unsuitable".
The Surgeon General's Advisory has some good ideas about how to fight misinformation that's useful in a non-COVID setting as well. Worth the read.