I am not sure what to think about that sub, all I know is that where I live COVID hasn't been too bad, so it gives me a window into what it's like in the rest of the country. It mostly makes me feel bad, like looking at casualty lists from WW1 except someone told them they didn't have to go over the top. It's just so senseless and pointless.
The targets of vitriol should be the media and political figures who made vaccine hesitancy mainstream amongst conservatives, not individual people.
People are blinded by the public figures and institutions that they trust - and yes, that includes us.
They were steered wrong because they trusted the wrong people. You can imagine how fast the sentiment around vaccines would change amongst the professional class if suddenly the NYT, WaPo, HuffPo, Democratic politicians, etc. uniformly expressed that vaccines couldn’t be trusted.
> The targets of vitriol should be the media and political figures who made vaccine hesitancy mainstream amongst conservatives, not individual people.
Agreed. I never said I submitted anything to the sub or founded it or something. I do find it useful to see what is happening to people. A secondary reason I was there is my parents are anti-vax and comorbid and I was hoping to find something that would break their hypnosis, but it's too deep.
That said, as someone that was previous conservative and my parents are conservative, I can say definitively though that conservatism is a suckers game and it should be obvious to anyone that it's a pack of lies by the cruelest and most selfish people in our society with grifters and the super-rich at the top. Liberalism isn't much better (in some ways worse because they have enough credibility with workers to do real damage sometimes without pushback).
> You can imagine how fast the sentiment around vaccines would change amongst the professional class if suddenly the NYT, WaPo, HuffPo, Democratic politicians, etc. uniformly expressed that vaccines couldn’t be trusted.
That reality almost happened. At the presidential debates Harris said that she wouldn't take the vaccine if Trump told her to (which was about whether it was the FDA or Trump pressuring the FDA). If they really leaned into that, we'd be in a different world right now. Like everything these days, it's psychic whiplash how fast things change.
I remember Harris saying that and remembering always makes me chuckle.
I'm glad you mentioned that because that was my first thought reading the parent comment.
Regarding the "sucker's game" comment I can see where you're coming from but wanted to offer my perspective. I'm only a conservative because I'm anti big government, anti identity politics, and pro individuality. However, we live in a two party system so I have to root for the whole team. Those core issues outweigh all other factors. Sometimes after rooting for the same team for many years you just pick up the banner and wave it.
Have you asked your parents what their core beliefs are and why they're on that team? You might find they're one or two issue voters. Not sure if that would help you find some peace with them.
> Have you asked your parents what their core beliefs are and why they're on that team? You might find they're one or two issue voters. Not sure if that would help you find some peace with them.
My mother is a Q-anon type person that became deranged and believes in physically impossible conspiracies. She's jewish and hangs out in alternate youtubes that have videos of burning stars of david next to the Q stuff she's interested in. I think she became disoriented by her economic trajectory in life where she initially was working with a masters and then became a housewife that was unable to reenter the economy. She spent over a decade listening to right-wing talk radio and fell into the youtube zone. and At this point I do not know what will reach her.
My father is a lawyer that rubs shoulders with big real estate people. In his youth he supported Nixon. This lived experience of contact with the morally bankrupt rich capitalists has imo morally damaged him. When I asked him if a poor person should die on the street if they can't pay for healthcare, he assented. He doesn't want to be a bad guy, but outside of his specialty his thinking is not clear or imo firmly grounded. He watches Fox and listens to Tucker. He's a Regan type Republican.
> I'm only a conservative because I'm anti big government, anti identity politics, and pro individuality
I'm a communist because over time I realized that we are being divided against each other by the rich and need social solidarity and democracy to have a high-functioning society. I think freedom comes from having security in food, housing, education and from the creative output of individuals and groups and not from what you're able to buy. In other words, a decent society comes from addressing the needs of the people and cooperation, not from making them compete against each other.
It's not just vaccine hesitancy, they have been undermining public institutions in the US for ages. There is nothing remotely close to say, the NHS in the UK.
