Last week my husband and daughter had covid. Luckily the symptoms were mild – similar to a cold. They both lost their sense of taste and smell. I was cooking my butt off making some wonderful meals but I was the only one that could enjoy them.
Throughout the whole ordeal, I never got sick. I tested myself twice and was negative both times.
I was the only one in the house who got the booster. My husband refused and my daughter is too young.
I received my booster shot in Chicago when I was away at treatment. I remember that night I called my husband to tell him about it and I also encouraged him to get it as well. My husband responded with a conspiracy theory regarding the booster shot and said he wasn’t going to get it.
I was shocked. My husband is very progressive. He wouldn’t be caught dead watching Fox News.
I don’t remember the specifics of the theory – something about the shot being ineffective and only out to make the pharmaceutical companies money.
Okay – greedy pharmaceutical companies is pretty believable, however, I totally trust the science behind the shots.
So maybe I’m opening a can of worms here, but how do you feel about the shots?
Also, do you know any other conspiracy theories progressives may believe in?
It’s sometimes hard to know whether the right or the left are the more virulently antisemitic. So I assume all that lizard people shit gets at least some traction among Corbyn types.
Anti-GMO people sound like conspiracy theorists to me. Genetically modified organisms may have promise to solve a lot of problems coming up with our changing climate and food crises.
Not all anti-vaxxers arrive there from watching Fox. I’ve heard that the whole yoga/commune/hippy lifestyle has also been opening gateways to that worldview. I spoke to someone from that background recently who worked in medicine, and she was making it her personal task to teach her friends at the nearby commune about vaccines using their own language: “The vaccine opens up your body like a flower, and teaches your body how to protect you better. Then once it’s done teaching, it leaves!”
Anti-vaxxers at least used to be “across the spectrum”, i.e., no predominating political orientation, except that thug politicians (republican politicians) were somewhat anti-vax pushing the “freedom to choose”, etc., line (see Orac (Respectful Insolence)). That thug politician fearmongering seems to have significantly increased, perhaps to the point where being anti-vax is seen as some sort of political frothing (and it is worth noting anti-Covid-vax — or at least non-Covid-vaccination (not quite the same thing) — is much more pronounced in thug-voting districts).
Antisemitism is either anti-Judism or construed as anti-Israel (or construed as the variant, anti-Zionism), each of which is different, and as far as I am awares, tending to be held by different political persuasions; then further complicated by anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian, or “End Times” xianity frothing (all of which again are different). One class of example I am very much aware of (having happened to me multiple times (and also to, e.g., bloggers here at FtB)) is making even the slightest criticism of Israeli policies (even if it’s something mundane such as maternity care) brings down hordes of what I call “Israel can do no wrong” trolls, some of which accuse the writer of being “antisemitic”. (This comment alone might cause that, if it gets noticed.)
“how do you feel about the shots?”
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I’m inclined to prefer naturally acquired antibodies. The virulence of COVID variants seems to be weakening.
Antibodies are generated by by the body in response to stimulus; whether the stimulus is actually having the disease or merely having the disease’s signature.
In short, all antibodies are naturally acquired, and I for one would much rather have them in response to a vaccine than in response to having a disease.
Thanks to being in my 50s I got a second booster, and am planning to keep getting as many boosters and new versions of COVID vaccines as I can qualify for. No matter how mild one’s case of COVID is, any infection with this virus is another chance at developing PASC, and I really don’t like the idea of being in such a debilitating state for who knows how long if I can help it. (I also intend to keep wearing N-95 respirators in all public indoor spaces, possibly for the rest of my life.)
I got two booster shots, so a total of four.
Getting immunized as much as possible has been endorsed literally by Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. I think they were more scientific than the Christian Science Church is.
Interesting coincidence you bring this up now. From https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/5/24/2088332/-Science-has-answers-to-why-conservatives-fall-so-easily-for-COVID-19-and-Russian-propaganda :
Professional fake-news creators admit that conservatives are targeted over liberals.
“We’ve tried to do [fake news with] liberals. It just has never worked, it never takes off. You’ll get debunked within the first two comments and then the whole thing just kind of fizzles out.”
… do you know any other conspiracy theories progressives may believe in?
The good ol’ “CIA controls everything” mentality seems to have revived of late, with help from those now called “Tankies”.
And the damn Greens apparently still continue their “Republicans and Democrats are all exactly the same” in(s)anities.
Of course, the continuing over-influence of major banks, oil companies, other corporations, the Israel and gun lobbies, and the Roman Catholic Church, et alia, does call for further exposure: many conspiracies do go beyond the theoretical.
Oh, good god, it is not “antisemitic” to oppose the theft and occupation of Palestine.
“the theft and occupation of Palestine”
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It is a little more complicated than that.
https://embassies.gov.il/pretoria/AboutIsrael/history/Pages/History-Israel-Timeline.aspx
And actually, inevitable.
Nope.
The the theft and occupation of Palestine was not inevitable, though obs it’s what has happened.
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In passing, were you to adduce a link to the Russian claim on Ukraine (the war being topical and all), would you likewise link to a missive from the Russian embassy?
It ain’t that complicated; I urge you to consider the concept of ‘consilience’.
“theft and occupation” is not an accurate characterization. If it was stolen, the British stole it from the Turks who had it for 400 years. The Arabs should have accepted UN rez 181. See figure 2 here: https://www.britannica.com/event/Arab-Israeli-wars They chose to fight instead, and they lost. Wars have consequences.
Russia/Ukraine does not compare. Israel was reestablished in the shadow of the War 2 holocaust.
But all that aside, they call them prophets for a reason.
The only real negative thoughts I have about the covid vaccine are that we seem to be hoarding it here to keep giving ourselves boosters. I am not an epidemiologist – I went for Computer Science more than biology – but from what I understand it would do the world and frankly even most of us a lot more good to spread the vaccine around more than we are now. Variants are not grown in labs, they grow in unvaccinated people and communities.
Also, some conspiracy theories, like the antivax stuff, spread across political lines. As far as I can tell what happens is you get some statement like “X is dangerous because…” and that’s going to be the same no matter your views. The part afterward changes though and that seems to be a product of what you think and how much you know.
The ones that come to mind are anti-GMO and JFK assassination conspiracy theories. I was never a fanatic about the assassination, but looking back, it did take some work for me accept that the official story is close to what really happened.