Logic and lack of Logic of Anti Vaxers
Computational Complexity 2023-05-21
I wrote the post below the dotted line a long time ago but never got around to posting it. Now that
WHO says COVID emergency is over.
(When I first saw I misread it as a question:
Who says COVID emergency is over?
)
I decided to post it (with one update that has an ADDED LATER on it).
If you didn't know , WHO is World Health Organization. Actually, that is true whether or not you know it.
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Some of the reasons anti-vaxers give are better than others. Some are consistent, some are not.
We list some of them and invite the comments to list more. Our point is- which ones have something interesting to say?
I am PRO VAX but I often seek out intelligent opposing views on any of my opinions. Did I find any here? I leave that as an exercise for the reader.
Reasons anti-vaxxers give or could give.
a) FREEDOM! That's not quite a reason. I am reminded of asking a neighbor why he flies a confederate flag and he said
FREEDOM!
I was hoping he would say either
To honor my great grandfather who died for the south in the civil war.
or
Because I don't like black people.
or
To honor those many people, black and white, who died in the civil war fighting for the south.
or
SOMETHING with content to it.
Any of those answered would tell me something could be discussed. Just the word FREEDOM does not.
b) Bill Gates put microchips in the vaccine so he can keep track of where you are. Why? Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg can ALREADY keep track of where you are. I do wonder if this is a common anti-vax viewpoint or if its VERY RARE and the media plays it up to make anti-vaxers look stupid. Same with the notion that the vaccine makes you magnetic (that sounds cool!)
c) I want to wait and see its effects since it was rushed out. That might have made sense X months ago, but by now its very well established.
d) I haven't gotten around to it yet. These are a very good target for the mandates or at least to be talked into doing it. It may be more fun to talk about the radical anti-vaxers; however, if the haven't gotten around to it group all got vaccinated we would be closer to herd immunity.
e) I've got COVID so I am immune. This is true for Y months (I am not sure what Y is); however, the person I know who told me this had COVID about 3 years ago. But at least its an attempt at an argument.
f) The medical community has been bad to (i) me, (ii) my people, (iii) some other people that I care about hence I do not trust them. The premise is actually true, so this is an attempt at an intelligent argument.
g) Big Pharma is making a mint on this and ripping us off. This is a view of, not the extreme left but the fringe left. Robert Kennedy is a big voice here, see here. On a right-wing relatives' urging I listened to an hour-long interview with him. Mostly a rambling incoherent argument. Much of it was anti-business which got no pushback from the usually-pro-business republican's. Are there any mainstream democrats who are anti-vax? I do not think so. Also, is it true that Big Pharma is is making a mint? Ripping us off? Ripping someone off? This could be an interesting question if asked more coherently. But its not a good reason to be anti-vax.
h) Trump said it was a hoax to get him out of office. Taking a vaccine now would be to admit its not a hoax. Such people should take Karl Popper's view of science: Conjecture that, as Ted Cruz said, if Biden wins then COVID will go away since it was a hoax made up to get Biden to win. If Biden wins and COVID does not go away then you must reject your conjecture. (ADDED LATER: Odd point- Trump has sometimes said, though not lately, that people should get the Vax that HE invented. If we called it a Trumpzine then would people take it? As of now Trump and DeathSantos are trying to anti-vax each other.)
i) The first few days after you take it it hurts and you feel tired or get chills or other reactions. This is actually true, though one has to balance that against getting COVID.
j) The Ford Administration really messed up on the Swine Flu so why trust the government now? This is true- The Ford Admin DID mess up. Oddly enough, I have never (or perhaps rarely) heard this as a reason. This puzzles me- Why claim Bill Gates microchip stuff (which is absurd) or Vax causes autism (debunked) and NOT use arguments are are more reasonable?
k) Vaccines cause autism. That study was debunked a long time ago, but it still lives on.
l) Kamala Harris said she was hesitant since it was rushed. I've only heard this one as Republicans try to blame her for Vaccine Hesitancy. The problem with that argument is that you are claiming that the anti-vaxers, who are mostly republicans, are listening to Kamala Harris for advice.
l) If many people get Vaxed and COVID goes away then Biden will look good, and we can't have that.
m) COVID was invented by the Chinese to cripple us. Uh- even if true (which it is not, though the leaked lab hypothesis might be) that's a reason to TAKE it to thwart their plans. For that matter, Trump could have been Trumpian and PRO-MASK and PRO-VAX by blaming the Chinese and George Soros and the Deep State and Biden and Obama and of course Hillary, but using this to say WEAR THE MASK! TAKE THE VAX! to DEFEAT these ENEMIES who want to destroy America. Would that have worked to slow the spread of COVID? If so then would he have won re-election?