Covid, the "lockdowns" etc.

[Ratman_tf]

  It almost seems as if wearing the mask is borderline social conditioning, and a person's desire to wear one is guided by the group around them.

Like clothing.

True.

No, smartass. Not like a specific clothing. I mean like ANY clothing. There are many times (like a warm clear day at the beach) where clothing is purely because it's expected by those around us. Not because it's actually utilitarian.

This is a concept you're plenty familiar with even if you want to spin it as something nefarious. We all do all sorts of things in life because of social conditioning, and a person's desire to behave that way is guided by the group around them.

It isn't hard to spin it into something nefarious because it is Masks became a symbol of fear and submission to the state and to superstitious groupthink.

Only to a subset of people in society who decided to declare going without a mask was a symbol of freedom like an American flag. The decision to call masks "a symbol of fear and submission to the state and to superstitious groupthink" was as arbitrary as the decision to declare them standard for situations where they were not helpful, like outside. It was lazy, and overly broad, and exaggerated.

You routinely every day engage in acts of submission to State law based on tenuous standards purely because it's the law and expected of you. You just don't think about it that way anymore while doing it.

You assume far too much about what I think.

You drive speed limits (or closer to them) which are sometimes arbitrary. You stop at stop lights and stop signs even when nobody else is there. You drive in the lane of the road rather than down the middle of the road even when there are no other cars.

Perfect example. I have actually put some thought into those exact situations. I've been a driver and a pedestrian. I stop even when no one is there because I've been wrong about no one being there. Painfully wrong. I once accidentally ran a stop sign because I didn't see the sign, and didn't see any other cars. I got T-Boned by a truck and lost my liscense for years due to driving without insurance. (I was young and stupider) I drive on the "correct" side of the road because I don't know if someone is going to pull out unexpectedly. And I've taken it upon myself to "bend" the rules, knowing that it increases my chances of having some kind of incident.

So you are completely wrong with that example. I do think about why I obey those laws, even when no one else is there.

You wear clothing outside your house even when the weather is such you wouldn't need to.

I wear clothing even when I don't need to because I'm a fatass and don't want to subject the viewing public to my pasty, flabby bod.

You go to the bathroom in designated places in the proscribed manner even if it would be perfectly sanitary to do it in public somewhere else or in a different way link in a sink or other drain.

Never gone to the bathroom in a sink. I have pissed outside, and pissed in a plastic tub because the bathroom was occupied and I really needed to go.

You don't eat dog meat and cat meat and human meat even though your body could digest it just fine.

I don't eat human meat because I think the taboo against canibalism is a good one. Once you open the door to cannibalism you weaken the integrity of the moral value of a human body.
Though in an extreme survival situation, I might break that taboo in order to survive. Thankfully I've never been in such a situation.

I would probably try dog or cat in the right situation. I'm not particularly against eating them.

We ALL DO THESE THINGS because that's how societies function. But somehow a stupid inconsequential mask became the symbol of submission to groupthink? Nonsense. You drew an arbitrary line in the sand which you won't draw for dozens of other things in your life which are just as submissive to the rules of society, because it was a target of convenience and a tool you could use to insult the libtards. Not because it actually has the deep ethical meaning behind it that you claim it does.

And again you get things completely wrong. I see people insisting that they wear their masks past the mandates as some kind of virtue signal. I see people insisting others wear masks despite the lack of evidence that they have a meaningful impact on the spread of Covid, and I see people trying to shore up those beliefs by trying to force others to validate their beliefs though imposing conformity.

And the point you get completely wrong here is that you accuse me of not thinking about other society norms, which I do, and trying to associate this with them, which it is not. There is no good reason for the mask mandates except to make people feel safer.

It's superstition and groupthink and I don't care if the libtards or the conservitards were insisting on it. It would be equally wrong.

I wore masks when there were mandates, even though I knew I was humoring other people's superstions. I don't now that the mandates have been lifted. I think they were misguided security theater. I won't mock an individual who still wears a mask (I see plenty of them at work amongst other who aren't) but I will mock the superstition and ignorance behind wearing them.

[GeekyBugle]

Remember when this was a conspiracy theory?

From the known Q-Anon site the AP:

"U.S. regulators strictly limited who can receive Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine due to a rare but serious risk of blood clots.

The FDA said the shot should only be given to adults who cannot receive a different vaccine or specifically request J&J's."

https://archive.is/rx7k7

[dkabq]

Greetings!

Well, all the mask-wearing folks out there and about you, just shows you how many of our citizens are fucking sheep

Did you wear clothing last time you went out, even if the weather was such you didn't need to?

Did you pee in the toilet rather than the sink at the last public restroom you went to, even though the sink would serve the same drainage purpose as the toilet?

Fucking sheep is what you are. Bleet for us, Shark!  Bleet!

One of the dive bars I frequented in collage had a single men's room with a shitter, a urinal, and a sink. And I cannot count how many times I either pissed in that sink or saw someone piss in it.

[GeekyBugle]

Greetings!

Well, all the mask-wearing folks out there and about you, just shows you how many of our citizens are fucking sheep

Did you wear clothing last time you went out, even if the weather was such you didn't need to?

Did you pee in the toilet rather than the sink at the last public restroom you went to, even though the sink would serve the same drainage purpose as the toilet?

Fucking sheep is what you are. Bleet for us, Shark!  Bleet!

One of the dive bars I frequented in collage had a single men's room with a shitter, a urinal, and a sink. And I cannot count how many times I either pissed in that sink or saw someone piss in it.

If you have never pissed in a sink you're:

A) Lying
B) Not a man
C) All of the above because I know for a fact even women have done it.

[Spinachcat]

If you have never pissed in a sink you're:

A) Lying
B) Not a man
C) All of the above because I know for a fact even women have done it.

D) Midget?

[GeekyBugle]

If you have never pissed in a sink you're:

A) Lying
B) Not a man
C) All of the above because I know for a fact even women have done it.

D) Midget?

Okay, I will grant you that one. 

[oggsmash]

  Since boosters are the expected social conditioning, I guess it is boosters in perpetuity from here on out.  Society is fun.   I remember when people wore masks to save lives.  Now it is because it is expected of them by people around them.   Maybe we can go ahead and make that the official reason to get that shot and boosters.

[Mistwell]

Did you wear clothing last time you went out, even if the weather was such you didn't need to?

Yes, but only because I do not want any innocent bystanders to make Sanity checks when they see my naked flesh.

LOL

[Kiero]

During the cloth mask phase of the pandemic, when N95s just couldn't be easily had and yet it was the social norm to wear one, I at least made an aesthetic choice with my masks. I wore GI Joe themed ones, and superhero ones, and St. Patrick's Day themed ones for that holiday, etc..

Oh bless, you accessorised the symbol of your oppression. What a good slave you are.

[3catcircus]

  Since boosters are the expected social conditioning, I guess it is boosters in perpetuity from here on out.  Society is fun.   I remember when people wore masks to save lives.  Now it is because it is expected of them by people around them.   Maybe we can go ahead and make that the official reason to get that shot and boosters.

I expect nothing, so I'm never disappointed with the depths of human stupidity..

[Mistwell]

During the cloth mask phase of the pandemic, when N95s just couldn't be easily had and yet it was the social norm to wear one, I at least made an aesthetic choice with my masks. I wore GI Joe themed ones, and superhero ones, and St. Patrick's Day themed ones for that holiday, etc..

Oh bless, you accessorised the symbol of your oppression. What a good slave you are.

You don't know what real oppression looks like, you privileged little snotty rich kid.

[Mistwell]

Interesting article from 538 on vaccine efficacy. The article is specific to kids, but has a good review of how vaccines work, why they work better with some viruses and worse with others. I thought this part was helpful:

First, mutation rate. Viruses like measles barely change at all over time. One formulation of a vaccine can work — and an individual's immune response to it can remain effective — for many, many years. Scientists knew coronaviruses could mutate faster and more successfully than measles, but no one was really prepared for how much and how quickly SARS-CoV-2 would end up mutating, Offit said. The faster the rate of mutation and the bigger the changes, the less efficacy you can expect from a vaccine.

The second way that virus biology affects vaccine efficacy centers around how long a virus incubates in its host before it starts to cause illness. It's no coincidence that viruses with incubation periods measured in weeks, like measles, smallpox or rubella, have highly effective vaccines, Moss and Offit said. That's because two types of immune responses are triggered by a vaccine. In the short term, the vaccine stimulates your body to produce virus-fighting antibodies, but those fade within three to six months. The real, long-term protection comes from memory cells, which hang out quietly until the next time you're exposed to the virus — then they start cranking out fresh antibodies. It's like getting a new star pitcher who's going to burn out fairly quickly — but also getting the technology to grow clone replacements of that pitcher.

The problem, Moss and Offit said, is that the process of creating fresh antibodies takes time. If a virus incubates for a while before causing illness, then memory cells can whip up some antibodies and prevent infection. But if the incubation period is short — as it is for COVID-19 — there's not enough time before infection sets in. The antibodies your memory cells make are still helpful in reducing the severity of the illness, though. You'd rather your clone pitcher show up late and strike out a few batters than not have a pitcher at all.

Vaccine efficacy, then, becomes a spectrum. At one end, you've got rotavirus, a virus with a short incubation period — about two days — whose vaccine can't prevent infection or spread, but it can keep babies out of hospitals, preventing serious illness at a greater than 90 percent efficacy. At the other end of the spectrum is rabies, a virus with an incubation period so long — typically two to three months — you can literally give people the vaccine after they've been exposed and have it prevent illness essentially 100 percent of the time. You're just not going to get rabies-style vaccine efficacy with SARS-CoV-2, a virus with an incubation period that's typically not much longer than that of rotavirus.

[Eirikrautha]

Interesting article from 538 on vaccine efficacy. The article is specific to kids, but has a good review of how vaccines work, why they work better with some viruses and worse with others. I thought this part was helpful:

First, mutation rate. Viruses like measles barely change at all over time. One formulation of a vaccine can work — and an individual's immune response to it can remain effective — for many, many years. Scientists knew coronaviruses could mutate faster and more successfully than measles, but no one was really prepared for how much and how quickly SARS-CoV-2 would end up mutating, Offit said. The faster the rate of mutation and the bigger the changes, the less efficacy you can expect from a vaccine.

The second way that virus biology affects vaccine efficacy centers around how long a virus incubates in its host before it starts to cause illness. It's no coincidence that viruses with incubation periods measured in weeks, like measles, smallpox or rubella, have highly effective vaccines, Moss and Offit said. That's because two types of immune responses are triggered by a vaccine. In the short term, the vaccine stimulates your body to produce virus-fighting antibodies, but those fade within three to six months. The real, long-term protection comes from memory cells, which hang out quietly until the next time you're exposed to the virus — then they start cranking out fresh antibodies. It's like getting a new star pitcher who's going to burn out fairly quickly — but also getting the technology to grow clone replacements of that pitcher.

The problem, Moss and Offit said, is that the process of creating fresh antibodies takes time. If a virus incubates for a while before causing illness, then memory cells can whip up some antibodies and prevent infection. But if the incubation period is short — as it is for COVID-19 — there's not enough time before infection sets in. The antibodies your memory cells make are still helpful in reducing the severity of the illness, though. You'd rather your clone pitcher show up late and strike out a few batters than not have a pitcher at all.

Vaccine efficacy, then, becomes a spectrum. At one end, you've got rotavirus, a virus with a short incubation period — about two days — whose vaccine can't prevent infection or spread, but it can keep babies out of hospitals, preventing serious illness at a greater than 90 percent efficacy. At the other end of the spectrum is rabies, a virus with an incubation period so long — typically two to three months — you can literally give people the vaccine after they've been exposed and have it prevent illness essentially 100 percent of the time. You're just not going to get rabies-style vaccine efficacy with SARS-CoV-2, a virus with an incubation period that's typically not much longer than that of rotavirus.

All of which doctors and virologists were saying fucking almost two years ago.  Except those folks, who were very clear that there was no way to vaccinate your way out of the covid pandemic because of the features of a coronavirus, were banned from all media for saying so.  But now, since the US population is fed up with restrictions (and continuing covid fear-mongering is hurting Democrats' chances in the midterms), what those doctors were saying 18 - 24 months ago is OK.  In fact, it's now "science"...

[Kiero]

You don't know what real oppression looks like, you privileged little snotty rich kid.

The projection is off the chart, the lawyer calling other people "rich kid" is rather rich.

My ancestors, who were slaves, were muzzled as punishment. Dumbasses like you do it voluntarily because you think compliance makes you virtuous.

[GeekyBugle]

Interesting article from 538 on vaccine efficacy. The article is specific to kids, but has a good review of how vaccines work, why they work better with some viruses and worse with others. I thought this part was helpful:

First, mutation rate. Viruses like measles barely change at all over time. One formulation of a vaccine can work — and an individual's immune response to it can remain effective — for many, many years. Scientists knew coronaviruses could mutate faster and more successfully than measles, but no one was really prepared for how much and how quickly SARS-CoV-2 would end up mutating, Offit said. The faster the rate of mutation and the bigger the changes, the less efficacy you can expect from a vaccine.

The second way that virus biology affects vaccine efficacy centers around how long a virus incubates in its host before it starts to cause illness. It's no coincidence that viruses with incubation periods measured in weeks, like measles, smallpox or rubella, have highly effective vaccines, Moss and Offit said. That's because two types of immune responses are triggered by a vaccine. In the short term, the vaccine stimulates your body to produce virus-fighting antibodies, but those fade within three to six months. The real, long-term protection comes from memory cells, which hang out quietly until the next time you're exposed to the virus — then they start cranking out fresh antibodies. It's like getting a new star pitcher who's going to burn out fairly quickly — but also getting the technology to grow clone replacements of that pitcher.

The problem, Moss and Offit said, is that the process of creating fresh antibodies takes time. If a virus incubates for a while before causing illness, then memory cells can whip up some antibodies and prevent infection. But if the incubation period is short — as it is for COVID-19 — there's not enough time before infection sets in. The antibodies your memory cells make are still helpful in reducing the severity of the illness, though. You'd rather your clone pitcher show up late and strike out a few batters than not have a pitcher at all.

Vaccine efficacy, then, becomes a spectrum. At one end, you've got rotavirus, a virus with a short incubation period — about two days — whose vaccine can't prevent infection or spread, but it can keep babies out of hospitals, preventing serious illness at a greater than 90 percent efficacy. At the other end of the spectrum is rabies, a virus with an incubation period so long — typically two to three months — you can literally give people the vaccine after they've been exposed and have it prevent illness essentially 100 percent of the time. You're just not going to get rabies-style vaccine efficacy with SARS-CoV-2, a virus with an incubation period that's typically not much longer than that of rotavirus.

I call bullshit, the common cold IS a coronavirus, we know there's no way to vaccinate people to immunity. Granted not all viri oin the family will mutate at the same rates but common sense dictates that the best course of action was to find a treatment, of patent if possible, but that meant the pharmaceuticals wouldn't have made billions, the governments wouldn't have stolen our liberties, the scientists wouldn't have their experiment and probably less people would have died.

And let's not forget that was also against the WEF's plan.