D&D and the rising pandemic

[Dannyalcatraz]

Let me say that my father (MD) had a discussion with our houseguest about some of her decision-making proclamations that were scaring my mother. I was not privy to what was said.

Personally, if she had followed through on some of what she said she was going to, I’d have advocated shipping her off to one of her kids’ homes, ASAP.

I’ve known her for decades and she’s like family, but it would have been an easy vote for me. If your need for dining in a restaurant* or being first in line at the hairdresser’s outweighs the concerns your hosts have about contagion, you need to find somewhere else to be.


* few people like restaurant dining as much as my Mom, and she won’t even join me in the car on those nights we’ve done takeout.

 

[Deset Gled]

IDK. I think any line of communication you can keep open is good.

I both agree and disagree with this, depending on the level of discussion you are talking about.

If you want to convince an individual of something, any line of communication you can keep open is good. If you want to convince a group of something, keeping open lines of communication can serve to legitimize arguments that should be dismissed outright.

For example, consider people claiming that COVID19 is caused by 5G cell phone towers. It's so stupid it's beyond any reasonable argument. But, if you talk about it in a public medium, you're still propagating the information. If you compare it to legitimate discussions or theories about COVID, you actually lend credibility to what is a patently ridiculous idea. And by allowing more people to hear about it you give more people a chance to believe it in. It's a dangerous double edged sword.

 

[tomBitonti]

As Danny has noted - how you manage this starts with you recognizing that the issue you have to deal with is not "misinformed". It is not "stubborn". The issue is more, "has a different belief system". You are engaging in bringing a person to choose to change their fundamental beliefs, the axioms upon which the assumptions of their lives are based, and their decisions made. That is a tall order.

This PodCast has a section which addresses this point:

What To Say When A Loved One Shares Pandemic Disinfo | On the Media | WNYC Studios

Attempting to heal the harm caused by "Plandemic" and other conspiracy theories.

www.wnycstudios.org

It's one of their shorter, mid-week segments, so a quick listen.

Be safe, be well,
Tom Bitonti

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Fox has warned its viewers not to take hydroxychloroquine like Trump:

Fox News Host Warns Viewers After Trump Says He’s Taking Hydroxychloroquine: ‘This. Will. Kill. You.’

Moments after President Donald Trump shockingly declared that he has been taking the controversial anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as preventive treatment for the coronavirus, Fox News host Neil Cavuto warned viewers that the drug could literally kill them.“All right, that was stunning,”...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Statistical Shenanigans in Georgia:

As originally published:

As corrected to chronological order and so forth:

The article

A 'cuckoo' graph with no sense of time or place shows how Georgia bungled coronavirus data as it reopens

Georgia's health department published a "misleading" graph showing a neat decline in coronavirus cases. An updated version shows the truth is messier.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Fox has warned its viewers not to take hydroxychloroquine like Trump:

Fox News Host Warns Viewers After Trump Says He’s Taking Hydroxychloroquine: ‘This. Will. Kill. You.’

Moments after President Donald Trump shockingly declared that he has been taking the controversial anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as preventive treatment for the coronavirus, Fox News host Neil Cavuto warned viewers that the drug could literally kill them.“All right, that was stunning,”...

www.yahoo.com

It is really a bad idea. It can seriously mess up your heart.

 

[Zardnaar]

It is really a bad idea. It can seriously mess up your heart.

If people really want to be stupid let them.

It's like smoking pot and shooting up on heroin. Not a great idea but people still do it.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Statistical Shenanigans in Georgia:
[...snip...]
The article

A 'cuckoo' graph with no sense of time or place shows how Georgia bungled coronavirus data as it reopens

Georgia's health department published a "misleading" graph showing a neat decline in coronavirus cases. An updated version shows the truth is messier.

www.businessinsider.com

How does anyone think they can get away with something like that? It'd be more honest to just not release the data under some bogus claim of "state secrets" or something nonsensical like that.

It's stunning the lengths some offices are going to to keep people in the dark.
.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

If people really want to be stupid let them.

It's like smoking pot and shooting up on heroin. Not a great idea but people still do it.

The difference between this and heroin and pot is that hydroxichloroquine isn't a drug that makes you high. It doesn't benefit you in basically any way unless you have a disease that it helps for. It does hurt themselves and others, though, as people with Lupus and other diseases that this medicine is used for can't get it as easily as they should. (There is the point of it working as a placebo, possibly, but in that case, just take a sugar pill that won't make your heart explode.)

 

[Zardnaar]

The difference between this and heroin and pot is that hydroxichloroquine isn't a drug that makes you high. It doesn't benefit you in basically any way unless you have a disease that it helps for. It does hurt themselves and others, though, as people with Lupus and other diseases that this medicine is used for can't get it as easily as they should. (There is the point of it working as a placebo, possibly, but in that case, just take a sugar pill that won't make your heart explode.)

If you're stupid enough to do it though.....

Anyone who follows that idea probably likes orange Cheetos. Less fans if orange Cheetos in November is good right?

It's the prime example of Darwin Awards in action.