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| Silverfiddle Rant! |
“At least we know who the sadists are, since they so helpfully identified themselves.” (Covid Cruelty)
This is the absolute best takedown of "follow the science" I have read. Amazingly, it comes from Slate.
Over the past two years, several commentators have pointed out the fallacy of “following the science.” And yet, the phrase is still deployed, particularly by liberals, as if it’s the ultimate argument ender. The arguments have, of course, kept going, as polarized as ever (here is another problem with pleading that people “follow the science”: We don’t typically become convinced of things by having more facts piled up on us). That “follow the science” is reductive at best and harmful at worst—a kind of insult, meant to shame your opponent—feels worth repeating as we close in on two full years of this pandemic and a future in which we will have to grapple collectively with the virus in one way or another.
Revanchism at its Worst
Zaid Jilani, in an excellent essay in the excellent Tablet Magazine, explains how The Blue Stack Strikes Back:
The welding of media, government bureaucracy, big corporations, and banking together into a partisan weapon to punish dissenters points the way toward an ugly future.
Neil Young in Bed with Global Financial Vampires Blackstone
Please read this. It is an excellent takedown of global financial predators, and please read on down to the brutal, extremely vulgar but oh so satisfying rant against SESAC. Being a live performer myself, I can testify to the accuracy of his flaming attack and I share the author's red hot rage at SESAC, ASCAP and BMI. They are killing local live music and punishing venues that play their music.
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Science, or the trust in science, took a major hit when the basket of gullibles were instructed they could override it with a sharpie.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amusing little snark, but I will make the universal observation that credibility follows competence
DeleteWell, I don’t really think some universal observation applies in the Trump cultists phenomenon.
DeleteBy any reasonable thinking, sharpiegate was a blatant example, a Wizard Of Oz curtain revealing, an all out exposure of the multiple undermining of science and government functions that the Trump and Fox/Propaganda machine instilled in the basket of gullibles all along.
It really is an example of how he could have been a magician mesmerizing his audience by his magical abilities of showing his hat had no rabbit it it, promising to pull a rabbit from it, and then looking into it and then screaming to the stagehand “hey, there’s no rabbit in here” for the stagehand to run frantically with a rabbit for all to see to place into the hat for Trump to promptly pull out and say “wa la” for the gullibles to give a standing ovation and toss $ at his feet.
Science? This basket is indeed a conditioned lot.
Inside the mind of a Trump-obsessed progressive is a sad and scary place. It's 2022. Do you know where your brain is?
DeleteWell, on the contrary.
DeleteWhat's tucked in a Trump-obsessed progressive's mind has little to do with anything.
The constant selling and promoting of Trumpism and the anti-science, anti-democracy, pro-insurrection, pro-disease spreading, race baiting, Nazi coddling, Putin adoring, riot promoting, education banning, wage stealing, serial lying and on and on which is still very much alive today (in fact, entirely consumes the GOP leadership) in not only 2022 but a strong contender for another 4 years of power, well that's a scary thing.
This is sad. All this nonsense coming from a Trump obsessed Progressive.
DeleteHe ignores everything or rationalizes everything through a Democrat/Progressive lens which smacks of cognitive dissonance.
Does he even know what a riot or Nazi is?
Let me tell you something, Ward, it's a figurative truism but true none the less.
When you point your finger, there are three more fingers pointing back at you!
You Progressives are a lot more like Nazis than than Conservatives ever would wish to be! You demand obedience to your ideology while Conservatives wish to be left alone. Quite frankly, you are free to go to whatever Progressive hell may wish but don't expect us to gladly follow or our support while you attempt to drag us there.
Be warned, sow the wind reap the whirlwind! That's not a threat it's a practical and informed opinion from someone whom is well read with a knowledge of history and more practical experience than you can imagine.
This is coming from a Libertarian Conservative and, unlike you, not a doctrinaire anything.
You can keep your Sodom on the West coast and Gomorrah on the East and all the rat infested little Sodom's and Gomorrah's in-between, but don't expect us to subsidize or enable their perversions --whether they be government funded crack pipes, abortions or bloated government projects that line the pockets of politicians and their families -- with our hard earned money, time and talent, when we have worked hard demeaning jobs for decades, to pay for our families needs.
Ronald,
DeleteThis blog post contains none of the items on your list of partisan bugaboos. We bring up current topics here to invite reasoned discussion and debate. True, many topics do turn on ideology, but you are hell-bent on injecting "Blue Team-Red Team" partisan politics into EVERYTHING. Every discussion triggers a Fox News-MSNBC-style screed from you. It's tiresome, especially because we know you are an intelligent and feeling person capable of deep thought and meaningful interaction and expression.
It's not just you. All of society is now infected with this binary, tribal thinking. If political party and love or hatred of a political personality determines one's position in a debate, that person has fallen into a logical sinkhole.
and I don't just pick on one side. Please see this comment of mine from the last post.
DeleteIt's my opinion SF, that my Sharpiegate comment zeroed in on how "following the science" has been turned on it's head. The more they can convince the basket of gulibles to deny science and you know, things that are real and true, the more they can achieve their goals. Climate change for example. The destruction of our democracy for their political gain is another. How about the science in fair election counts? There are political reasons right wing media and GOP leaders have been demonizing science and government institutions.
DeleteWarren, I was referring more to real time policies and actions along with what the GOP has evolved into rather than ideologies or decades old cultures.
I don't "demand obedience to my ideology" nor do I "expect you to gladly follow or your support". I'm a call-a-spade-a-spade guy. I don't even expect an acknowledgement of facts when they're blaring you or SF in the face. I can't even get a hint that maybe SharpieGate wasn't a constructive move. The best I ever got out of SF over the Big Lie was that Trump's legal team screwed it up.
If you want to discuss "following the science" and "welding of media, government bureaucracy, big corporations, and banking together into a partisan weapon", you can't ignore how berating science and media propaganda and how the Big Lie plays into it.
I think I'd gladly stay in my less literate, historically ignorant and rat infested state than to be part of a cult that would support a vagina grabbing, serial lying, mafia figure thug as well as the party that kowtows to him regardless of how heinous of his crimes.
SharpieGate was an example of Trump's bombastic (and in this case, comical) BS and then the left going batshit over it and spending way too much time on it. If you took a poll, way more on the left than on the right would say they know what it is.
DeleteI do not believe "the big lie," and I have plainly said so. I have also said that the circumstances were ripe for abuse and election fraud, but Trumps Team Kraken failed to produce the evidence. I have also said I fear Mike Lindell is back on the meth pipe. Dominion is going to take him, Fox, and others to the cleaners.
I also think that you hold a very cartoonish view of conservatives and people you consider "MAGAts." Its common on the left, and a big reason why working people are punishing Democrats at the polls.
The left's sneering condescension about how--unlike the unwashed boobs on the right--people on the left respect science and history, doesn't help attract people to your cause. Indeed, it is repellant. Keep it up.
@SF, If you want go ahead and delete this thread or individual posts including mine. I realize it's getting out of hand and I didn't mean for it to happen.
Delete@RJW,
You're a Trump obsessed Progressive, Ronald. Wear your hat proudly.
Warren,
DeleteI would like this thread to stand. You and I have made a very good case, and we have treated Ronald with respect.
The fact that the left actually believes all the nasty and demeaning snipes they direct at the right--that its not just trolling, but they actually really believe people on the right are stupid hicks, ignorant of history and science--reveals much about them. Add in all the pro-Putin nonsense, and it shows they are tin-eared, binary-blind self-deluded fools screaming in an echo chamber. I feel sorry for them. Interesting and nuanced thought used to have a home on the liberal left.
Vote for Trump in 2024 or Russia will nuke us. Say it with your chest.
DeleteSF, I'll concede that my disdain of the previous administration sometimes (well, usually, well, almost always) overshadows the narrative and my arguments would might be better served had I toned it down or as you seem to like to say, stop making everything about partisan politics.
DeleteYou've been on somewhat of a roll lately about "misinformation", "disinformation", and again here, the credibility of science. After a 4 year run of constant instilling of "fake news", "enemy of the people", the QAnon phenomenon, and I'll just stop there, I don't know how you cannot drag politics into it.
SharpieGate isn't being partisan nor was it something the Dems went "batshit" over although the "owning of the libs" seems to supersede the seriousness of the actions. The President of the U.S. sent out a Tweet saying AL was going to be severely hit by a hurricane. Within minutes, the Birmingham National Weather Service said it wasn't so. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration concurred. The next day, the President presents a sharpie scribbled map insisting he was right and BNWS was wrong, that a hurricane was about to slam AL. Later, after pressure from the WH, NOAA sends out an unsigned statement basically rebuking the BNWS.
Follow the science? How about follow the misinformation and lies and pressuring of federal scientists and nonpartisan scientists to change the facts.
Hurricane Doran wasn't an isolated example.
Ronald, SharpieGate unfolded like a hilarious SNL skit. Do you have any data showing this "denial of science" convinced anyone to no longer "trust science?" Its absurd.
DeleteFollow the science? From the NY Times:
CDC Isn't Publishing Large Portions of the COVID-19 Data It Collects
Everything has become politicized. The government needs to shape the narrative before selectively releasing that data. That is not Democrat and it is not Republican. It just is.
Which really scared the shit out of south Alabama knowing Trump wanted to nuke a hurricane that wasn't there. ;)
ReplyDeleteWhile the Poor Poor of Ukraine are being Bombed, Murdered, and Losing their Country.
ReplyDeleteJoy Behar is worried about her trip to Italy being postponed! i
Oh the horror!
We need to nuke Russia so Joy Behar can vacay. Think of the children.
Delete"Follow the science," forsooth.
ReplyDeleteBefore the pandemic I saw four doctors regularly, each of them every 6-8 months, to follow up on various conditions. Won't bore you with details. Since the pandemic began I have seen only one, and spoken to one other by phone.
The one I saw, cardiologist, started in on the vaccine and when I saw he was going the "follow the science" routine I stopped him.
:Look," I told him, "there has been so much self-contradicting narrative, scientific as well as other, on Covid and the vaccine, that I don't believe any of it on either side. Don't start giving me your side, because I trust you as a heart doctor, but I'm not going to trust your Covid narrative any more than I trust anyone else's."
He actually smiled and went back to discussing my heart condition.
Indeed. "First do no harm"
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteOff topic^
DeleteScience is apolitical. Yet we note that only 7% of us are registered GOP. My guess is that science is about progress (think progressive here). ...and we get frustrated when ivermectin, a horse liniment, is preferred to a proven vaccine. IMO, you SF are intelligent, well read and generally logical. Surely you understand my point? Tribalism is ancient and is always trouble, so I don't point fingers, having been kicked off a far RW blog for being condescending: heck, just looking for common ground, ya know?
ReplyDeleteWe agree it is all tribal. Your comment is a good example. Why would you call ivermectin "a horse linament" other than to troll and provoke?
DeleteWe all know by now that it has multiple uses in different forms, including a miracle medicine prescribed to human beings.
Joe Rogan did not take a "horse de-wormer" as the unhinged haters at CNN said. A doctor prescribed him a medication for human beings.
So, why would an intelligent person like you, "looking for common ground," make such a statement here?
@ BB-Idaho,
DeleteGood to see you.
American Journal of Therapeutics
"American Journal of Therapeutics is an indispensable resource for all prescribing physicians who want to access pharmacological developments in cardiology, infectious disease, oncology, anesthesiology, nephrology, toxicology, and psychotropics without having to sift through stacks of medical journals. The journal features original articles on the latest therapeutic approaches as well as critical articles on the drug approval process and therapeutic reviews covering pharmacokinetics, regulatory affairs, pediatric clinical pharmacology, hypertension, metabolism, and drug delivery systems."
General Kellogg has made some surprising comments on Ukraine. I respect this man, and I hope he's right
ReplyDeleteThere’s an old axiom, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog that counts, and you’re sitting there with Ukraine, and with the Ukraine fighting and the leadership of Zelenskyy.
I think Putin is losing. I think Russia is losing. He’s thrown his first line units against Ukrainians, and they’re beating him. And it’s the heart that they’re showing is incredible. And that’s the reason why the world is rallying there. They see what they’re doing. You see they’re fighting for their homeland and they’re seeing President Zelenskyy stand up and say, “I don’t need a ride. I need ammunition.”
And I think Putin’s got a real problem right now because I think that he’s going to be on the losing end of this.
He may throw a lot more forces at it, and he may take the city of Kyiv that that is entirely possible just by sheer numbers. But the occupation of that country, now, they will fight back. There will be an insurgency.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/retired-general-makes-stunning-declaration-on-fox-news-putin-has-lost-this-war/ar-AAUlz6K?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
The Russians might be putting themselves in a Fallujah position which they can ill afford.
ReplyDeleteI hope the Russians are wiped out!
DeleteYou can read here how the Russian Army has been surrendering to the Ukraines'! I like that!
Elizabeth,
DeleteI would caution against putting too much stock in any reporting right now. Wars are messy and confusing, and the propaganda from all sides is hot and heavy.
I pray with you that Russia gets humiliated.
Sorry to "provoke". Agreed, ivervectin has been very successful against nemotode and other micro worm infections in humans..river blindness is a good example. The debate in science is how or whether
ReplyDeletenematode pharmacology might relate to the far tinier and different
biochemical array of a virus. About 0.9 million US people have died of Covid to date. We had our shots, we had our boosters, even if the
local vet had ivermectin, we see no merit in it for viral interciction and we remain healthy. We're Americans, we are not tribal, despite your assertion.
You didn't provoke me, or anyone here. I just noted that your comment was provocative.
DeleteBeing a man of science, I don't have to tell you that over 30% of drugs in the US are prescribed off-schedule. You probably are also aware that real scientific medical institutes are conducting studies of ivermectin and Covid.
@ BB-Idaho,
DeleteFrom the above link with studies.
"Ivermectin has exhibited antiviral activity against a wide range of RNA and some DNA viruses, for example, Zika, dengue, yellow fever, and others.13 Caly et al14 demonstrated specific action against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro with a suggested host-directed mechanism of action being the blocking of the nuclear import of viral proteins14,15 that suppress normal immune responses. However, the necessary cell culture EC50 may not be achievable in vivo.16 Other conjectured mechanisms include inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 3CLPro activity17,18 (a protease essential for viral replication), a variety of anti-inflammatory effects,19 and competitive binding of ivermectin with the viral S protein as shown in multiple in silico studies.20 The latter would inhibit viral binding to ACE-2 receptors suppressing infection. Hemagglutination via viral binding to sialic acid receptors on erythrocytes is a recently proposed pathologic mechanism21 that would be similarly disrupted. Both host-directed and virus-directed mechanisms have thus been proposed, the clinical mechanism may be multimodal, possibly dependent on disease stage, and a comprehensive review of mechanisms of action is warranted.
I ask you to please take a look and comment.
...The link to American Journal of Therapeutics...
I don't think anyone hear is arguing that ivervectin replaces the vaccine but why has the CDC so ignored therapeutics and discouraged even the use of monoclonal antibodies for use of those already infected when it's clear that this is an epidemic and certainly not endemic? The article also notes linked studies which report:
I would think so, Warren. I had vaccines for Dengue and Yellow Fever when I was in biological warfare research at Dugway Proving Ground and that was a long time back, way before monoclonal antibodies. These MABs can be extremely effective. They still argue whether viruses are living things (they are so simple, don't eat or breathe and only reproduce in the media of other living cells)..and seem likely targets for the MAB approach.
ReplyDeleteThank you, BB. I appreciate your input and knowledge.
ReplyDeleteI think of viruses as sub-microscopic, self-replicating Von Neumann machines but I don't dwell on it because it's scary as hell. :)
Fair enough. Who would argue with von Neumann? One of a kind!
ReplyDeleteYou're not helping my insecurity any. ;)
ReplyDeleteRonald,
ReplyDeleteI did not realize how far back we went. I was searching my old blog, Western Hero and stumbled across this blog post where I described my impression of you.
I'm trying to be charitable, dammit
"Perhaps it doesn't come across, but I value and respect the opinions of Dave Miller, Ducky and Jersey. I greatly admire our British Laborite friend Jez. Ronald Ward is welcome here also, but his points often get lost in his prolixity... and that attitude. He comes off like a pathetic and huffy fire drill coordinator in a windstorm, toupee flapping, red cheeks puffy because no one is listening to his forty pages of instructions. Then he pulls the bad parody of a snooty professor, demanding essays from everyone on every hairbrained opinion he spouts. It's tedious. But I try."
lol