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Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Covid Vaccines and Conspiracy Theories - Food For The Obtuse


Recently, I've been exposed to some of the current wild and fantastical conspiracies associated with the virus and more importantly, vaccination.  They've left me completely flabbergasted and provided another reminder of how gullible too many Americans are.  In all fairness, much of the medical mumbo jumbo is likely over the heads of those who believe it.  The whole mRNA thing is beyond my own span of attention.  However, we can still use the tools we all have at our disposal to ferret out bullshit, a suspicious and critical mind.  My regular readers know that I rarely take questionable assertions at face value and tend to fact check on my own.  For example, one of the fringe outlets claimed that 'CDC data released on July 9th' shows a massive spike in deaths from vaccines.  Before I called bullshit, I went to the CDC's website to confirm.  Because they're a government entity, they put everything they release on their website.  I think we both know what I found; or didn't find.  Now, I'm calling bullshit.  Something I did find was a direct correlation between vaccination rates and Covid deaths.  No surprise the states with higher vaccination rates have fewer cases and deaths.  

Another way to utilize your critical mind is to ask the questions 'to what end?' and 'Who profits from this and how?'  These questions, and most of this entry, are universal with respect to conspiracy theories in general, but we'll stick with the one at hand.  Who would benefit from the successful outcome of the supposed conspiracy and why?  Clearly, the pharma companies would receive the greatest benefit by reaping huge profits from government contracts to develop and manufacture the vaccines on an emergency basis.  PPE manufacturers also benefitted from a massive spike in demand.  Hell, I received some nice upside orders from 3M earlier in the pandemic.  Maybe I'm in on the conspiracy.  Shit, I've said too much.

What stands out to me is the massive number of 'auxiliary players' required to be complicit in the scheme, but who wouldn't profit.  What's in it for them to participate or at least keep their mouths shut?  It's not as though the profits pharma took in would be sufficient to buy everyone's silence.  Let's look at one of the most important groups of auxiliary players, the media.

Why is it that these conspiracy theories are always 'broken' by fringe media outlets, or bloggers, or some guy in the produce aisle?  They're never ever covered by legitimate news outlets.  The media's in on it!  Sorry to burst your bubble, but logic says otherwise.  For those who've forgotten, all of these outlets (CNN, NYT, Fox News) are for profit companies.  What generates the most revenue for a news outlet?  Certainly not suppressing what would be sensational developments.  Such reporting would generate massive ratings / readership, which would make them more money than an entity paying them hush money.  Because not only would they get a short term bump, but the ratings and higher ad placement prices would carry on for some time.  The media, all the media, would fight tooth and nail to break such a story and cover it non-stop for as long as that gravy train lasted.  

On the flip side, what do the conspiracy theorists get in return for their activities?  Attention, money, and (misplaced) credibility that they wouldn't have received were they going about their lives.  Who wouldn't throw out a ton of bullshit for that payout?  Seems the conspiracy freaks might have greater motivation than those allegedly complicit in the conspiracy they're trying to sell.   

Touching on the politically motivated, it would be quite the fantasy world to get D's and R's to agree to this sort of thing (or anything else, for that matter).  Make no mistake, they'd all have to be complicit.   Not happening.  The wretched right seems hell bent on their constituents dying from Covid by keeping them from getting vaccinated, even though they've all be vaccinated themselves.  There's some serious motivation for them to be driving the shit out of these conspiracies, if there were even the tiniest fragment of truth to them.  But you're not hearing a peep from even the more euthanasia worthy lawmakers, like MTG or Louis Gohmert.  I'll let you draw your own conclusion, but perhaps it's because such conspiracy theories are too obviously bullshit for even these dipshits to give oxygen to.  

The bottom line is that massive 'evil' conspiracies can't exist in secret, period.  Somebody always fucks up.  There will always be someone who loses the the fortitude to remain evil and caves.  Or, someone inadvertently shares too much with that underage hooker in Dallas.  This almost always happens when one party is involved.  Dozens of parties all gettin' down on the evil?  Hah!  Again, pure fantasy.  It becomes more of a farce, when you consider governments are involved.  Nothing stays secret in governments.  Throw in language barriers and differing agendas of the various supposedly involved countries and leaks will occur.  Every damned time.

Ultimately, there's no way the conspiracy at hand could be true.  It would have been leaked by someone and amplified through every level of media, by those with the incentive to do so, of which there are many.  

Vaccination should be mandatory.  Those who believe this is a draconian and distasteful measure are idiots.  Your kids have to be vaccinated against various things to attend school, so you've already complied with mandatory vaccinations and given proof to the school system.  Oops, didn't think of that, did you?  You're not a fucking virologist, so don't pretend to know what is and isn't true on the internet about the virus, particularly when crosschecking facts blows the damned thing up prima facia.  You don't have feathers, so stop parroting everything you read that you fall for.  Do the right thing for yourself and your family, for a change.  Take off the tin foil hat, say goodbye to Q once and for all, and get your fucking family vaccinated.  

Also, stop with the idiotic memes comparing mandatory vaccinations with the Holocaust or any other Nazi symbolism.  Comparing vaccination with genocide is offensive, because there is no fucking comparison, you moronic snowflake.  While I'm typically fine allowing morons to identify themselves in grand fashion, there are too many soft minds in this country who may believe the bullshit.  Largely in the same way there are those who believe the election was stolen from the Cheeto faced shit gibbon; but I already covered that one.  

Now, really get off my lawn.

Monday, July 12, 2021

Dog Shit and Drag Queens

It's been quite the week, filled with all sorts of things impacting my dull life.  I didn't feel as though any of these topics deserved their own entry, so here's the omnibus update.  Buckle up, buttercup.

The job interviewing process has become manic, with what should have been five interviews this past week (I feel like one of the popular girls!).  Most companies aren't bothering with phone interviews anymore, preferring to go right to video calls for first and second rounds.  I've worn the same dress shirt for at least four interviews, at this point.  I'm only wearing it for an hour at a time, so it's not as though it gets dirty or wrinkled.  It goes without saying I also wear shorts for these interviews.  

I'd be lying if I said I miss in person interviews.  For those who've never been on one in another city, it's not much fun.  Get up at O Dark Thirty, rush to the airport, pray flights are on time, arrive at destination, rent car, head to interview, try to push the stress and fatigue out of your system and appear vibrant and on the ball for an hour.  Rush to catch your return flight, land at midnight.  Try to remember what you said on your interview.  My favorite one of these was when I flew to Chicago in front of a heavy snow storm.  Flights were being cancelled all over the place.  I wound up flying into Baltimore, staying the night, then driving to Richmond in the storm.  

Next up is something that if it was a dessert, would be called Masochist's Delight.

Changing the furnace filter required a trip down a hallway I never visit and during that exercise, I discovered that my dog does have some separation anxiety, illustrated by the half dozen piles of what had began as loose dog shit.  By the time I discovered the little brown piles of joy, they were becoming fossilized and approaching diamond hardness.  I'll spare you the details of the required cleanup effort, but it probably goes without saying a good time was not had by all.  

My clothes washer decided to demonstrate its ability to sustain water flow and flooded my laundry room.  It demonstrated its displeasure with my ceasing that activity by not working since.  I'm fairly sure it's the water pressure / level sensor and have a replacement arriving next week.  In the meantime, I'm reprising my college student role, by taking laundry to my parents.

The battery on the Caddy SUV I appropriated from my parents has passed into the great lead acid beyond and from what I've read on the internet, there's a fifty fifty chance a trip to the dealer will be required for a memory re-flash.  Yet another reason I'll never buy American again.

On the positive side, I quit smoking a week ago and haven't killed anyone (yet).  Yes, I'm an intelligent individual and yes, I know it's bad for me, but it was one of the few things that gave me a modicum of pleasure.  Ultimately, I had to face the fact that I wasn't thirty anymore and couldn't grab a smoke, then jump into a vigorous workout.  It was finally catching up to me and I found myself lacking energy and occasionally becoming winded when I shouldn't have.  Since quitting, my workouts have been infinitely more productive and I'm quickly losing the weight I gained during the parental Florida incident.  Stress, ice cream, and no place to work out will pack on the pounds.  

I'll finish with something scandalous.  Tomorrow, I'm going to Sephora and buying makeup for myself.  No, I'm not joining a drag queen show, even though I have the time.  For the aforementioned video interviews, I've set the stage quite well, I think.  I've got the right stuff in the background and an inexpensive set of photo studio lights to help minimize the effects of aging.  Unfortunately, I have a very fair complexion and the lights wash me out and make me look like a member of the undead.  I'd read that a large number of men were using makeup to optimize their appearance on video conferences and it seems I'll be one of them.  

What do you think?  Vanity, craziness, or solid marketing?