Thread by @bansisharma

1. Vaccination Rates and Political Affiliation

While I find the enclosed thread well argued and intelligent, I believe the author (@NGrossman81) has his own ideological blinders on. I invite him to an intelligent debate.

Nick, read this thread and respond if you will.

https://twitter.com/NGrossman81/status/1416724328591282176

2. First off, I admit this graph is devastating on the face of it and, consequently, very persuasive in support of Nick's argument provided one concedes two fundamental assumptions:

3. a) Covid vaccinations are an unmitigated good
b) Residents of red counties base their Covid vaccination decisions exclusively, or even predominantly, on what they hear from influencers on the right, like Tucker Carlson

4. While many can and will debate the first assumption about Covid vaccinations being an unmitigated good, I won't. I have some reservations but on the whole and on balance I am convinced Covid vaccinations are very effective and a good thing for adults.

5. It is the second assumption that red county residents' vaccination decisions are predominantly influenced by the likes of Tucker Carlson that I take a serious issue with. It reflects the liberal conceit that they have divine knowledge of what motivates red county people.

6. Liberals never attribute horrendous decisions by BLM/Antifa goons to loot, burn, and maim innocents to Democratic leaders and influencers, but they scour the land for negative data on red states and attribute it to Republican leaders and influencers. Why is that?

7. Such slandering of the red county residents, predominantly in the heartland of America, is a typical attempt by liberal thinkers and writers who consider those heartland Americans as mindless boobs and the coastal elites as brainiacs. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

8. I contend that this graph does not necessarily reflect the influence of Tucker Carlsons on red county residents, but more likely than not, the influence of red county residents on the commentaries of people like Tucker Carlson.

https://twitter.com/NGrossman81/status/1416724328591282176?s=20

9. In other words, it is just as likely that Tucker Carlson follows rather than leads the sentiment of red county residents.

10. So what shapes the Covid sentiment of red county residents? Well, the same thing that shapes the Covid sentiment of people in New York, New Jersey, Michigan, et al. It is the personal assessment of the risks that Covid-19 poses. People are the same everywhere.

11. Produce a graph with the X-axis replaced with "Covid-19 deaths per 100,000" instead of Trump voting percentage and you might see a straight line correlation even stronger than that reflected in the politically manipulative graph above.

12. The red counties are predominantly located in the heartland of America where the nature of the landscape and population densities are conducive to reduced spread of Covid. Consequently, people's perception of Covid risk are more muted than in disaster zones like NYC.

13. Covid vaccines are nothing but a risk mitigation measure when it comes to individual decisions -- it is a balancing act between the risk from a rapidly developed vaccine versus the risk of getting sick with Covid-19.

14. Covid-19 risk looms large in the minds of blue county residents, not so large in the minds of red county residents. You can argue with whose assessment is more accurate and why, but you cannot argue that one's particular physical environment has no bearing on the assessment.

15. Like I said, I support the effort to persuade more adults to get vaccinated, based on my assessment of the pros and cons of the Covid vaccines (I believe Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are very good). What I don't appreciate is mindless politicization of the issue.

The End

P.S. If you must politicize, here is an alternative take: Blue county residents are getting vaccinated at a higher rate because they are scared witless by the inability of their Democratic leaders to manage Covid-19, as evidenced by NYC being the worst hit city in the world.

By the way @NGrossman81 hasn't uttered a peep with regard to the above thread I wrote to rip out his insane political blather using sophistry of a tendentious chart that impresses liberals when the argument comports with their bigoted prejudices.

Vaccination Rates

And here is further evidence that vaccination rates have very little to do with party affiliation. And any Democrat who feels compelled to politicize (I don't want to) should make a note that the least vaccinated community below votes overwhelmingly Democratic.