Observations about Covid, vaccine effectiveness, media portrayals/hypocrisy, and even Jan 6th to show the dangerous effect “trickle down irrationality”:
When disinformation causes otherwise irrational behavior to appear rational.
Let's unpack.....1/
When disinformation causes otherwise irrational behavior to appear rational.
Let's unpack.....1/
In the video above, @rubinreport uses Johnathon Isaac’s response about being unvaccinated to correctly encourage people to
- avoid summarily demonizing people
- have a measured, good-faith interpretation of other people's potentially good-faith “rational” motivations/actions
2/
- avoid summarily demonizing people
- have a measured, good-faith interpretation of other people's potentially good-faith “rational” motivations/actions
2/
I agree. Jonathon Isaac was very impressive in that interview.
We won’t make progress as a society by engaging in the same behavior that helped create the problem. And : 3/
We won’t make progress as a society by engaging in the same behavior that helped create the problem. And : 3/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1434136467337400324
Yet, just 12 seconds into the show, Rubin’s characterization of efforts to contain covid as attempts to “control”/tyrannize not only demonizes medical professionals (“elites”), but it’s also an implicit refusal to acknowledge ANY good faith motivation to protect public health: 4/
“[Covid is] going to be this constant cudgel that they can always use to control us and lock us down and put more rules on us, and all of the *stuff* that you all get since they’re always going to do that….. 5/
(Rubin continued)…..it’s not going to be a top-down thing where *they* say, ‘you can have your life back’…”
Well, for the most part……at the beginning of the summer, there was a “top-down thing” where people mostly had their life back. 6/
Well, for the most part……at the beginning of the summer, there was a “top-down thing” where people mostly had their life back. 6/
And then hospitals started filling up with unvaccinated covid infections…
And then thousands of unvaccinated people started dying from covid. 7/
foxnews.com/health/covid-1…
And then thousands of unvaccinated people started dying from covid. 7/
foxnews.com/health/covid-1…
At the 3:40 mark, Rubin, who appears to be “immune” from "contracting" the self-awareness necessary to recognize his own hypocrisy, gushes:
“Gosh, isn’t that refreshing….the tenor and tone with which he speaks.”
8/
“Gosh, isn’t that refreshing….the tenor and tone with which he speaks.”
8/
Later, Rubin, again completely oblivious to his own “tenor and tone” says:
“We’re being told that we can’t ask questions, we better just obey…..In American, for a limited time we’re still allowed to ask questions….
9/
“We’re being told that we can’t ask questions, we better just obey…..In American, for a limited time we’re still allowed to ask questions….
9/
(Rubin continued)…I wonder how much longer these two guys will be in the NBA b/c the NBA is not too kind to people who push back…the NBA has made it very clear they are political organization…..I wonder if it’s going to be a little harder for those guys to get contracts.” 10/
Let’s unpack.
First, let’s analyze Rubin’s insinuation that “the NBA is an extension of Left Wing authoritarianism”.
In the video, Isaac gave a very measured, very rational explanation for not being vaccinated. 11/
First, let’s analyze Rubin’s insinuation that “the NBA is an extension of Left Wing authoritarianism”.
In the video, Isaac gave a very measured, very rational explanation for not being vaccinated. 11/
However, there’s a saying in sports:
“Your greatest ability, is your availability”.
Generally, it’s used in the context of durability"
Regardless of your talent, if you can’t stay healthy, and can’t stay on the field/court, then your athletic dominance becomes irrelevant. 12/
“Your greatest ability, is your availability”.
Generally, it’s used in the context of durability"
Regardless of your talent, if you can’t stay healthy, and can’t stay on the field/court, then your athletic dominance becomes irrelevant. 12/
Well, for obvious reasons, every sport has a policy for covid-exposed and covid-positive players. In the NBA, there’s a 7 day quarantine for unvaccinated players who come in contact with someone who tests positive. Obviously, it can be much longer for infections. 13/
Jonathon Isaac makes $17.4 million per year, or about $212,000 per game. So, one close contact could easily result in missing three or four games, which deprives his team of $600-$800 of services. Theoretically,...14/
...missing a player for several games could be the difference in winning or losing those games, and between making or not making the playoffs.
In the case of Bradley Beal, the second player in the video, he makes over $34 million per year, so the above numbers double. 15/
In the case of Bradley Beal, the second player in the video, he makes over $34 million per year, so the above numbers double. 15/
Up until about 5 minutes ago, the Right actually supported private companies making decisions they deemed to be in the best interest of the company....
....regardless of whether those measures are taken to protect employees/customers…. 16/
....regardless of whether those measures are taken to protect employees/customers…. 16/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1378092895178162176
….or, in the case of the NBA to encouraging its players to take action to maximize their “availability”….
....and to use that potential "availability" to make free enterprise, profit-motivated personnel decisions to determine who they will sign to $34,000,000 contracts.
17/
....and to use that potential "availability" to make free enterprise, profit-motivated personnel decisions to determine who they will sign to $34,000,000 contracts.
17/
Now let’s circle back to Isaac’s very thoughtful/rational explanation/comments.
A talking point circling around the Right Wing media echo chamber is that natural antibodies are 27 times more effective than vaccines. Let’s dig into that study: 18/
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
A talking point circling around the Right Wing media echo chamber is that natural antibodies are 27 times more effective than vaccines. Let’s dig into that study: 18/
medrxiv.org/content/10.110…
The Israeli study (32k people) found:
- Never-infected, vaccinated people were 6-13 times more likely to get infected than previously infected unvaccinated people
- Risk of developing COVID was 27 times higher among the vaccinated, & risk of hospitalization 8 times higher
19/
- Never-infected, vaccinated people were 6-13 times more likely to get infected than previously infected unvaccinated people
- Risk of developing COVID was 27 times higher among the vaccinated, & risk of hospitalization 8 times higher
19/
But what isn’t usually included the echo chamber’s reporting is that the higher hospitalization rate….was based on just eight hospitalizations in a vaccinated group and one hospitalization in a previously infected group. (very small numbers/sample)
20/
science.org/content/articl…
20/
science.org/content/articl…
And the 13-fold increased risk of infection in the same analysis was based on just 238 infections in the vaccinated population, which is less than 1.5% of the more than 16,000 people, versus 19 reinfections among a similar number of people who once had covid.
21/
21/
Most importantly, the researchers compared more than 14k people who had a confirmed covid infection & were still unvaccinated with 14k previously infected people who received one dose of vaccine...the unvaccinated group was twice as likely to be reinfected as the vaccinated. 22/
Read that again.
The previously infected but unvaccinated group was twice as likely to be reinfected as the previously infected AND vaccinated group. (one dose of Pfizer vaccine)
23/
The previously infected but unvaccinated group was twice as likely to be reinfected as the previously infected AND vaccinated group. (one dose of Pfizer vaccine)
23/
This basically neuters any argument against vaccinations that is based on "effectiveness"...because, at least for people who have already been infected, the vaccine is twice as effective against reinfection. Basically, it neuters the "it doesn't stop infections", argument. 24/
In the case of NBA players, they're twice as likely to be “available” if they're vaccinated.
And any competitive/financial considerations taking that into account are actually “conservative” free market principles. 25/
And any competitive/financial considerations taking that into account are actually “conservative” free market principles. 25/
And any fear mongering comments about the “control”, or “cudgels” by guys like Rubin expose the fraudulence of his celebration of “tenor and tone”. 26/
What this also shows is the danger that misunderstandings, conflicting information, misinformation, and, especially, disinformation can have on people’s reactions. 27/
An otherwise irrational behavior can actual appear rational when it occurs in response to a false, irrational reality. With covid, the Right wing media propagates politicized disinformation to create a false reality. 28/
This causes people to respond to the manufactured reality, rather actual reality…..and can result in the reaction actually being rational based on the information they have. 29/
In the case of the NBA players, their responses are a rational reaction to incomplete information/disinformation. The media (Rubin) then uses these “rational” reactions to the alternate reality as proof that actual reality, and those who live in it, are irrational. 30/
This is a go-to move by the Right: The January 6th insurrection was, to a large degree, a result of people “rationally” reacting to an alternate reality created by Trump because…. 31/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1412036237343432708
When people legitimately believe an election was stolen, it becomes a rational response to “take it back” (January 6th), or “steal it back” in 2024.
32/
32/
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1413117793898094596
A Right wing conspiracy theory claiming the vaccine is designed to depopulate the world:
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1435209912473174025
This demonstrates once again the importance of focusing on the cause of the injury, rather than the symptoms:
To focus on the source of the disinformation, rather than the people who are reacting and responding to it.
To focus on the source of the disinformation, rather than the people who are reacting and responding to it.
https://twitter.com/Nick_Carmody/status/1442509028832137218
One anti-vax talking point is that since "the vaccine does not stop the spread of the virus", anti-vaxers are not putting others at risk.
This story is an example of how unvaccinated people requiring hospitalizations are putting others at risk:
This story is an example of how unvaccinated people requiring hospitalizations are putting others at risk:
https://twitter.com/summerbrennan/status/1442806675325476867
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