I'm constantly amazed that you can give people all of the information that you have on a subject that you're objectively extremely knowledgeable about, and it just doesn't matter because they're going to make the wrong decision anyway.
Here's where I really struggle, though. When they come back to you later and are suffering from said choice, and all you want to do internally is scream "I TOLD YOU SO" but you go out of your way to help them with the consequences of their bad decisions. And they still decide to do something else. But you can't help yourself from thinking "I'm going to get the next one! We're going to save some lives."
It's almost like we should have a reliable source of information for protecting your health and safety, that people would trust. Maybe it could be federally funded or something, and be comprised of top scientists who could lend their expert, unencumbered by capitalism or politics, advice. People could refer to this organization, or center, perhaps, and understand that they could trust their advice. So scientists and other knowledgeable people could give advice, and then direct people to the trusted, central knowledge source.
Bear with me here while I think this through.
Maybe, they could give expert info on things like keeping your water clean, or diseases. When paper after paper says things like microplastics are bad and keep showing up internally in people in gallstones, eyes, heart plaques, etc., or when decades of science says that PFAs are linked to dozens or health problems, including a lesser response to vaccines for the disease they'd want to, perhaps, "prevent" they'd give timely advice on how to do things like remove them from their drinking water so people aren't left to figure it out for themselves.
They'd never give shit advice like "If your drinking water is contaminated above levels specified by the EPA or your state government, use an alternate water source for drinking, preparing food, cooking, brushing teeth, and any other activity when you might swallow water" while people do their own research and make decisions that fly against the science of the matter, because, hey, it's an "alternate source" right?
No, they'd give real, practical, timely advice to keep the citizens under their watch healthy.
@BE
there are those of us that do appreciate greatly the sage advice although it’s extremely rare to find such people
most want easy & nothing, and I do mean absolutely nothing, worth having in this world is easy because if it is, it’s a lie
Power has been co-opted by evil people & sell outs. Our system is irrevocably broken but… the Stockdale Paradox keeps me going
Planning for far future appears useless but preparation is always a good thing & ends up being useful later I find🌈🌈🖤
You're a knowledge seeker! That's, honestly, one of the reasons I find your posts so helpful. You don't accept, nor trust, the "easy" advice.
@BE 😍🌈I’m not everyones cuppa🫖🍵but that’s okay;) as tbh often annoy myself🤣😇
Distinctly recall in 10th grade having a bumper sticker pasted on my canvas binder that said “Question Authority” while I was transitioning from preppie to preppie-punk-Goth & it seemingly stuck ever since much to many’s chagrin lol
Will willingly ask all the questions nobody wants to ask for fear of looking stupid.. but have zero patience for stupid people ironically🤷🏻♀️
Glad you don’t find me annoying🖤
@Lorrrraaaaine @BE I appreciate you both and enjoy learning so much from you both. I wish people would listen! It’s an interesting place we find ourselves. Glad I have support to remain virus free (as best I can).
@GeorgiaOnMyMind @BE
It’s lovely to know people that are acting appropriately🖤
Although I’d love for us to all be wrong, I think we base our theories on not only solid science but irl obvious in your face observation that surrounds us all or experienced ourselves. I am glad I trained myself to be anti-athletic😂as it helps😇
As difficult as maintaining this level of caution is in a society that has it’s head stuck in the sand… when you are nearly💯certain, it’s much easier to keep on✨💫🌈
Annoying?
Nah, quite the opposite.
When I read you put my experience so concisely…
I feel not alone.
@BE @BigBadDog
🖤🖤🖤
it’s all very shocking & feel incredibly lucky to know you guys because I think my head would pop off otherwise
I feel bad for my spouse who has nobody but me.. and don’t get me started on anti-Covid people with children because it’s pretty much identical feelings. My coping tends to be, it could always be worse…& then imagining a worse situation
Being this patient for the “final” receipts is maddening & beyond frustrating. They’re coming however⏱️⏱️⏱️
I'm all for punk-Goth-question-authority-Loraine!
@BE I totally get it. The worst ones are the disingenuous questions that are not asked because they want an answer, but are asked because they want you to waste your time answering when they won't even listen to the answer anyway.
For those of us who try to base our beliefs on evidence, it seems obvious to explain that evidence to the uninformed, but it doesn't always work like that and that's why you get stressed out.
One way to enable the genuinely curious to grow and learn, while at the same time deflecting the disingenuous, and saving yourself some stress, is a technique known as #StreetEpistemology
Here is a very short video of how it works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASn-VdevwTE&t=2s
@BE It is really tiring and frustrating. For what's it's worth, I appreciate your posts. It's good information and good to see in my timeline. Thank you.
I'm, honestly, eternally grateful for having found the mastodon community that I have, because otherwise I think I'd have zero hope for people.
@BE Right there with you!
@BE this didn't click for me wrt PFAs until just now.
One might hypothesize that CKD/CLD was on track for an incredible increase even prior to letting a virus that feeds on ACE2 reinfect us over and over and over..
"What, I say, what the AF?!“
Yes! As I say often "We are an unhealthy species even before accounting for COVID."
And, of course, notice I said that they "have kidney problems" because you don't say they "have a microplastics, COVID and PFAs problem" unfortunately.
@BE the fact that the "cOmOrBiDiTiEs" was such a successful talking point early in the pandemic seems in indicate just how unhealthy we have become -- and how many already knew it, on some level.
That's really the heart of the matter, too. Remember when the CDC first put out a list of comorbidities and it was most of the world's population? But most people don't think of *themselves* as being on that list.
Here's the latest list from the CDC updated just 5 days ago:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care/underlyingconditions.html
There's like 30 things in the "Higher Risk (conclusive)" category alone.
@BE *exactly* exactly. 🎯
@BE
It can also cause most of these, the exceptions being congenital, like Down's Syndrome.
@trendless
@noyes just to point out: the work may be poor, but it's empowering for laypeople, *having an official list* to point to and say, "look, I'm on this list, you can't say I'm not at risk."
This is useful - even if wrong - for people struggling to access care.
@datum
I see your point, and it's a good one, but it gives me flashbacks to when Walensky arrived at a press conference with a list of comorbidities telling the general public that Covid wasn't a danger to them unless they had multiple items off of that list. It was very clear that she didn't understand a damn thing about the threads uniting them. It's basically the same thing as telling coal miners not to worry about the canaries dying because miners aren't birds.
@noyes Good points. The eugenicism is awful. Here in BC, there have been several fronts where medical gatekeepers blocked care for people because they didn't check enough boxes. Separating into vulnerable/not vulnerable is a false dichotomy - we all have ACE2 receptors, we all have but one life to live.
@BE @trendless you're really hitting home runs today. This is an EXCELLENT resource for people who need to be able to tell their HCWs that they are conclusively at higher risk!
@BE that hits so hard. I wrote out but will spare you a painful anecdote. TLDR: you're not alone having that interaction, and I commiserate with your pain at the avoidable suffering of others, who chose to ignore warnings.
Thank you SO much for, within legal bounds, sharing your insider understanding of water cleanliness issues.
I feel like you and Peter Kalmus would be a powerhouse collaborative team. You both have a depth of knowledge and an ability to convey, and are unwilling to accept falsehoods.
Also, in BC we have thousands of orphaned oil wells; many fracked. I feel like your expertise could maybe help (or even prompt) The Tyee or The Narwhal to cover the issue, if you're ever looking to connect with journalists to more broadly get the word out. No pressure, but if you're looking for a way to vent productively, they might help spread the news.
@BE These people are selfish and aren't thinking of others.
Absolutely nobody's mind was ever changed by an argument they had online.
What part of that made you think "argument" or "online"?
Erm, something about "reliable source of information"
I'm not going to lie. Today I find myself exhausted in a way that I haven't since 2021 when it was obvious that we were going to sweep COVID under the rug.
It really doesn't matter if the topic is COVID, climate change or pollution.
"Hey, please tell me what I should do."
"OK, here you go. This is all the best science."
"Uhhhh, yikes. Nope."
*Time passes*
"So, hey, I have this super bad health problem. You have any ideas?"
*head explodes*
So, go ahead society at large. Burn your fossil fuels, slurp up all those microplastics and PFAs, and raw dog all that virus-laden air. No one's stopping you except yourself, and you don't seem able to stop.
THIS is why so many scientists who could be helping eventually give up, or take that huge paycheck from UltraMegaEvilCorp to do the opposite of what they used to do.