For once I thought the discussions of Covid in this tread were treated from basically a scientific point of view and were rather apolitical. But I can understand where Nick is coming from and Covid discussion have a tendency to get ugly in a heartbeat, so even though this one has stayed tame so far, perhaps it is better to proactively avoid the topic.
Being "scientific" isn't as easy as it sounds. People often go with what sounds like it is to them. For example in my state masks are required, and yet we had some swings in numbers... Science is inconclusive on the masks as all the studies show null results because they're hard to conduct and tend to be maybe observational at best... on top of the fact they have to follow a virus around in the wild and it's near impossible to know if everyone's had it (the antibody tests appear to be shitty). So despite the SCIENCE, our commercials on TV tell us masks are scientifically proven effective. So how do you follow the science? I don't see how it can't be political. It's more like pick your politician or pick your scientist...
When I said this tread was discussing Covid more from a Scientific point of view I guess what I was trying to get across was that the nature of the discussion was up to that point largely unemotional and more like two scientists would discuss it. Just the facts and keep politics out of it. Of course eve among scientists there are varying opinions on things most often not so much about the facts, but on the relevance of the facts and how they build up to a bigger picture on a particular topic. Scientists and and often do disagree, but they will usually play Joe Friday and just discuss the matter from a professional point of view. And those discussions usually prove productive ad advance the understanding of the subject under study.
On the on the other hand all to many Covid discussions in the general public these days quickly turn political evolving into not much more thane emotional shouting matches of my guy did this vs your guy didn't do that or if my guy was in charge this never would have happened etc. These types of arguments usually accomplish nothing but raising blood pressure and hurting feelings.
That said I do agree with what you are saying and it is all the more reason to avoid Covid discussions here on AN. I know that is hard to do given the amount of impact that the virus has had on our daily routines, but he last things we want to cause here are high blood pressure and hard feelings.
I am beginning to think that Covid should join Religion and Politics on the list of things you never want to get in an argument about.
Recent Posts
