The world has become a very sorry place in recent years. Decades and centuries of advanced science are now meaningless in the eyes of a vocal minority. Some of it's completely stupid, like Dinosaurs didn't exist or The Earth is Flat. Some of it's downright dangerous and it's causing actual harm, the seeming war against Vaccines is at the forefront of that. Conspiracy Theorists and the like have been really emboldened in recent years and it's gone from being a bit of an amusing distraction to downright sinister.
Someone who pops onto Reddit, Facebook and the like and starts throwing out demonstrably false information about vaccines and how everyone is a sheep to believe science and completely ignores any evidence or point that doesn't fit into their version of reality is a menace and threat. Of course you can make the point about Freedom of speech and beliefs, but a lot of these people try to ignore that there's also consequences to what you put out there and the people listening are entirely in their rights to respond in a fashion to say that they think you've got the IQ of a cabbage. One common thing I see is those pushing these ideas asking if you're really going to trust science and listen to the doctors. And I say yes, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to listen to the doctor, the immunologist, the virologist etc - they may not know everything, but they're trained to deal with this and their expertise extends beyond a Friday night on google.
And of course, it's always political. It shouldn't always be, but politics always seems to get it claws into everything. Battling against mask mandates seems to be a particular hot topic in several countries, especially in the US from what I've seen in the news. Will the Reddit shutdown protest accomplish anything? That remains to be seen, but it's at least something.
I'll leave with a quote from Dara O'Briain that I think perfectly sums up the anti-vax and science denier brigades.
“Science knows it doesn't know everything; otherwise, it'd stop. But just because science doesn't know everything doesn't mean you can fill in the gaps with whatever fairy tale most appeals to you.”
Next part isn't to you Stryker, but in the spirit of your first post. People of all sorts of different views, ideologies and cultures, can in most cases come together around playing a game together like STO. Insert real World politics into it, especially in these very polarized times that's not possible. Players would have to split into their own politicized ghettos because of the intense hostility generated between different political viewpoints. So for that reason and because I'm new to this fleet and don't want instigate a big forum stink in my first few posts, I'm going to refrain from responding to some other posts here on exactly who is putting out misinformation, and who's a danger to who, as well as the whole censorship issue. Live Long and Prosper!
The problem is, is that anti-vaccination isn't really a "political viewpoint", it's just plain wrong, and dangerous. I get that you don't want to cause a fuss on the forum, but I never shy away from causing a bit of a fuss. Vaccinations have shown great benefits to humanity, with many diseases starting to be less prevelent, but as the rise of anti-vaxxers came about, those diseases that were all but eliminated, started to rise again. Vaccinations are important, like super important, to say otherwise is factually incorrect. Here are some of my favourite videos on the subject.
And people getting the idea that bleach, or horse de-wormer is a better alternative to the vaccination, well, that's the danger of disinformation.
The problem is, is that anti-vaccination isn't really a "political viewpoint", it's just plain wrong, and dangerous. I get that you don't want to cause a fuss on the forum, but I never shy away from causing a bit of a fuss. Vaccinations have shown great benefits to humanity, with many diseases starting to be less prevelent, but as the rise of anti-vaxxers came about, those diseases that were all but eliminated, started to rise again. Vaccinations are important, like super important, to say otherwise is factually incorrect. Here are some of my favourite videos on the subject.
[...]
And people getting the idea that bleach, or horse de-wormer is a better alternative to the vaccination, well, that's the danger of disinformation.
Yeah, no surprises there, people like you never shy away from making a fuss, you can't help but inject your political viewpoint onto everything and onto everyone. So sure of your position, and blatantly unaware of the irony of some of your posts and comments. For instance, the constant references to Flat Eathers. The irony being that were it not for people that challenged the status quo narrative "facts" of the establishment of their day, you too would likely be a Flat Earther. Then there's all the reference to "science" and you choose to post 3 videos of entertainers telling us the "facts". If you like I can post dozens of videos of actual scientists and medical professionals telling you why these shots are dangerous and do not protect you much less anyone else, and are in fact not even vaccines. You won't find those videos on Reddit or Youtube because they're censored. You have to go to Bitchute, Brighteon, Banned.video, or Rumble etc to find them. I know.. you were told those places are full of Neo-Nazis and the like, well they are not. Another irony, the actual children and grandchildren of real Nazis, and British and American Eugenicists who inspired the Nazis in the first place are the very ones telling you to take the shots and shun those trying to tell you the truth. I know it's all too much.. "Conspiracy Theories!" Like powerful people never got together and conspired... So much easier not to do actual research and figure out what's true for yourself, than remain thoroughly blue pilled and content in your own supreme ignorance.
Hey now, don't go discounting Hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin. No serious studies have been performed as to their efficacy because people hate the former President of the United States. Big Pharma is in the pockets of the current administration, and they are keeping the vaccination hoax alive so that money can be funneled through the vaccine makers and through their lobbyists to law makers all across the world. It's all a scam. The current "outbreak" is no more deadly than the annual flu. This is a FACT. The reports of hundreds of thousands of deaths are not due to some flu bug, it's because of the vaccines. The vaccines are killing people and the one-world governments and the media are lying to you. But I know the truth. I have done my own research. Unlike you, I am not a sheep. I have read Dr. Brogan's analyses, I have read the Mawson Study's conclusions, I know what happened to Dr. Michael. All of this nonsense can be stopped in one week. Per the SLCCC, ask your doctor to prescribe Hydroxychloroquine. Take it as directed. After the first day on The Droxy, apply the Ivermectin sheep dip to your whole body. Do this every day for seven days. That is how we stop this whole thing in its tracks in seven days.
Here's the thing: You don't know if I actually believe this.
So let me put it to rest. I do NOT believe any of that. {↖ ⬆ ↗} None of it. Nothing that I wrote is true. However, that isn't stopping people from believing every single word. People actually believe some -- maybe not all, but some -- of that drivel, and some of them will die for believing it. And that's sad.
To bring it around to the O/T, I can get behind some form of protest or awareness campaign waged against misinformation. But I think there might be better, more long-term ways to do it. Instead of a complete blackout for a day, maybe a temporary redirect to a misinformation buster page or a sidebar with vaccination facts instead of online shopping or dating ads. Put the information in front of eyeballs. Churchill said that a lie will cross half the globe before the truth puts its pants on. Well, the lies are now global and the truth is just getting around to tying its laces. Sci-fi and fantasy have always been a mirror on society, and their creators have always tried to show us a better way -- or warn us about what might happen if we don't change. The societal messaging is especially heavy in Star Trek, so I would expect that during some kind of Misinformation Awareness Campaign, Star Trek fans would be a part of it. And that's fine.
"And when I saw the breadth of my domain, I wept, for there were no more worlds left to conquer."
Are, are you serious? I don't believe someone could join a Star Trek community, and be so ignorant of actual science, as well as the insulting notion of comparing the research into vaccinations to Nazis, take a step back, look at your arguement, it doesn't make sense.
If vaccinations were the work of evil big pharma, and Nazis, then how is it that the science of vaccination first started in 1796? Vaccine science has been going on for a long, long time, before the Nazis. You want some research? Here's a quick little rundown - https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/v...ry-vaccination
Look at what vaccinations have done to polio rates, the evidence is right there, infront of you.
And no, I would never be a flat Earther, for the simple fact that there is evidence right infront of me to show that the Earth is not flat, there are repeatable experiments to show that the Earth isn't flat.
The neat thing about science is that it is recorded, you can see how tests were conducted, the results of those tests, and the methodology to conduct those tests again, so you can get the results yourself. That is the purpose of science.
