Bari - the "believe science" admonition is a bit too cute/simplistic. mRNA-based vaccines are science, yes, but they are NEW science. The word vaccine connotes technology accumulated throughout the 20th century that's been thru a gauntlet of regulatory testing and real world experience. That's not mRNA. I would say mRNA is free-riding on the good reputation of "vaccines" as we know them. Even so, the vaccine industry has been a backwater of pharma for decades, losing funding and talent over time. Very little innovation has resulted, mostly "delivery and dosage", not anything new. Outfits like BioNTech were moonshot players off to the side focused on big things like cancer. Pfizer is just a manufacturing and marketing partner, there is no Pfizer science in the mRNA vaccine. So, yes, it is science, but it is not what 99% of us think of when we think of vaccine. It may be great, it may be extraneous...we simply don't know much about mRNA "vaccines".
Great article, well balanced, one of the recent best on COVD. Still wish that everyone could wait until a reasonable age of consent before the lil peanut gets its trim. Seems kinda barbaric. Nevertheless, congratulations to Molly and family. L'chaim.
I wear a mask under duress; in my heart I am maskless. And because I am of sound mind and body, I reject the vaccine as being worse than the illness. If vaccine passports or similar come online, I'll guess I'll just stay home.
I ain't doin' it. I'm 70 years old, in the high-risk demographic. In the event that I contract the virus, all other things being equal, my chances of survival are over 98%. Some figures put it at over 99%. I would, of course. do everything I could to make sure that all other things are not equal. Hydrochlorquine and Z-Pak, remdesiver, etc.
FWIW, my grandfather was a victim of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, so I never got to know him. Also, I haven't had a flu shot since my Navy days, 40 years ago.
I will trust to the forbearance of reptiles and the goodwill of my fellow man, and exercise sensible precautions with respect to this virus.
The video is quite good since it provides the beginnings of a roadmap in our changing world. There are reasonable suggestions as to a way forward. Some of Neil Ferguson's comments are spot on with regards to why "wokeism" is tolerated by members of our Power Elite.
As a "Founding Member" for this substack it would be good to have an avenue to bring up ideas for Bari's consideration (she is on to something). Absent this I'll employ this space in the hope that Bari would see it.
I've toyed with the idea of cancelling by subscription to the New York Times for years now. This is largely because I see it as a propaganda forum for a Failed Power Elite. I still have a subscription though it is just internet access and the physical Sunday Edition. The Times is no longer worth the expense for a traditional subscription.
I would suggest that individuals who are interested in the American Experience that they consider three things:
1) Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave. We are living in it. It is the information age. It is the application of technology to the more effective collation and analysis of information.
2) Jacob Bronowski (Carl Sagan as well). Both of these true intellectuals sensed very viscerally the environment which we now face. We live in a "counter-revolution" to the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. I sensed its emergence back in the 1970s and it has only gained further purchase since then. The fact that it is a force at all represents a failure of leadership in Western Civilization. That is a separate discussion though.
3) Martin Nowak's book, Supercooperators
Bear in mind that Jacob Bronowski warned against our current environment almost 1/2 century ago.
Well stated, Bari. In my community, our outdoor concert series just kicked off this week. About 1,000 people came to see a great show. Some wore masks, most didn’t. Vaccines are readily available and have been for weeks now. Everyone was respectful. Mostly, folks were happy to be out in the sunshine watching live music. Seeing all those smiling faces and kids running around was pure joy. You’re so right, we should be grateful to live in this country. Hell no, we’re not perfect but damnit we got vaccinations right and can now start to “unlock,” as you put it.
I’m all for vaccinations for the elderly, the sickly, and anybody else with a pre-existing condition that makes getting COVID-19 serious.
That said, we have no idea how many people have actually been exposed to it, and those that have been tested and confirmed positive usually have minimal to moderate side effects until they clear it. It is highly unlikely, if you are in good health and reasonably young, that there will be any significant long-term impact from COVID-19.
So, get the vaccine if you want it, but let’s get off the soapbox demanding people get it. It’s not polio.
Tucker uses sarcasm and exaggeration because that’s what these times need. Tucker is propaganda...the good kind. Anyone who misses that is not perceptive.
I'm writing from Jerusalem, and our experience here is relevant.
1. Trying to regiment Israelis is like trying to herd cats. For about a year mask discipline was mandatory, spottily enforced and widely ignored. A lot depends on who your friends and milieu are; in my circles obeying the rules is considered simple citizenship, fortunately, but it's hardly universal.
2. Eventually, in a total population of 9.3 million, we were suffering 9000 new cases a day, and you knew that about 0.8-1% of them weren't going to make it; a big blow for a small country. We had over 1200 critical cases at any one time and the hospitals were at the end of their tether.
3. Today over 80% of adults are vaccinated or post-infection. Mask discipline has been rescinded outdoors; indoors it is spottily enforced and widely ignored.
4. But the decisive thing is statistics. You can't argue with them. The daily infection rate is now below 100 a day. Critical cases hover around 100 total.
5. Life is pretty much back to normal. I'm going to three weddings this week, having attended none in person for over a year. No masks, band, dancing, just like before COVID. Are we taking our lives in our hands? Refer to 4 above; the numbers don't lie.
6. If indeed 70% of the adult population is vaccinated by July 4 - alongside those who got sick and have recovered - it'll all be behind the people in the States as well.
Bari, I am looking forward to your eventual discussion of your own intellectual odyssey. I am 69, and still learning. I have had a few experiences that have really modified my views, over what my nurture baseline was, or over what was preprogrammed by my temperament. I would love to hear your comments someday.
Well said Bari. Ignore the maskholes (like those in Brookline, MA) and live free. Be courteous until businesses reverse their useless masking rules. I look forward to grabbing a shopping cart whose handle is not slick with disinfectant. And flying without the damp mask stuck to my face. But it is happening - herd immunity is upon us (no, that does not mean zero positive tests), just as the real scientists predicted. It is beyond time to visit our families and friends.
Bari - you do a terrific job of choosing your subject and presenting it in a way the fosters really good dialog! I am so thankful for that. This column is an excellent example of this. Most of the comments are thoughtful and present differing viewpoints (imagine that!) because the folks who follow you seem to be, overall, intelligent and reasonable. I thoroughly enjoy your columns and the comments! I am about to return to working from the office so won't have as much time to participate as I have since I joined. I'll miss that.
Your third point may be more influential than you realize. I believe that for the last 20+ years the baby boomer generation, as it is approaching retirement and decreasing impact, has been searching for something equivalent to "saving the world" that the WWI and WWII generations did. They don't want to die knowing they really didn't have much of an impact, although maintaining a safe, prosperous, increasingly democratic world is just as significant in the historic context. But "maintaining and improving" status quo is not nearly as dramatic and does not inspire myths, legends, songs, and poetry. I've watched the boomers (I am at the tail end of it) chase and create crisis after crisis in hopes of cementing their legacy through rescuing the world. All they have done, instead, is severely damage what was passed on to them by the Greatest Generation. They cannot accept that "you don't call history, history calls you". History has called on the boomers to be stewards of their rich inheritance; they have squandered it instead.
Wow, that's brilliant. Never thought about it that way, but you are 100% right. I think part of it might be the result of secularization of the society - it's easier to accept "you don't call history, history calls you" if you have faith in intelligent design...
Bari - the "believe science" admonition is a bit too cute/simplistic. mRNA-based vaccines are science, yes, but they are NEW science. The word vaccine connotes technology accumulated throughout the 20th century that's been thru a gauntlet of regulatory testing and real world experience. That's not mRNA. I would say mRNA is free-riding on the good reputation of "vaccines" as we know them. Even so, the vaccine industry has been a backwater of pharma for decades, losing funding and talent over time. Very little innovation has resulted, mostly "delivery and dosage", not anything new. Outfits like BioNTech were moonshot players off to the side focused on big things like cancer. Pfizer is just a manufacturing and marketing partner, there is no Pfizer science in the mRNA vaccine. So, yes, it is science, but it is not what 99% of us think of when we think of vaccine. It may be great, it may be extraneous...we simply don't know much about mRNA "vaccines".
I am concerned that your ˋspidey sense ´has atrophied a bit in lockdown. We are being propagandized.
Trust The Science from Fauci, Wallensky, and Ghebreyesus?
This administration wants us afraid and submissive.
I am concerned that your ˋspidey sense ´has atrophied a bit in lockdown. We are being propagandized.
Trust The Science from Fauci, Wallensky, and Ghebreyesus?
This administration wants us afraid and submissive.
Great article, well balanced, one of the recent best on COVD. Still wish that everyone could wait until a reasonable age of consent before the lil peanut gets its trim. Seems kinda barbaric. Nevertheless, congratulations to Molly and family. L'chaim.
I wear a mask under duress; in my heart I am maskless. And because I am of sound mind and body, I reject the vaccine as being worse than the illness. If vaccine passports or similar come online, I'll guess I'll just stay home.
I ain't doin' it. I'm 70 years old, in the high-risk demographic. In the event that I contract the virus, all other things being equal, my chances of survival are over 98%. Some figures put it at over 99%. I would, of course. do everything I could to make sure that all other things are not equal. Hydrochlorquine and Z-Pak, remdesiver, etc.
FWIW, my grandfather was a victim of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, so I never got to know him. Also, I haven't had a flu shot since my Navy days, 40 years ago.
I will trust to the forbearance of reptiles and the goodwill of my fellow man, and exercise sensible precautions with respect to this virus.
Just finished reading and listening to "True Believers".
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/americas-true-believers-and-their?fbclid=IwAR39R6jBKAgt3OzrEC89ry2Krj4Us2qu6_PbDZW-ZOfK1WTlILUDkSbVFME
The video is quite good since it provides the beginnings of a roadmap in our changing world. There are reasonable suggestions as to a way forward. Some of Neil Ferguson's comments are spot on with regards to why "wokeism" is tolerated by members of our Power Elite.
As a "Founding Member" for this substack it would be good to have an avenue to bring up ideas for Bari's consideration (she is on to something). Absent this I'll employ this space in the hope that Bari would see it.
I've toyed with the idea of cancelling by subscription to the New York Times for years now. This is largely because I see it as a propaganda forum for a Failed Power Elite. I still have a subscription though it is just internet access and the physical Sunday Edition. The Times is no longer worth the expense for a traditional subscription.
I would suggest that individuals who are interested in the American Experience that they consider three things:
1) Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave. We are living in it. It is the information age. It is the application of technology to the more effective collation and analysis of information.
2) Jacob Bronowski (Carl Sagan as well). Both of these true intellectuals sensed very viscerally the environment which we now face. We live in a "counter-revolution" to the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution. I sensed its emergence back in the 1970s and it has only gained further purchase since then. The fact that it is a force at all represents a failure of leadership in Western Civilization. That is a separate discussion though.
3) Martin Nowak's book, Supercooperators
Bear in mind that Jacob Bronowski warned against our current environment almost 1/2 century ago.
https://youtu.be/dYq4p3z_WXA
Think about it.
Well stated, Bari. In my community, our outdoor concert series just kicked off this week. About 1,000 people came to see a great show. Some wore masks, most didn’t. Vaccines are readily available and have been for weeks now. Everyone was respectful. Mostly, folks were happy to be out in the sunshine watching live music. Seeing all those smiling faces and kids running around was pure joy. You’re so right, we should be grateful to live in this country. Hell no, we’re not perfect but damnit we got vaccinations right and can now start to “unlock,” as you put it.
I’m all for vaccinations for the elderly, the sickly, and anybody else with a pre-existing condition that makes getting COVID-19 serious.
That said, we have no idea how many people have actually been exposed to it, and those that have been tested and confirmed positive usually have minimal to moderate side effects until they clear it. It is highly unlikely, if you are in good health and reasonably young, that there will be any significant long-term impact from COVID-19.
So, get the vaccine if you want it, but let’s get off the soapbox demanding people get it. It’s not polio.
Tucker uses sarcasm and exaggeration because that’s what these times need. Tucker is propaganda...the good kind. Anyone who misses that is not perceptive.
Joy Reid is truly a useless idiot.
I'm writing from Jerusalem, and our experience here is relevant.
1. Trying to regiment Israelis is like trying to herd cats. For about a year mask discipline was mandatory, spottily enforced and widely ignored. A lot depends on who your friends and milieu are; in my circles obeying the rules is considered simple citizenship, fortunately, but it's hardly universal.
2. Eventually, in a total population of 9.3 million, we were suffering 9000 new cases a day, and you knew that about 0.8-1% of them weren't going to make it; a big blow for a small country. We had over 1200 critical cases at any one time and the hospitals were at the end of their tether.
3. Today over 80% of adults are vaccinated or post-infection. Mask discipline has been rescinded outdoors; indoors it is spottily enforced and widely ignored.
4. But the decisive thing is statistics. You can't argue with them. The daily infection rate is now below 100 a day. Critical cases hover around 100 total.
5. Life is pretty much back to normal. I'm going to three weddings this week, having attended none in person for over a year. No masks, band, dancing, just like before COVID. Are we taking our lives in our hands? Refer to 4 above; the numbers don't lie.
6. If indeed 70% of the adult population is vaccinated by July 4 - alongside those who got sick and have recovered - it'll all be behind the people in the States as well.
A suggestion- can you or your journalist colleagues dig into the plan the government has to monitor and report upon variants.
Bari, I am looking forward to your eventual discussion of your own intellectual odyssey. I am 69, and still learning. I have had a few experiences that have really modified my views, over what my nurture baseline was, or over what was preprogrammed by my temperament. I would love to hear your comments someday.
Well said Bari. Ignore the maskholes (like those in Brookline, MA) and live free. Be courteous until businesses reverse their useless masking rules. I look forward to grabbing a shopping cart whose handle is not slick with disinfectant. And flying without the damp mask stuck to my face. But it is happening - herd immunity is upon us (no, that does not mean zero positive tests), just as the real scientists predicted. It is beyond time to visit our families and friends.
Bari - you do a terrific job of choosing your subject and presenting it in a way the fosters really good dialog! I am so thankful for that. This column is an excellent example of this. Most of the comments are thoughtful and present differing viewpoints (imagine that!) because the folks who follow you seem to be, overall, intelligent and reasonable. I thoroughly enjoy your columns and the comments! I am about to return to working from the office so won't have as much time to participate as I have since I joined. I'll miss that.
Your third point may be more influential than you realize. I believe that for the last 20+ years the baby boomer generation, as it is approaching retirement and decreasing impact, has been searching for something equivalent to "saving the world" that the WWI and WWII generations did. They don't want to die knowing they really didn't have much of an impact, although maintaining a safe, prosperous, increasingly democratic world is just as significant in the historic context. But "maintaining and improving" status quo is not nearly as dramatic and does not inspire myths, legends, songs, and poetry. I've watched the boomers (I am at the tail end of it) chase and create crisis after crisis in hopes of cementing their legacy through rescuing the world. All they have done, instead, is severely damage what was passed on to them by the Greatest Generation. They cannot accept that "you don't call history, history calls you". History has called on the boomers to be stewards of their rich inheritance; they have squandered it instead.
Like so many truths... that was painful! Well said.
Wow, that's brilliant. Never thought about it that way, but you are 100% right. I think part of it might be the result of secularization of the society - it's easier to accept "you don't call history, history calls you" if you have faith in intelligent design...