I enjoy social sites on the internet, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, seeing posts from friends, family, complete strangers. It is a phone call from the distance, a quick note; “Hey, I’m alive, older, greyer, but still breathing.” They’ve managed to shrink the world into manageable distances.
Amazing possibilities for communication and connection exist in a phone that you can put in your pocket. Technology meets humanity.
Of course there are the things that make no sense. How can you possibly understand a person who claims on Tuesday that the Coronavirus is a hoax, just a ruse to force compliance from a meek society and on Wednesday insists that the Coronavirus is a biological warfare agent intentionally, or accidentally released in Central China, and on Thursday posts about the absurdity of not allowing people to choose to be treat a respiratory infection (or a foolish ruse or a bioweapon) with an anti-parasitic drug? How do you deal with that?
How can a person be so cavalier about the numbers of hospitalizations, the deaths, all the tragic loss? How can a reasonable person doubt the apocalypse in the US today? Even if you don’t trust the CDC, and many people don’t, isn’t it safe to trust a local physician, maybe your doctor? According to the AMA over 96% of surveyed US physicians are vaccinated.
My doctor is keenly against prescribing medicine of any kind. I went to him with a swollen knee, a terrible limp and the resulting trouble sleeping, he sent me to physical therapy and suggested ibuprofen, or acetaminophen, or aspirin, he was fine with any of them. To be fair twelve weeks later I was walking, sleeping and in fine shape. He has never given me antibiotics, or pain relievers or anything besides statins, and he strongly urges vaccinations, flu, shingles, Covid-19. He says I should get vaccinated, wear a mask, wash my hands, maintain a safe distance, lose weight, eat healthier foods, and exercise more. And I listen, except for the weight loss, healthy eating and exercise, he’s the doctor.
There is a mountain of evidence proving the vaccine‘s effectiveness. Also, there are people, like Doctor Sherri Tenpenny, who claim the vaccine will cause people to become magnetized. Dr. Tenpenny bought a visual aid. An assistant who placed a key on her neck and demanded an explanation. Unfortunately, the key fell to the floor ruining the moment for everyone.
I guess that’s the biggest problem with the internet. No matter what you want to believe you can find somebody to provide “the proof.” If you want to believe being vaccinated will reduce you to magnetically charged interface for the nearest 5G tower, Dr. Tenpenny is right there. If you want to get vaccinated and think it’s the right thing you can find that, too. Still, I like the immediacy of the web, the opportunity to see people I don’t see very often, to see places I’ve never seen. I just try to look the other way when things get too strange.
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This post is republished on Medium.
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