Today on Twitter I saw a couple posts reacting to a MSNBC piece aiming to say we have been undercounting COVID deaths rather than overcounting (this is was in response to Dr.
And I completely agree that incentives matter, and when you alter the incentives you alter behavior. I actually wrote about this just a few weeks ago! (And couldn't find anything at all stating that the covid CARES incentives have been dropped)
Nice posts. Interestingly, when I clicked the 1st link to the post talking about Mankiw, it uses the example of seat belt laws, which is the example explored in Chapter 1 of the Landsburg book I quoted above. This gets into the Peltzman Effect (https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/the-peltzman-effect), which I believe also has lessons as it applies to masks & leaky vaccines.
1) They were implemented as a visual reminder to BE SCARED!
2) They were a "noble lie" to get people back into the economy.
#1 has been discussed a lot, but #2 less so. My thought is that people were SO freaked out over covid that government had to 'nudge' them back into going out and being productive. "You're safe with the mask" (as long as everybody else uses it) gave some people the excuse they needed to engage in "regular" (dangerous!!) activity.
Not only was the purpose of wearing masks a psychological psy-op to keep people scared, but wearing them for long periods actually weakens your immune system and makes you sicker. The logic being: Keep your slaves scared, sick, and poor and they will never revolt or leave the plantation.
In the UK the association of small businesses actively lobbied the government to introduce masks while shopping, to get people back onto the high Street. They were introduced in July 2020 in shops. Retail workers unions also threatened strike action as well so it was like a pincer movement, business reps on one side, workers on the other whingeing "were not safe!".....spineless wimps caved in.
3) Lockdowns were unsustainable. Returning to normality was not an option (people would start making questions). Masks provided the necessary excuse to end lockdowns while maintaining face.
If you are friends with a doctor, try asking them if they or someone they love ever received substandard medical care. Chances are you won't be able to shut them up.
I trust the words of tens of thousands of health care workers, many vax injured now, speaking out about the horrors of the genocide more than I trust...a single official who does not actually treat anyone. Talking heads are hired for their....lack of moral compass and obediance. But you knew that already, thanks for the work.
I don't know if it can be considered a pithy argument or not, but I am lately pondering why covid became a thing in March 2020 when it was present everywhere in October or November of 2019.
The only thing that changed is that on March public health authorities decided that we had a pandemic upon us. Something that was being treated as a normal respiratory virus became something horrible that had no cure. We know the consequences of doing that.
Or in other words, what we have experienced is a "pandemic of the bureaucrats."
When I get told to follow the experts in medicine, I always respond 'But what if they're corrupt?" I then say it's not my opinion that medical science is corrupt, it's the opinion of the Editors of major Medical journals.
First eg:
"Politicisation of science was enthusiastically deployed by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, and it is now regrettably commonplace in democracies.20 The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power. And, AS THE POWERFUL BECOME MORE SUCCESSFUL, RICHER AND FURTHER INTOXICATED WITH POWER, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed. When good science is suppressed, people die."
Scott Adams said that he is skeptical of anything that can’t be explained in one sentence. Not that he means that literally. It’s a kind of shorthand for the idea that “if you can’t dazzle them with data, baffle them with bullshit”.
“Would you wear a cloth condom?”
-----------
LOL that is awesome!
And I completely agree that incentives matter, and when you alter the incentives you alter behavior. I actually wrote about this just a few weeks ago! (And couldn't find anything at all stating that the covid CARES incentives have been dropped)
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/when-incentives-go-wrong
Part 2
https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/when-incentives-go-wrong-61b
Nice posts. Interestingly, when I clicked the 1st link to the post talking about Mankiw, it uses the example of seat belt laws, which is the example explored in Chapter 1 of the Landsburg book I quoted above. This gets into the Peltzman Effect (https://thedecisionlab.com/reference-guide/psychology/the-peltzman-effect), which I believe also has lessons as it applies to masks & leaky vaccines.
I sort of wobble between two views on masks:
1) They were implemented as a visual reminder to BE SCARED!
2) They were a "noble lie" to get people back into the economy.
#1 has been discussed a lot, but #2 less so. My thought is that people were SO freaked out over covid that government had to 'nudge' them back into going out and being productive. "You're safe with the mask" (as long as everybody else uses it) gave some people the excuse they needed to engage in "regular" (dangerous!!) activity.
3) Masks dehumanize people, they aren't humans anymore, just "things".
Look at the "sophisticated" people at Obama's bday party--no masks, servants--masks. AOC at the Met gala--no mask, servants--masks.
Stacey Abrams surrounded by school children, she doesnt wear a mask, they do.
Not only was the purpose of wearing masks a psychological psy-op to keep people scared, but wearing them for long periods actually weakens your immune system and makes you sicker. The logic being: Keep your slaves scared, sick, and poor and they will never revolt or leave the plantation.
In the UK the association of small businesses actively lobbied the government to introduce masks while shopping, to get people back onto the high Street. They were introduced in July 2020 in shops. Retail workers unions also threatened strike action as well so it was like a pincer movement, business reps on one side, workers on the other whingeing "were not safe!".....spineless wimps caved in.
The unions were likely doing it to please their masters.
I personally believe it is:
3) Lockdowns were unsustainable. Returning to normality was not an option (people would start making questions). Masks provided the necessary excuse to end lockdowns while maintaining face.
If you are friends with a doctor, try asking them if they or someone they love ever received substandard medical care. Chances are you won't be able to shut them up.
I trust the words of tens of thousands of health care workers, many vax injured now, speaking out about the horrors of the genocide more than I trust...a single official who does not actually treat anyone. Talking heads are hired for their....lack of moral compass and obediance. But you knew that already, thanks for the work.
What about an N-95 condom?
They're so much better...:)
I don't know if it can be considered a pithy argument or not, but I am lately pondering why covid became a thing in March 2020 when it was present everywhere in October or November of 2019.
The only thing that changed is that on March public health authorities decided that we had a pandemic upon us. Something that was being treated as a normal respiratory virus became something horrible that had no cure. We know the consequences of doing that.
Or in other words, what we have experienced is a "pandemic of the bureaucrats."
Another pithy argument - would you wear a cloth mask to clear a building of asbestos?
Yeah, been thinking about this one. Here's my pith:
We can't know for sure because the Health authorities won't release the statistics they have.
#freethedata
Why do people cover their mouths when they sneeze? Just because it's gross to get sneezed on? or does it help to keep germs from spreading?
When I get told to follow the experts in medicine, I always respond 'But what if they're corrupt?" I then say it's not my opinion that medical science is corrupt, it's the opinion of the Editors of major Medical journals.
First eg:
"Politicisation of science was enthusiastically deployed by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, and it is now regrettably commonplace in democracies.20 The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power. And, AS THE POWERFUL BECOME MORE SUCCESSFUL, RICHER AND FURTHER INTOXICATED WITH POWER, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed. When good science is suppressed, people die."
KAMRAN Abbasi, executive editor BMJ, 2020.
https://www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425
Scott Adams said that he is skeptical of anything that can’t be explained in one sentence. Not that he means that literally. It’s a kind of shorthand for the idea that “if you can’t dazzle them with data, baffle them with bullshit”.