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It's very dangerous when society doesn't offer support to people feeling anxious and when only cults and conspiracy theorists listen to them with empathy.

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Shoji Tsuchida, professor at safety psychology at Kansai University, warning that social media comments to fuel opposition to COVID-19 inoculation and spread false rumors about vaccines reflect people feeling concerned about shots.

© Jiji Press

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The prof has a point unpleasant to contemplate, but the Japanese have a pithy phrase to describe this lamentable reality, the primitive state of our primate universe: 弱肉強食 (the weak are the fodder for the strong).

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Governments have been poor at communicating to folk during the pandemic. Politicians know that they aren't trusted, but hiding behind scientists is a bad 'plan B'. The illogicality of some decisions beggared belief. Countries that didn't implement general mask use in a pandemic, when most others did. Wealthy, powerful and well connected people being able to break the rules. Expecting social distancing to be observed out of controlled spaces. Allowing demos and religious events, as if the virus somehow respected democracy and religion. Dividing the planet's response to a global pandemic on national lines, as if viruses bounce off national borders when they get to them. Footballers elbow bumping before a game and then all cuddling each other when they score. Kids kept off school or social distanced at school, whilst all playing together whenever out of school. The entire pandemic response has been a farce of illogical behaviour.

Instead of just spreading fear to encourage sensible behaviours, they needed to offer a clear promise of a future road map back to when, with vaccines, we can treat Covid like flu.

They also needed to avoid taking advantage of the pandemic to enforce additional restrictions upon society. It just made them look shifty, whilst supporting conspiracy theorists. The 'push for digital' is excluding a larger section of society faster than the last decade of activism promoted inclusivity.

I'm not sure they can be honest and sincere, but they should have tried. It would have helped.

With regard to the vaccines, knee jerk behaviour by governments and headline news stories in the mainstream media about a statistically tiny number of adverse reactions to some of the vaccines may have done more to put people off than the crazies on social media. Vaccine diplomacy doesn't help, either.

Pandemic response. D minus. Must do better.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Talk about "sweeping generalizations". This guy takes the cake! lol.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Funny how conspiracy theories turn out to be true in the end.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

There's a page on this very website about the FDA doing a U-turn and acknowledging what the 'conspiracy theorists' were saying.

No u-turn at all, that only means you don't understand the science.

Conspiracy is saying that the vaccines actually are more dangerous than the infection, this on the contrary is completely inside of what could be expected, which is that there may be some extremely low risks not yet identified, obviously still much smaller than from the infection itself.

Funny how conspiracy theories turn out to be true in the end.

Not really, conspiracy fans will just take whatever actually happens and force it into the conspiracy trying to pretend it was part of it from the beginning.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

But why is this “professor at safety psychology” assuming that the social media comments are false. As vic.M said, many of them end up being true.

There's a page on this very website about the FDA doing a U-turn and acknowledging what the 'conspiracy theorists' were saying.

Yeah, those pharma fanatics that were saying the vaccines were perfectly fine now have egg on their face. The released Fauci E-mails also show that those who were saying the virus must have emerged naturally also have egg on their face.

It is becoming ever more clear that there has been a concerted campaign to push the vaccines on everyone, and this campaign includes the exaggeration of the effects of the infection and a rejection of all the safe and effective treatments and methods to strengthen our immune system. A recent lecture that illustrates this well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2DxP-6wHoY

This campaign also includes labeling anyone who sees through this deception as a cult member or conspiracy theorist, as the above prof does.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

But why is this “professor at safety psychology” assuming that the social media comments are false. As vic.M said, many of them end up being true.

Because they can be proved false, and no, they don't result true, people with irrational beliefs sometimes try to "adapt" conspiracy theories so they can fit with the reality but it is too obvious to work anyway.

Yeah, those pharma fanatics that were saying the vaccines were perfectly fine now have egg on their face. The released Fauci E-mails also show that those who were saying the virus must have emerged naturally also have egg on their face.

Who are those? because everywhere I see people (and specially experts and authorities) commenting about them the argument is a completely different one, that vaccines are much safer than the disease. The only ones that pretend anybody said vaccines were "perfect" are the antivaxxers that can't do anything against the real argument.

It is the same with most other conspiracies, from the fake moon landings to HCQ being "suppressed" by all the doctors and scientists of the world that take money to let their friends and family die without a supposedly effective treatment.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

 this on the contrary is completely inside of what could be expected, which is that there may be some extremely low risks not yet identified, obviously still much smaller than from the infection itself.

I think what the conspiracy folks might be saying is that you’re looking at a broken crystal ball, because you or anyone else can’t say how these gene therapy vaccines will play out. Wasn’t there some drug in the 1960’s given to women only to find out later it was very bad for their health?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

I think what the conspiracy folks might be saying is that you’re looking at a broken crystal ball, because you or anyone else can’t say how these gene therapy vaccines will play out.

The technology for the vaccines has been used for much longer than the time we have had COVID infections, that means that it has been studied longer and it is much better understood.

COVID is not an ancient disease we have lived with for centuries, how can people simply assume there will not be future problems with it? viral infections have been related to problems even decades later in life, immunity deficiencies, cancer, chronic inflammation, autoimmune problems, and a very long etc. It is extremely irrational to think it is impossible for this to happen also this time and at the same time assume it is more likely to happen with a vaccine.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The technology for the vaccines has been used for much longer than the time we have had COVID infections, that means that it has been studied longer and it is much better understood.

True, with past results not being so good as far as side effects. Anyway, you gave us your general idea of what you think the “conspiracy” folks are thinking. Since censorship breeds conspiracy theories, isn’t it a logical reaction when Facebook, Google, YouTube, the MSM and Twitter are banning and censoring NOT nutty conspiracy theories, but scientific and government discussions on alternative (ivermectin) ways to beat this virus?

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

True, with past results not being so good as far as side effects.

The opposite, safety has not been an important problem, efficacy was, because the technology has been tried mostly on diseases whose treatment have some kind of special difficulty or other treatments that are already good enough.

isn’t it a logical reaction when Facebook, Google, YouTube, the MSM and Twitter are banning and censoring NOT nutty conspiracy theories, but scientific and government discussions on alternative (ivermectin) ways to beat this virus?

One, what makes you think scientific and government discussions depend on mass or social media to be held? Seconda, what is being censored is misleading treatment of those discussions. People saying "ivermectin is being studied because it appears to have some usefulness against the disease but with conflicting evidence" are not being censored, those that say "a world conspiracy to suppress it only to push unsafe vaccines to control the population" are, there is a huge difference between them.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The opposite

well that’s not what I’ve read.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

One, what makes you think scientific and government discussions depend on mass or social media to be held?

Did I say held? No. Reporting on, conveying information.

what is being censored is misleading treatment of those discussions. 

your opinion and too vague.

Im done. I’ve read your posts and I know you know what your talking about. I disagree with your conclusions.

thanks for time and have a nice Sunday

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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