When push comes to shove, what people say and what they do are very different. The truth comes out in the voting booth.
There is an odd rush of other priorities, opinions and deeper feelings when you are alone in a room.
When you step in the booth, what you actually end up voting for isn't always what you've told people. I think many people are at a tipping point of emotions with covid-19, even for people who have embraced every key health and safety measure.
It led me to a question that many people would like answered.
If you are still unvaccinated, you should do so knowing the grave risks. Why are we still holding our life back?
Pandemic to endemic.
Everyone who is fully vaccined is endemic for the Pandemic. We are still suffering despite the fact that deaths have fallen thanks to vaccines and therapies.
I will start by clearing the air and saying that I am a fan of science and the work of solving things for the benefit of mankind. I did both of the vaccinations at first jump, because I believed in the work of the last few years. I wear a mask whenever asked.
I spent 40 days quarantining over the last 2 years just to comply with travel restrictions and always want to be a part of the solution, not the problem.
One of the reasons I got a vaccine was to help me be the change we want to see, and it was one of the reasons most of us secretly share. I want to enjoy a better life again, and that's why I did it.
I feel like the promises of freedom are being railroaded.
I want to take my daughter out to dinner or on a flight without wearing a mask. I am tired of flights being canceled because of travel restrictions which fail to explain root causes.
I want other people to be ok too, but the current environment is not good for people who continue to do their part.
If you feel like you have done everything you have been asked to, and are still not feeling the same way you were promised, you are not alone.
I don't want to be embraced by anti-vaxxers or anti-maskers and I don't want to be one of the "woke" who wears masks forever crowd. I think both are insane. I am at a point in my life where my patience for changing restrictions in my travel is wearing thin.
Most indications of omicron point to mostly mild to moderate cases at worst for fully vaccined people. Why do so many countries ruin planned unlocks?
Many answers are inconvenient. For fear of being attacked politically if they don't do something, others have to do it.
It has become clear to me that I am not the only one who is impatient, as I speak privately to friends and professionals who I consider to be logical, rational and pro-science.
Every day of government incompetence makes me think of libertarian view points, sometimes no rules are better than idiotic rules. Here are a few key rubs that make me angry.
Funding for medical research.
Science work is often under funded and appreciated as compared to finance and tech. I think that should change, but the mechanisms being used to achieve that are annoying.
A friend who works in a senior position regarding medical research grants told me that many studies take on dramatic or worrying topics in order to get more funding.
These studies are able to push the worrying narratives that drive clicks and become media darlings. In a second, more on that.
We need science to help us out of this, but many people will perpetuate fear to drive personal, professional or organizational goals. There is more funding for science than ever, but people don't want to lose that, and fear is a great way to drive that.
I would like to see a better way to fund vital projects, not just with covid-19. Imagine if the resources went into cancer.
You need lots of Click Media.
Someone who reads an article on the internet contributes about a penny to the organization.
Even a million page views only earn $10k a month, which is not enough to pay for global offices and editorial teams. If you make it to 10 million page views, you are at about 100k, but that is not enough to keep the lights on for most media companies.
There is a lot of incentive to drive clicks and a lot of incentive to be afraid. We don't live in a world where good news travels as fast as bad, and that won't change soon.
Traditional broadcast media is sad. The worse the news, the better the eyeballs. Good news rarely sells.
Political football.
The exit from the epidemic will become a hot button political issue and will be passed around like an oiled up football on a hot day.
Cynics in the US and Europe think that mask policies will not stay in place for the next election cycles. If this happens, I will be forever impacted as a voter because I don't like to be cynical.
Keeping score.
President Biden told people not to worry about the person next to them being vaccine free because they would be fine. I believe that the data in the vaccines continues to mitigate severe disease or death, and that is largely still true. It is no longer the message.
You can't tell people that they can take their masks off indoors and not worry about other people, because they did their part.
I don't engage people who refuse to wear a mask on the train or the plane because I believe in vaccines and the protections I have through them, and that they are just looking for a fight.
The dumb people of society were having raging orgies and indoor raves in the early stages of 2020. We created rule after rule, policy after policy and the people that needed to hear them never heard them.
The people who were doing the right things were punished because they were unvaccinated. In my areas of the US and UK, it is the truth, even though it is not a fair conversation.
Somehow, we are all in the same group, being treated as if we are young school children by the governments, and need permission to cross the road. If things don't change, there's only so much good faith the public will have.
