Dear Editor,
In discussions about COVID-19, facts, figures and statistics that do not agree with a person’s benefits are minimized, denied or labeled as outright lies. So, no facts, no figures, no statistics.
The idea that all opinions are valid and deserve to be heard may be true regarding movies, food, even religious views, but I don’t go to my mechanic for a recommendation on my heart or my cardiologist for thoughts on my car’s engine.
My mechanic knows a lot more than I do about cars, so yes, I accept his pronouncements with little question.
The opinion of someone with an advanced degree in cellular biology, virology or immunology and decades in the field should carry more weight than someone with no visible qualifications in those areas.
These are complex subjects and some opinions are more valid than others.
Most people I talk to have no understanding of the basics of cellular biology and cannot explain what messenger RNA is, its life cycle or its relation to DNA, ribosomes, transfer RNA and amino acids.
People talk about doing their own research. As noted above, most people do not have the basics to understand published research or how to do research. Watching videos and reading articles found on the internet do not constitute research. People putting out videos and writing articles are impassioned enough to create them and have agendas.
I hear cries of “freedom” and “my rights.” I do not hear talk of duty of citizenship, the obligation to consider other’s needs, that the freedoms we enjoy come at the cost of caring for those around us, even those we disagree with.
A few decades ago, I would have made more of the Christian ideal of caring for the “least of these” and those most vulnerable around us. The idea that we should care more for others than ourselves and put other’s needs ahead of our own seems to be lost in interactions I witness.
I hear this is all a conspiracy to gain control of people, the vaccine should be refused, but other treatments embraced, such as monoclonal antibodies, made by the same kind of companies that produce the vaccines, or that Ivermectin is a secret that is being suppressed.
If this is truly a conspiracy that all the pharmaceutical companies are in on, the first thing to do would be change the formulation of Invermectin to eliminate its anti-viral properties. Better not take any that is less than 12 months old.
The idea that doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers are all in on the conspiracy is the most pernicious idea of all.
Better not believe anything any doctor says and don’t take any medicine either because you don’t know what’s really in it.
The end point of this thinking is no one is believed and there is no Edward Snowden or Julian Assange anywhere in this vast complex web of lies and deceit that would need to involve thousands upon thousands of people.
Will Schrader
13600 Watkins-California Road