31% of Republicans say vaccines are more dangerous than diseases they prevent
31% of Republicans say vaccines are more dangerous than diseases they prevent
The partisan divide on vaccine falsehoods threatens the health of children nationwide.
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I think instead of making fun of people, we should figure out ways to help people understand why these things are so important. You might not save a bunch, but you might be able to help some who otherwise were just scared and couldn't step outside of that. Something I've noticed between the generations of my family are their feelings towards suggestion and the government. My grandparents are/were very accepting of whatever the government proposed as the "right" actions to follow. My parents are incredibly skeptical of things, and will only follow through if they believe it's the proper action. I myself am more prone to doing things if it's the "right" action for the "greater good." I've seen a lot if people who are older than me (sitting between gen-x and boomer) who are really firm believers in "gut-logic" and I think it's sort of a blessing that I had internet exposure during a part of my formative years. Because it helps me navigate the things that I am afraid of and do my research. While what I think they used as research were first-hand accounts by others around them -> helping them lead to their conclusions on things. And that's gone down a lot as socialization becomes more and more fragmented. I'm not saying any of this is right, it's just my own observations.
But either way, I think if we could find a way (perhaps even with the bare-bones of science) express why these things are important. Just strip them down the the basics, send out a meme or something. Just a simple series of iconographies - we could promote discourse that could actually help people big picture.
Cause I know I'm not feeling particularly great when I sit around laughing at how shit conservative people are. And it's been years of this kinda smarmy "republicans are fuck-faces" talk. And yeah, I'm not a fan of their policies and personally people who hold biases against others for things they can't change (or are just existing) are real assholes. But I think there are a lot of people who are actually just holding on to things echoed in their ears. They might not actually TRULY believe any of the bullshit their spouting. They might actually be decent people who have just been fucked with and are pawns of people with way more money and influence than most of us will ever have. And we might just not be using the right discourse to reach them. Cause I've seen a lot of young men being hurt by the concept of toxic masculinity - namely the word toxic. And thinking they are intrinsically broken. And I get the concepts behind it, and they it harms all individuals involved - but maybe we could re-word it. Cause we don't have to go from having one party feeling like trash to the other. But also I mean, it's more complicated than that big picture. And I get it. Cause guys still are in power, and this world for the most part has been developed to be male-centric. Idk.
I don't have all the answers, I just think you know - if a stanky little dyke such as I have been fortunate to talk to all kinds there are ways that we can reach people that we might not politically agree with but can affect them with positive change. And vice versa, because I surely don't have as an extreme standing against conservatives as a whole. Just more so the people who are willingly feeding the hatred with their discourse and lies. And you can say...these people are doing it too. But I really think that a majority really are just pawns. Like us. We're all pawns. Just have a sit, and try to think about how to go about this with more compassion.
It's nice to read a well-intentioned response on here.
Divisive language is like a drug: it's fun to use, it's addicting, there's entire subcultures based around it, and once you get used to it it just doesn't affect you anymore, and eventually it becomes very difficult to go without it.
I learned that when you see a piece of reporting that makes your opponents look like The Bad Guy, there is propaganda woven through it. There is a metric fuckton of this kind of reporting: it has become increasingly common over the years. Don't get me wrong, I'm certain that plenty of it is well-deserved. I can only imagine that for every piece of reporting that makes Right Wingers look like cartoon villains, those on the right have come up with something to try to make those that aren't quite-so-right-wing look the same.
Good on you for remembering empathy. I can only hope others follow your lead.
EDIT: just a reminder to others, the "real" enemy is the one jingling the keys, not the ones clamoring to grab them while babbling talking points. Those who seek to pit us against each other must be called out, and/or dragged out.
Id like to agree, but unfortunately, I've found in general, Trump has programmed them to be distrustful of science and the government
I think the Harris and Walz campaign though genuinely have a chance of getting a lot of them back onboard
Fuck Trump, this sort of gut-stuff has been an issue for a long time even before him. If anything he only got where he got due to how he was shoved in front of people who's only pleasurable experience was sliding processed shit down their throats while sitting in front of the tv. Which isn't how it should be, and for a while in America wasn't the only way to have joy. Which I think is a product of capitalists x republicans. But we're just not doing the country any good by bullying the bullies. Hell, we're not even doing ourselves any good. There has to be a way, some kind of commonality to reach individuals who greatly dislike change. Because I think that's actually the majority (not just republicans but apolitical individuals as well) such as impoverished individuals who've had the short end of the stick for so long they cannot even fathom change. I'd say it starts with wealth distribution but I don't actually know. Because I don't know how that can happen in this society. So instead I would say it probably starts through some kind of grass-roots movement breached through some commonality of existence/humanity. But people will fight, they will thrash things. I'm not saying it's not mucky. It's just people do shitty things when they're hurt and when they're scared. But we as a people would rather point and laugh, only making things worse - than figure out how the hell to get people to feel less afraid. And I think that's fucked up.