in general
I am third political position to lean neutral on Joe Scarborough's 2005 Thiomersal view
Pro war, pro pharma, cancel culture, wokeism is like the boomer mindset on steroids - they proclaim self importance, mass conformity, censorship, attention seeking & “look how much I suffer compared to you.” It’s no longer left wing. Wayne Jay twitter
Replying to @jimmy_dore
Pit White against Black Immigrants against Natives Gays against Straights Men against Women Women against Trans Christians against Muslims Vaxxed against Unvaxxed East against West Never let them unite Never let them see their one true enemy. Divide & conquer.
on virus in general
My views on co vid and co vid restrictions are value judgements for me. As such, I believe that there is no correct response. I do battle with my political enemies, ceaselessly into eternity. stupdl
A lot of my views on co vid and the restrictions from it mesh with Krystal Ball’s views on this
restrictions
I conditionally and overall support Florida’s stance here below. I have seen the ‘don’t vaxx kids’ arguments in many places online from all sides of the political spectrum and that convinced me on this. Healthy kids are not anywhere near at risk to get the virus. Conditionally and overall I feel that ealthy kids should not (and should never have gotten) get the co vid vaxx.
I echo the Jacobin article "“How Liberals Inflame the Vaccine War”
Some of my thoughts on some leftist anti vaxx, anti restriction etc protesters can be seen here
Anti mandate, Anti lockdown and anti restriction people are correct on at least 12 percent of the time (an extremely conservative estimate from me due to optics) on co vid related issues. To think the they are wrong 100 percent of the time on co vid related issues is naive, unrealistic and in fact ignorant (unless of course pro mandate, pro lockdown and pro restriction people move the goal posts )
I am apolitical mixed on pandemic restrictions and mandates. I don't view the pandemic as a political issue (but I am fine with it being a political issue)
I actually respect (and like the spunk of) the Democrats and Liberal 2.0ers as a whole for implementing harsh co vid mandates, lockdowns and restrictions because it is refreshing to see Democrats and Liberal 2.0ers as a whole get firm and tough on an issue (like the pandemic) instead of being woke snowflake pacifists (which the Democrats and Liberal 2.0ers would be if they weren't firm and tough on people and in particular anti vaxxers during the pandemic) . I support vaxx/anti vaxx apartheid /irony
A lot of Republicans falsely think Democrats/Liberal 2.0ers weak and let people do anything they want on many political issues, so for the Democrats and Liberal 2.0ers to be so firm and tough on people and in particular anti vaxxers/ 'pro co vid people' in terms of mandates , lockdowns and restrictions during the pandemic shows the Republicans that they are wrong about the Democrats and Liberal 2.0ers being weak and passive.
I disagree with people who say that Gavin Newsom didn't go far enough in 2020-21 in terms of fighting the viruses (except if they say that out of spite for him going too far than I agree with them)
Part of why I am not as pro co veed restriction as Liberal 2.0ers like is because virus mandates, restrictions and lockdowns hurt BIPOC+and poc in particular the most . They went through enough in 2020 with the anti black violence by our anti black structures (like the police), so for BIPOC/poc to also have to endure virus mandates, restrictions and lockdowns on top of that is too much to bear so I take some of that burden away for them.
Seeing anti vaxxers and anti restriction/anti mandate people employ Liberal 2.0 tactics to combat the mandates, restrictions, lockdowns etc keeps me from empathizing with those anti vaxxers and anti restriction/anti mandate people
Ben Shapiro was base (base means you agree with something; or when you want to recognize someone for being themselves, i.e. courageous and unique or not caring what others think) or suggesting that unvaxxed people should be forcefully vaxxed. But I also think Ben was base with his view here
that he expressed (and a similar view by Andrea Lynn who is a female version of Ben Shapiro). I can related to Ben Shapiro having schizo synthetic thinking views on the pandemic since I do too
I second a lot of things that RFK Jr said about the pandemic restrictions and virus. I mean his dad was RFK (who I am a fan of) so that alone gives RFK Jr much cred with me
I condone (but don't necessarily agree with) Gene Simmons saying that non vaxxed are the enemy
Sara Haines is wrong. Masks due to the co veed virus will NOT and should not be a permanent thing in the US or anywhere. I can justify people in the US etc wearing masks more in public each year permanently due to fashion trends, flu prevention and staying healthy in general but I will not not justify them doing so on a permanent basis due to the never ending cycle of co veed
I am against laws that require people to show their faces in public.
I am pro vaxx even if it is known by mentally ill MAGA supporters as the 'Donald Trump vaxx' .
I think if I had Donald Trump's MAGA EGO, I would say ' it is so ironic and poetic justice that something that DJT helped create (the vaxx) has helped millions of people not be infected with the virus' . But I won't say that since i don't have a MAGA ego. I will instead simply echo what the Washington Post said to Joe Biden on this 'Trump takes credit for vaxx' rhetoric (in which the Washpost told Biden to get MAGA people to get the vaxx by crediting Trump with the vaxx)
I support Piers Corbyn's right to protest vaxxs at that vaxx clinic in Britain in 2021. I feel it was an amusing and bold move for Pier Corbyn to protest people getting vaxxed like he did. But if i was there, I would have literally thrown him and his anti vaxx allies out of that clinic like Uncle Phil through Jazzy Jeff out of his home on the Fresh Prince (since I relatively like Uncle Phil's brand of Conservatism)
I believe that if people from Earth could have teleported to ET countries on other planets in other solar systems, galaxies or universes during the pandemic (like in 2020, 2021 etc) that those people from Earth who teleported should have done so (even if they were unvaxxed) and done so without social distancing, without covering their face, without self isolating and without mentioning to the intelligent life extraterrestrials on those other planets in other solar systems, galaxies or universes that they were coming from a planet (Earth) where there was a pandemic occurring.
All intelligent life extraterrestrials on other planets in other solar systems, galaxies and universes are immune to all of our viruses since intelligent life extraterrestrials on other planets in other solar systems, galaxies and universes are not human
In 2020 and 2021 , every person who rode a bike without a helmet but with their face covered should either have also not have had their face covered while riding the bike (since they were already being risk takers) or should have worn a helmet along with their mask while riding their bike. CONSISTENCY PEOPLE
I am against Big pharma
A lot of my other views on the mandates, restrictions, vaxx match the Libertarian faction of the Democrat Party’s platform/views on that stuff
State health
I rationalize Anthony Fauci implementing authoritarian pandemic restrictions. Why? DJT made Anthony Fauci our temporary 'President' in 2020 and so because of that AND due to being a health nut that all scientists and doctors are, it is expected that Anthony Fauci would implement such restrictions on the US.
The CDC and Anthony Fauci did better with the pandemic than Republicans and leftist anti vaxxers, anti restriction people and anti lockdown people thought but that is not good enough especially since i hold the legacy health department (the CDC) and Mr Science himself (Anthony Fauci) to a higher standard since they see themselves as being so esteemed
I am also fine with Anthony Fauci’s niece working for Twitter. i figure if Twitter is going to censor non main stream co vid info, having Anthony Fauci’s niece working for Twitter gives them an excuse to to do so
I do appreciate Ron Johnson's pandemic hearing early in the year on the pandemic to give more perspectives on this issue. As long as it didn't delve into anti science territory, there was no harm with those hearings .
I mean me opposing our government from talking about one of the biggest issues of our time (the pandemic) would make me look insensitive, selfish and basically like DJT in February and early March 2020 (when DJT wanted to pretend there was no pandemic happening)
Krysten Sinema politically dealt with the pandemic better than the vast majority of Democrats did
Jimmy Dore’s pandemic views have a few broken clock moments here and there but he is too daring on this topic. Dore should put more energy on making healthcare accessible and affordable to people than him criticizing pandemic restrictions, mandates and lockdowns. The former would do more help than the latter
China should have acted against the virus in late 2019 NOT against the whistle blowers. Shame on China for their response to the virus in late 2019:
From the Atlantic “China has a history of mishandling outbreaks, including SARS in 2002 and 2003. But Chinese leaders’ negligence in December and January—for well over a month after the first outbreak in Wuhan—far surpasses those bungled responses. The end of last year was the time for authorities to act, and, as Nicholas D. Kristof of The New York Times has noted, “act decisively they did—not against the virus, but against whistle-blowers who were trying to call attention to the public health threat.”
loxdowns
I wonder what would have happened if the US dealt with the co veed pandemic the same exact way the US dealt with the 1968 HK Influenza flu (like see
) Though maybe if they used the 1968 pandemic method in 2020 there would have been a collapse of hospital systems around the world, which might have killed something on the order of 40 million people by the worst estimates. That would have been twice as bad as the Spanish Flu, though in a population four times greater than the population of 1918. Not puny numbers by any stretch, though humanity has seen much worse like the AIDS virus for example
My position on lockdowns as a Left winger and Marxist would seem to indicate that I demand early and comprehensive lockdowns alongside adequate economic relief for workers. I mean as a Left winger and Marxist you would think that anything else by me on lockdowns is either unworkable or benefits the ruling class at the expense of workers.
After all, public fear of the virus is what's at least somewhat responsible for the overwhelming majority of job losses, with or without lockdowns right? The virus is also the cause for the lockdowns themselves and any additional economic losses those bring? (though Kristi Noem did say that the virus didn't cause lockdowns and restrictions, but the government and its allies did)
So really, it is perfectly reasonable for me, at least on paper as a left winger and Marxist to spout Liberal 2.0 talking points like
"by way of mandating disengagement from economic engagement, lockdowns end up accomplishing these two goals: they put the state on the hook for the economic hit and they ensure that the the inevitable decline in economic engagement truly translates into a decline in virus"
Why would I as a left winger and Marxist want to be seen as incoherent by being a 'one of those left winger/marxist anti lockdown dudes/dudettes'. Such incoherence is usually had whenever there are attempts to mix left and right after all
It is true though that since I support economic relief. if I was anti lockdown that would mean that by me being anti lockdown, I would be rooting for the state to not prevent people from working and shopping and thus indirectly and unbeknownst to myself I would be by extension rooting for something that causes the state to be off the hook for the economic hit that emerged from the pandemic which sadly would make economic relief less likely which can be seen in comparison to the UK and Canada lockdowns and the US lockdowns
So we can follow that line of thinking to this line of thinking 'income support for US workers is much less generous, and demands for direct income support are drowned out by demands to "assist workers" by forcing them back to work'
I have heard that leftist "anti-lockers" claim furthermore to represent the best intentions of the working class as opposed to the capitalists. Yet a significant chunk of the working class does not oppose lockdowns, with the majority of the militant opposition to lockdowns being from smaller and medium sized business, and supposed GOP front groups.
Big business does a-okay with or without soft lockdowns, yet a strong lockdown with liberal income support would be costly for them. Overall, the ruling class would be happy to simply force everyone back to work and into stores, and to pursue herd immunity for the working class. The capitalist state would then be off the hook for costly public health initiative and economic relief efforts.
In practice, all that the anti-lockers ultimately ensure and prolong rolling lockdowns. The pro and anti lockdown positions are absoutely symbiotic. When the virus is less virulent, anti-lockdowners could stall lockdowns. But this necessarily causes in the minds of Liberal 2.0ers unchecked spread, which in turn causes lockdowns to be inevitable.
At that point, the best that the anti-lockers are able to muster is them weakening the lockdown, and so prolonging it.
But, as seen by experience, they cannot prevent the inevitable. Then, when after these lockdown tactics occur and there is eventually a "flattened curve", the anti-lockdowners swing into action and call for reopening, which if there are fresh outbreaks causes them to get blamed for it (though it is rational to believe that the odds really do go up for an outbreak by such openings)
So the lockdown is never allowed to get the job done regardless of whether it would or not, which leads to the cycle of rolling lockdowns. And as such cycles go on and on if God forbid in some way new resistant strains emerge, this cycle keeps happening
The other side of this above view is from people that perceive these lockdowns as a textbook expression of social conflict theory. Where the wealthy weaponized the virus versus the poor and utilized it to accumulate incredible amounts of profit at the same time as restricting the movement of the poor and stripping their wealth away. This is the wealthy taking advantage of the hard truth that the majority of people can't afford to be locked down for long periods of time.
Basic Marxism does run contrariwise to my above pro lockdown views
I can't fall into the trap of me treating these lockdowns as if they are something that people are angry about because they got to stay at home 24/7 and are merely spoiled about it.
So some anti lockdowners (like the Mises caucus) perceive lockdowns the way they do as through almost a year plus of lock downs they've been subjected to live off, or potentially might have been subjected to live off of, of mere scraps from the federal government as the unemployment mechanisms of their states/provinces used almost collapsed. Famines or homelessness is merely as lethal as the virus itself in these cases
So this anti lockdown counterpoint gives me pause. And I can see why anti lockdowners who live in a country where the Government did not give them more money than the US gave to its citizens or a place with a lower cost of living than the US or at a job without the benefit of working from home would be anti lockdown and have their concerns
How am I going to filter between the evident real and propagandic critiques of China. My view is addressing the bigotry against the Chinese is the highest necessary part of it and the rest is an all encompassing grey area that will only lead to chasing our own tails and going after each other randomly. .
Maybe I can justify being pro lockdown by me saying 'opposing lockdowns in principle is the authoritarian position'
But I would come off as someone who sincerely believes the government by force preventing someone from leaving their home is not authoritarian and thus I would be seen as someone who cannot be reasoned with.
But maybe as a compromise I could view lockdowns as authoritarian but a more preferential authoritarianism in comparison to the assumed outcomes of libertarian views on the situation.
So my views on lockdowns follow the line of thought :
Now besides for the reason of my balanced views on lockdowns as mentioned above, I also won't criticize lockdowns because I give amnesty and forgiveness to the western governments and the US government for lockdowns and this article (
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/10/covid-response-forgiveness/671879/
) explains why
But John Hopkins had an interesting report (
) on lockdowns (plus there is this
) . The USA Today gave an assessment of those findings by JHU and basically downplayed them or was more open to them than the solid of majority of Liberal 2.0 MSM outlets in the process.
Due to my above balanced views on lockdowns, I am somewhere in the middle between JHU and USA Today on JHU’s findings on lockdowns and where exactly I am in the middle of that depends on my mood. Don't worry, I will never go as far at the Washington Times does here
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/jun/30/covid-19-lockdowns-caused-more-deaths-instead-of-r/
in saying lockdowns were bad. But then again, I am not in the 'lockdown analysis' business so I will comment no further
China implemented lockdowns and the US and other countries just copied them and didn't take the time needed to research the lockdowns.
China's zero co veed lockdowns are harsh, wrong and fascist. They violated human rights with their lockdowns . I am as against China's zero co veed lockdowns as much as the most anti lockdown protesters in the US, the UK etc were against lockdowns in those countries. But I don't go further hating on China's lockdowns since China's lockdowns are 'so bad they're good'
My views on Canada's views on China's anti lockdown protesters can be found here
My views on co vid victims being on the Victims of Communism memorial can be found here
treatments
Good article by grayzone on Germany’s Anthony Fauci:
I look the other way when I hear about people using Hydroxychloroquine to treat them for having the virus. It may be an uncertain method but it has worked in at least some cases and the Italy government seems high on it (no pun intended). Even if not, there could be a placebo effect with that treatment for mainstream scientists and doctors which while it doesn't cure patients it at least pushes mainstream scientists and doctors to come up with more effective and more user friendly treatments and cures for the virus
I am pitifully cautiously somewhat barely supportive of Dr Oz's reaction to his wife not allowing their kids to be vaxxed years ago . Even though he is a doctor if he forced his kids to get vaxxed against his wife's wishes that would be abusive. I also think Dr Oz is on to something with his views on the pandemic and virus (he is a Doctor after all)
Getting the vaxx is important so you can say that (after you get the vaxx) that if you could go back in time to 2020 and early 2021 you would be retroactively immune from pandemic restrictions. Getting the vaxx means that you can’t be discriminated against by big pharma/Anthony Fauci acolytes
etc
Some thought provoking and interesting alternate views on the co vid situation here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/r0f1ab/leftist_sub_posting_antivaxxer_and_kyle/
This
tweet by Jimmy Dore makes me want to do resarch as opposed to hounding anti vaxxers and 'pro co vid' people
I agree with this NY post article here:
I echo this Tweet from Max Blumenthal “Amazon bans "Capitalism on a Ventilator," a book of essays by prominent anti-imperialists. The book surveyed the role of capitalism in exacerbating the pandemic and contrasted China's effective response with the US failure – too much for Amazon, apparently” AND here:
Fox News Sean Hannity Feb 27 2023
SNL Woody Harrelson 2023 thinked for himself
I am more than open to the idea that co vid 19 came from the Wuhan lab and the MSM along with big tech covered it up and lied about it (except Washington Post) They should be ASHAMED of themselves. The US government's wreckless actions in that gain of function of research in Wuhan killed millions of people worldwide
I don't think it really even matters. Just the fact that experts determined that a lab leak was a possible cause of a huge pandemic means that it's something that we need to be way more careful about. See here for more views on this I agree with:
https://www.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/11lyvfh/fauci_prompted_scientific_paper_purporting_to/
Jan 12, 2022 I agree with @KyleKulinski here: · Jan 7, 2022 Having Moderna & Pfizer CEOs say a 4th shot is necessary undermines what little trust in institutions remains. Why should we take the word of the people who stand to profit the most w obvious conflicts of interest? Science must be independent of pharma greed. Nationalize them