Except that by virtue of being 'professonals' they are also in a positon of authority, an authority on the subject as well as with respect to social acceptance of ideas like 'doctor knows best'.
That's all well and good if the professional is competent and ethical, like Dr. John Cambell, but not so good if the professional has been edited to the point of misrepresentation, or is an idiot doctor like mine.
I was a student working in a well known shop behind the pharmacy counter at the weekend on the day of the wedding.
Of course there were next to no customers that day and all the staff, including the pharmacist/manager wanted to spend the day in the electrcal department watching the event on the TV.
It was clear to me from Charles' 'whatever in love means' comment that Diana was being betrayed as a human being and I had no interest in watchng the pomp and ceremony, the facade covering her being used and abused.
I did get to run an entire, albeit small and rather empty, department store on my own, though. That was a unique experience for a 'Saturday girl'.
I tried to find an interview with people from a women's refuge, I think it was. They were glad and taken aback that she wasn't stuck up, but easy to be with.
My mum has actually said that, taking the piss out of herself...and the English.
I was thrilled to bits when Arriva Trains Wales were bought out by European companies, but they started with takng all the unsafe rolling stock off the tracks before they tackled sticking to the timetable.
I think it's fairly safe to say I've had covid at least once, even though tests weren't available at the time. If your child comes out in a rash of blisters during an outbreak of chicken pox in their school, it's not unreasonable to think your child has chicken pox, rather than something that is exactly like chicken pox, but isn't.
I had typical covid symptoms followed by typical long covid symptoms during the covid pandemic, but anyone who is currently alive also is a survivor of covid whether they've been infected, or not.
Being a survivor of an endemic disease is not like being a survivor of a plane crash. It's not something that can have a definite end.
I'm also a survivor of two vaccine shots, my underlyng health condition and medication which caused such painful palptations like someone was firing pebbles at my chest with a slingshot that I admit to having a doubt, or two about my survival at the time.
I didn't have to have the third booster today to ensure my survival. Today is the random day when my name came to the top of the list for the third jab, that's all.
Let's not cloud reason with emotional reactions.
I'm double vaccinated, I likely have natural immunity, I'm pretty isolated, I follow the mask/distance/handwashing protocols diligently and I know there's possibility that I might have an allergic reaction to the additives in the Moderna vaccine.
Had I been offered the AstraZeneca again, my risk assessent would have been a different process. If new vaccines become available my risk assessment will change again. If I somehow establish my allergic reaction was due to calcium hydrogen phosphate dihydrate rather than the combination of polyethylene glycol and polysorbate, it will change again.
The trouble with that kind of video is that it's edited to reinforce opinions that people already hold without adding any new information for people to reflect upon.
When people believe their opinions are verified and unchallenged by those in authority, they become even less open to new information. It doesn't really matter how much we discuss it on CS if each person's opinion becomes hard-wired.
It's a technique that Trump was very good at using to induce a feeling of collective opinon without actually saying anything of substance, nor inducing any reasoning skills on the part of his supporters. He just verified their own self-belief.
I didn't just pick holes in that video, I deconstructed that which the editng constructed. The original debate was likely very different and may well have been a useful tool to start a conversation.
I've just started watching the lecture about intelligent disobedience. The parameters are narrower than I assumed, so I may revise my comments of the subject.
I think my use of the term 'unintelligent disobedience' might actually be better served by using the term 'civil disobedience'. That in turn requires an examnation of civil disobedience as clearly that isn't a straight forward, single concept.
Conspiracy theories, or misinformation, may well lead to deaths, but the global picture doesn't account for individual differences.
Many people with a range of underlying health conditions need specific information, not global information.
As for the queue, there'll be one less person in it because I didn't have mine this morning. I couldn't get the information I needed to make an informed choice and I couldn't even get through on the hotline to politely postpone my reservation as requested.
The system being over-loaded has many ramfications, including for those waitng for life saving treatment unrelated to covid.
'Or three' is a good idea because pharmacists are still subject to regulations and are careful.
Before I was prescribed medication, I attempted to stay sane with painkillers. I was advised through the NHS helpline to take ibuprofen, paracetamol and paracetamol/codeine. I then had to find those painkillers without additives that I'm intolerant of and also didn't require a bank loan.
A pharmacist refused to sell me 'Feminax' because they can only be sold for perod pains, and yet I can buy a Feminax identical generic off the shelf in the supermarket and as such, it's not even, strictly speaking, an 'over the counter' drug: it's an 'along with your spuds and toothpaste' drug.
I was in no fit state at the time to argue, or ask questions, but clearly there was something within the regulations that the pharmacist wasn't disclosing to me.
Another facet of outlandish conspiracy theories has just occurred to me:
When misinformation is a caricature and unsubstantiated, say a claim that the vaccine kills more people than the virus and it's all a deliberate genocide by Jews from outer space, it becomes very easy to dismiss non-intelligent disobedience, but in doing so, it drives the information which can be substantiated.
Substantiated information, like the vaccines are killing a few people, but saving millions fail to address how we can avoid harm from vaccines, like asperation, or fully understanding the mechanism of anaphylactic reactions.
In that sense, the preposterous claims against, work to support the accepted narrative for, as well as undermine intelligent disobedience.
I'd be more worried if new things weren't cropping up because onging research should be carried out to monitor diseases and medications.
Without onging research problems can't be detected, nor improvements made.
I'm going to try and delay my booster to keep that option open (if I can get through on the phone, which so far I haven't) because it's just occurred to me that I might have more luck getting information out of a pharmacist (by stealth) given my reactions to some additives.
I'd like to know why two additives that are potentially dangerous in combination are put in any medication. There may be sound reason for it.
I've also heard that traditional vaccines for covid are in the pipeline, so I might be better off waiting to see what they contain.
The problem, as I see it, is there's so much misinformation and conspiracy stuff flying about it means people have to be very careful about what they say so it's not misused by unscrupulus and deceitful people.
It means we're not able to have open and honest conversations and therefore make properly informed choices.
The conspiracy theories have forced a conspiracy of silence.
I had the jabs not because I was scared of covid (because I'd already had it, possibly twice), but because I wanted to protect my loved ones from me. I took one for the team because I'm uncomfrtable with children having the vaccine. I want them to be able to make their own informed choices when they're adults.
I need sound, well reasoned advice about having a third shot given my underlyng health condition, but I'm pretty damned sure I'm not going to get it.
I haven't watched the video yet, but I think it's about the style of disobedience.
I know you said 'intelligent disobedience', but so much of it isn't intelligent and has an agenda other than protecting others. How are average citizens supposed to distinguish between the two? Especially as there is a culture of 'doctor knows best'.
The problem with 'alternative informaton channels' is that they're not peer reviewed like a journal paper is and as such are unregulated.
Diana was a baby when she got engaged. She was only 19 years old, y'know that age where we do stupid things not because we're stupid, but because we haven't had enough time to a accumulate much knowledge. Even the brain isn't fully developed at that age, it isn't fully 'hard wired' and teenagers often don't fully see the consequences of their actions.
Diana was a member of the nobility before entering the inner circle of the royal family, which is a whole different ball game. In-laws can be tricky for a lot of people at the best of times, never mind when there's a unique culture like the British royal famly. How can anyone know, or fully understand what they're joining without growing up in it?
To fit into that inner circle, someone either has to have the right skill set to adapt and/or have lots of support/training for the role. Whatever opinions we may hold regarding having a monarchy, marrying into it is as much, if not more, about accepting unique employment with a complex job description as it is about family.
There are a number of ways that a child can be a 'spoilt princess'. Having lots of dosh doesn't necessarily feed the soul, but the poorest of families can be royalty in their own way.
jac_the_gripper Forum Posts (5,363)
RE: No Buddhist retreat for me over Christmas
It's good to have something to look forward to when you're poorly.