Just got done talking with someone on Facebook about this very chart. Her takeaway was that the CDC was finally fessing up that they had been cooking the books the whole time. “They lied about 43,000 deaths just to make the numbers look scarier,” she says.
I quoted from the document that you posted above that has a bit of explanation. “Pneumonia and influenza deaths are included to provide context for understanding the completeness of COVID-19 mortality data and related trends. Deaths due to COVID-19 may be misclassified as pneumonia or influenza deaths in the absence of positive test results, and pneumonia or influenza may appear on death certificates as a comorbid condition. Additionally, COVID-19 symptoms can be similar to influenza-like illness, thus deaths may be misclassified as influenza. Thus, increases in pneumonia and influenza deaths may be an indicator of excess COVID-19-related mortality. Additionally, estimates of completeness for pneumonia and influenza deaths may provide context for understanding the lag in reporting for COVID-19 deaths, as it is anticipated that these causes would have similar delays in reporting, processing, and coding.”
Her response was “That’s your opinion.” Well, actually no, it’s not my opinion, or anyone else’s opinion. It’s a quote from a CDC document trying to explain numbers and issues with reporting.
Yes, it’s TMI for many, and if they have a conspiracist mindset, they already have an epistemic issue and can’t process things well in proper perspective.
My wife in a very serious tone mentions about this major researcher who was arrested as part of a COVID-19 cover-up and I asked what their name was. Lots of her friends are talking about this huge new conspiracy and she was afraid that I’d go spend hours researching it. But then… The name came: Judy Mikovits. I laughed but that made her mad. I got to explain about why her famous paper was retracted and how there are one of two ways scientists can go with their claims are challenged. In particular at one point there were 10 other studies that contradicted her results. At this point, you can do one of two things:
do the hard work of high-level science and demonstrate why you are correct after all
call everyone else incompetent, claim conspiracy and sell your soul to the anti-science movement
Maybe I used slightly less inflammatory language. Hopefully I convinced her how we need to judge such claims. The way that false claims are figured out is by doing science. Anyone who’s making up data or finding things in the data that aren’t there historically is NEVER figured out by crying in the public media or making up random things about COVID-19, but very carefully in rigorous scientific studies.
Just last night one of my cousins asked what I thought of a youtube she is featured on, as one of her friends recommended it. It apparently claims that Covid 19 is part of a intentional conspiracy to lower the world’s population and control the world or something like that. I refuse, as part of the controlling and conspiratorial scientific elite, to link it, but you can easily google “plandemic.”
I need to return to my Facebook fast now and work on my new world order and plan to dominate the global health industry, if I can only push Bill Gates aside to get to the top of the heap. Maybe if I can hack into the microchip implants…
Indeed! Truth is I stopped giving vaccines the last few years of practice due tothe low profit margins which made it a money loser. The big pharmacy chains essentially pushed private physicians out of the vaccine market as they get bulk discounts and preferential delivery dates. Plus, on low volume vaccines, a couple of vials going out of date can cost you hundreds of dollars.
Here is a response one doc had on Facebook to the video referenced above:
I’m noticing that they keep deleting these videos on various platforms, and what I am seeing is that it is just flaming the fire. It makes them seem like they have something to hide. I hate to see false info spread like this, especially because if someone like my dad (who has cancer) quits wearing a mask, well, that is worrisome to me, personally, if he were to take something like this seriously. But again, it seems like by deleting these videos they are making things worse instead of fighting back with correct information (even if that is exhausting). Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone knows if the “delete fake news” program is effective or not.
Yes, I’m afraid I got an email about it from a conspiracy -believing friend, saying that Martin Luther King had predicted trouble if the press’s freedom was limited.
He did press free speech, especially to protect minority rights, correct? And I suppose conspiracy theorists are in the minority, no matter how loud they seem…
I really can’t understand why they think Fauci, Gates, WHO and governments would try to destroy the economy (their sources of income) and risk incredible unpopularity…especially with their records of truly helping people over the years. It breaks my heart to see good people believing this. Unfortunately, many responses are so mean spirited that I can’t share legitimate responses with my conspiracy-believing friends, as it shuts down communication even more.
I tried to go this way too but all I usually get is now Gates will make mega buccos off of vaccines or microchips.
I struggle with coming off as a ‘know it all.’ for example, I was sent a massive list of anti-vaccine doctors and it was full of PubMed links that’s appeared to support the idea that vaccines cause autism. I made the comment That oh boy, this is going to take a while to demonstrate why it’s wrong. And then everything I have to say gets dismissed after that because I have bias. I realize that I guess I do have a bias towards the scientific consensus. sometimes that bias pushes me towards agnosticism on a particular topic, other times I can know that someone is wrong before I even take a look at their claims. I’m not sure that I’ve done the best job communicating that to people.
That is a real problem. I am hoping this is a sarcasm safe space wirthin limits. It is time consuming to address every point, and when you do show that something is in error, the conspiracy people just ignore it and throw out a different statement.
With friends on the edge, I have some success with asking them what they think about this or that, hoping they will weigh the evidence, but with those who are invested in a conspiracy worldview, little seems effective.
I said I would not go any further, but it looks like the topic has been broached…
Just curious, how do you interpret these verses in the book of Psalms? Do you believe they still apply today? Or are they no longer applicable?
Psalm 2
1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers band together
against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break their chains
and throw off their shackles.”
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.”
[/sarcasm]