[pille]

A vaccine mandate has about 80% support in Germany. OP is axe-grinding for a pretty small minority here.

I don’t know if people are generally any more stupid now. I think it’s just that our media elevates these uninformed voices and amplifies these stupid points of view, treating both sides as possibly right, when one is so obviously wrong.

[babypuncher]

I used to believe this, until one of our political parties officially adopted the position that the 2020 election was stolen from them, and states like Florida and Alaska put vaccine and mask skeptics in charge of their health programs.

The people who believe this nonsense still aren't a majority, but they are now a large enough constituency to affect actual public policy. They are enabled by another large group who choose to ignore the insanity because it is politically convenient for them. I find all of this beyond terrifying. I stand by my statement: Smallpox could never be eradicated in 2021.

[rsynnott]

> I used to believe this, until one of our political parties officially adopted the position that the 2020 election was stolen from them

That's not new, though, really; it's new for the US, but it's a pretty common thing in the developing world (and was somewhat common in Europe pre-WW2).

The right sort of leader could absolutely have caused a similar reaction in the US 70 years ago, and the US _did_ have another weird political moment around that time; the McCarthyist panic. If McCarthy had been a weird narcissistic president rather than a paranoid, and then lost re-election, what do you think would have happened?

[selimthegrim]

See also - polio eradication attempts in Afghanistan, Pakistan (Nigeria too?) now, in 2021

[pille]

I think we agree on all of this. I was just pointing to what I think is the mechanism that promotes the stupidity.

It’s certainly worse in the US than it is in Germany. That much is clear.