[consteval]

Yes, incredibly small scale data. I can find someone somewhere who has experienced just about anything. Hell, they don't even have to experience it - they just need to say they do.

I've known multiple people who swore potatoes cured their sickness. Yes, potatoes. No, not eaten - worn.

My sample size is greater than yours. Does that mean potatoes cure illness purely by being in proximity to people? Probably not.

People are dumb and unreliable. People are fueled by beliefs. And when those beliefs are challenged, almost every time this is taken as PROOF of the belief. They are untouchable. Agree with them and that's great, disagree and you're being silenced or the government or something thereby giving validity to their belief.

Anecdotes are not meaningful data.

[dumbo-octopus]

Sure. Now dismantle “scientific” papers published by government agencies with a political motive.

This is beside the point however. Both the government studies and the boots on the ground in fact agree that masking causes significant developmental disabilities, the only disagreement is the extent.

[consteval]

I don't necessarily disagree. But I am extremely wary of people who have a "government bad" mentality. It's very easy for such people to slip into outright science denial. And then suddenly the Earth is flat, covid was planned, climate change isn't real, and 5G controls your mind.

Yes, things can have a political motive. But you ALSO have political motives, you just don't know it. For example the climate change denial has a very real political motive - to protect the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas have been denying climate since the 60s, and our government backed them because of political will.

Masking, during the pandemic, saved lives. This is not up for debate. Whether it's a good idea now is another question all together.

[dumbo-octopus]

I don’t really have much interest in engaging with your “you think X? you probably also think X Y and Z” strawmanning. It’s bad logic and makes for poor debate.

As for masking during the pandemic, it might have save some lives. It probably did. But it also contributed to long term damage of many others. Refraining from sniping an active gunman “saves lives” too, but that’s hardly the end of the discussion. Context matters.

[consteval]

> you think X? you probably also think X Y and Z

That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that simply distrusting the government isn't enough. It isn't enough to support any stance. You need more than that.

> As for masking during the pandemic, it might have save some lives. It probably did. But it also contributed to long term damage of many others

I mean... no, this just isn't true. Masks didn't hurt anyone because they literally can't.

This is what I'm talking about. The reason people didn't want to wear masks isn't because they thought they were harmful, but rather because they were TOLD to. They didn't have anything past that.

Even in the worst-case scenario where masks do nothing, there's still zero reason not to wear a mask. the only reason is "gov bad". That, to me, is not enough. That's a nothing-burger. But millions ran with that. There was also some misinformation about CO2 buildup or something but, go figure, that was entirely made up by alex jones types to justify the fact they didn't want to wear a mask.