[neonstatic]

> I think people with followings online got a ton of economic benefit from scaring people

Yes, it was very upsetting at the time and unfortunately remains a constant. I guess one has to go through that at least once to recognize a grifter.

> so even in hindsight, none of the concerns seem to have been legitimate.

The point was not only that the vaccines were rushed, it was also that there was a tremendous amount of coercion to force people into taking them. There are a few countries that didn't do that (Sweden comes to mind) and they ended up not having a much worse outcome than anyone else. I think it was a very telling moment in modern history, because it exposed a lot of myths, e.g. the American myth of gun ownership to stand up to a tyrannical government was totally shredded. The government turned tyrannical re: vaccines and mandates, did the guns help?

[therouwboat]

I was in Finland during covid and nobody forced me to take vaccine, but I figured that as healthy middle aged man covid is probably not that bad and if I can handle covid then side effects from vaccine are really nothing.

[lesuorac]

> There are a few countries that didn't do that (Sweden comes to mind) and they ended up not having a much worse outcome than anyone else.

I have no doubt Sweden did better than say sub-saharan africa. But it seems to me that only their neighbors are good comparison and they did worse than all of them.

Norway 1,050 deaths / million

Denmark 1,696 deaths / million

Finland 2,058 deaths / million

Sweden 2,812 deaths / million

> The government turned tyrannical re: vaccines and mandates, did the guns help?

I mean, the federal government had no mandate. So like were Floridians going to shoot up DeSantis because he didn't make a mandate? Or shoot up the other guy they elected, Trump (Biden not president until Jan 2021).

And then you don't really expect New Yorkers who elected Coumo to then shoot him up either?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_death_rates_...

[neonstatic]

> I mean, the federal government had no mandate. So like were Floridians going to shoot up DeSantis because he didn't make a mandate? Or shoot up the other guy they elected, Trump (Biden not president until Jan 2021). > > And then you don't really expect New Yorkers who elected Coumo to then shoot him up either?

Well, if you are asking for my opinion, the gun stuff in the US is so stupid it could be considered a mental illness. I don't disagree with your points at all

Re: Sweden - according to the article you listed, Sweden is on par with the rest of Europe, worse than other Scandinavian countries, and much better than the Balkans.