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Face mask or no face mask?

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Replies

  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    Thanks for saving me dimwit... I'm not going to be a sheep and live in fear.

    I concur.

    Ya’ll can throw out insults and make assumptions about those of us who don’t wear masks. Feel free take responsibility for your own health and keep yourselves away from those not wearing a mask.

    Out here where your nearest neighbor is easily a mile or more down the road and the most interaction we have with others is chatting with them when they pass by on their tractor carrying a round bale to their cattle it doesn’t really make sense to wear a mask.

    Ya’ll feel free to social distance yourselves in the cities where you live and leave us rural folk alone.

    *edited spelling errors

    Y’all can disagree but I’m not sure what you’re disagreeing with.

    I’ve not seen where anyone who does not wear a mask has made threats such as “...deserved to be smacked upside the head.” Or “If I write what and how I feel...I will probably be banned for life...”.

    “Social distancing” is supposed to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and if you’re outside chatting with a farmer or cattleman in a tractor large enough to be transporting a, or multiple, round bales down a road you’re not invading their “social distancing” space.

    Also, why would you disagree with individuals who live in higher populated areas traveling to lower populated areas and risk infecting us? You don’t want us selfish, non-responsible, non-mask wearers “infecting” you, right?

    The myopic, one size fits all, approach has been detrimental to many areas and I am glad that the people in my community have had the foresight and intestinal fortitude to evaluate our actual risks before making knee-jerk decisions.

    I’m doing fine, my community is doing fine, and to those making threats and trying to bully us, that’s not going to sway our opinion.

    I disagreed because I thought your argument was silly. I can't think of anyone in here who would expect you to wear a mask if your neighbors are a mile away. You're not really even talking about the same thing most of us are talking about. Also, I just really don't like your username.

    That, plus said "Ya’ll can throw out insults and make assumptions" in reply to a post (that he was agreeing with) that said "I'm not going to be a sheep and live in fear". If that's not also throwing out insults and making assumptions, I don't know what is.

    I have no problem with rural people who don't need to wear masks, and don't. I also have little problem with people in communities with ultra-low community spread not being hyper-compulsive about masks. Rationality about one's actual context is fine.

    I don't personally like name-calling, even among people who agree with me. It's tacky.

    ETA a P.S. I didn't think "galaxy brain" was appropriate or pleasant, either, personally - even though I'm not totally sure what it means. 😆

    Definitely that, plus concurring with a post calling someone a dimwit, while criticizing the throwing out of insults, plus getting all shirty over being disagreed with.
  • MFPUser73629
    MFPUser73629 Posts: 224 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Dnarules wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    Thanks for saving me dimwit... I'm not going to be a sheep and live in fear.

    I concur.

    Ya’ll can throw out insults and make assumptions about those of us who don’t wear masks. Feel free take responsibility for your own health and keep yourselves away from those not wearing a mask.

    Out here where your nearest neighbor is easily a mile or more down the road and the most interaction we have with others is chatting with them when they pass by on their tractor carrying a round bale to their cattle it doesn’t really make sense to wear a mask.

    Ya’ll feel free to social distance yourselves in the cities where you live and leave us rural folk alone.

    *edited spelling errors

    Y’all can disagree but I’m not sure what you’re disagreeing with.

    I’ve not seen where anyone who does not wear a mask has made threats such as “...deserved to be smacked upside the head.” Or “If I write what and how I feel...I will probably be banned for life...”.

    “Social distancing” is supposed to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and if you’re outside chatting with a farmer or cattleman in a tractor large enough to be transporting a, or multiple, round bales down a road you’re not invading their “social distancing” space.

    Also, why would you disagree with individuals who live in higher populated areas traveling to lower populated areas and risk infecting us? You don’t want us selfish, non-responsible, non-mask wearers “infecting” you, right?

    The myopic, one size fits all, approach has been detrimental to many areas and I am glad that the people in my community have had the foresight and intestinal fortitude to evaluate our actual risks before making knee-jerk decisions.

    I’m doing fine, my community is doing fine, and to those making threats and trying to bully us, that’s not going to sway our opinion.

    I disagreed because I thought your argument was silly. I can't think of anyone in here who would expect you to wear a mask if your neighbors are a mile away. You're not really even talking about the same thing most of us are talking about. Also, I just really don't like your username.

    That, plus said "Ya’ll can throw out insults and make assumptions" in reply to a post (that he was agreeing with) that said "I'm not going to be a sheep and live in fear". If that's not also throwing out insults and making assumptions, I don't know what is.

    I have no problem with rural people who don't need to wear masks, and don't. I also have little problem with people in communities with ultra-low community spread not being hyper-compulsive about masks. Rationality about one's actual context is fine.

    I don't personally like name-calling, even among people who agree with me. It's tacky.

    ETA a P.S. I didn't think "galaxy brain" was appropriate or pleasant, either, personally - even though I'm not totally sure what it means. 😆

    Definitely that, plus concurring with a post calling someone a dimwit, while criticizing the throwing out of insults, plus getting all shirty over being disagreed with.

    Sorry that I did not edit edit the other posters comment to reflect that only the sheeple portion was what I was agreeing with. Also, this is a discussion/ debate thread so I’m not sure how I was getting shirty. I was merely responding.
  • MFPUser73629
    MFPUser73629 Posts: 224 Member
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.
  • MFPUser73629
    MFPUser73629 Posts: 224 Member
    Thanks. I’ve made my opinion known and will stand down unless someone tags me.
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,366 Member
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.

    No argument there. However, can you think of any other illness or event, whether natural disaster or man-made, that has killed 772,700 (latest figure) human beings world wide in the span of eight months?
  • threewins
    threewins Posts: 1,455 Member
    ythannah wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.

    No argument there. However, can you think of any other illness or event, whether natural disaster or man-made, that has killed 772,700 (latest figure) human beings world wide in the span of eight months?

    Spanish flu.
  • saintor1
    saintor1 Posts: 376 Member
    ythannah wrote: »

    No argument there. However, can you think of any other illness or event, whether natural disaster or man-made, that has killed 772,700 (latest figure) human beings world wide in the span of eight months?

    Infectious diseases are common.

    WHO mentions 17 millions of person in a year (a while ago).
    https://www.who.int/whr/1996/media_centre/press_release/en/

    This is on the high side, but I have seen between 5-10M elsewhere. Just tuberculosis is probably 1.5-2.0M.

    This site mentions 2.56M because of pneumonia, another infectious disease "caused by a number of different infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi."
    https://ourworldindata.org/pneumonia#:~:text=2.56 million people died from,death for children under 5.


  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    Thank you for reopening this thread :)
    I've found it enlightening and to be a good debate.

    Does anyone have particulars about the Spanish Flu? I thought I read recently that 50 Million people had died from it?
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Hollis100 wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.


    The correct context: 774,000 or three-quarters of a million people suddenly dying within a few months does not normally happen. Milllions died in WWI and WWII over a period of years. More people have died in the United States alone from this disease than all the Americans who died in World War One.

    Some of these COVID deaths could have been prevented with masks, social distancing, and better hygiene. Hundreds of thousands of people dying out of billions of people does not make it okay when many of those deaths could have been prevented. Those people were not just numbers.

    And those numbers already included in most countries some very tight lockdowns, and after that more restrictions that slightly majority (?) are following.

    As to what the numbers would have been had those actions NOT been taken.

    Compared to annual flu deaths that has no where near those controls - only people being realistic hopefully and NOT going into work or school to infect others would be about it.
  • ythannah
    ythannah Posts: 4,366 Member
    threewins wrote: »
    ythannah wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.

    No argument there. However, can you think of any other illness or event, whether natural disaster or man-made, that has killed 772,700 (latest figure) human beings world wide in the span of eight months?

    Spanish flu.

    I'd like to think we'd made great strides scientifically, medically, socially in the 102 years since that one.
    saintor1 wrote: »

    Infectious diseases are common.

    WHO mentions 17 millions of person in a year (a while ago).
    https://www.who.int/whr/1996/media_centre/press_release/en/

    That 17 million appears, on a quick read, to be a cumulative total of ALL illnesses. Including mad cow disease. Not sure that's still a big threat these days, possibly in some parts of the world.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,950 Member
    ythannah wrote: »
    threewins wrote: »
    ythannah wrote: »
    tittyman1 wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    jamloche wrote: »
    At my church, almost no one practices social distancing and it often seems as if I'm the only one wearing a mask. When the Elders opened the church back up for live Sunday services, I was angry about it ... but I kept going because it's important to me.

    Lately, I've come to the realization that these are the same people I know and love. The fact is they legitimately believe that masks do absolutely no good whatsoever. In fact, they actually believe wearing masks is harmful ... for any number of reasons - political, medical, and social. It mystifies me how they've come to this conclusion, but they have. And just like me, these people are moving forward in these highly uncertain times, making the best decisions they can, based on things that they very strongly believe in.

    In a very real sense, my brothers and sisters in Christ are actually loving me by NOT wearing a mask. And even though I strongly disagree with their conclusions, I love them for doing what they think is right and good.

    Wait, what?

    This sounds like broken brain thinking.

    Your first set principle is "I believe these people are good" and you move on to "therefore everything they do must be good and an expression of their love and goodness."

    It really should be "These people are doing something that is objectively selfish and misinformed" and let that take you to deciding what type of people they are.

    Your style of thinking is what lets us rationalize evil. "These people are good, therefore [x behavior] must be good."

    In reality these could be otherwise good people who are doing something wrong. Or they could be truly terrible people who are using a belief system to whitewash their generally terrible behavior. I don't know -- I don't go to your church. But I do know that saying "Christians are good, therefore all Christian behavior is good" isn't logical.

    (Same for any group, this isn't religion-specific).

    I fully agree with the bolded statement above. The point of my comment was that I want to believe the best about people who I disagree with. I'm trying to believe that they are doing what they sincerely think is right ... just like me. Just like you. The fact that they are Christians is secondary.

    But are you doing what you sincerely think is right? As I'm reading your posts, it sounds like you believe that having people congregate in large numbers inside without masks is a bad idea in terms of trying to contain a virus that has killed three-quarters of a million people in the past eight months. Do you think that participating in that, contributing to potential transmissions, and supporting the behavior of many other people who are doing that is the right thing to do?

    You compared it to the risk in participating in religious activities in areas where there is religious persecution. To me, participating in such activities when you don't share their beliefs that masks are useless or dangerous and crowds aren't an issue seems more analogous to seeking out martyrdom by going to the authorities and reporting the religious activities of your congregation, with full knowledge that you and your fellow Christians and pastor could all end up in prison or reeducation camps or in the arena with lions, depending on time and place.

    Let’s put this three-quarters of a million people into perspective. That’s three-quarters of a million deaths out of almost 7.8 billion people world wide.

    If we’re going to start tossing out numbers let’s put them in The correct context.

    No argument there. However, can you think of any other illness or event, whether natural disaster or man-made, that has killed 772,700 (latest figure) human beings world wide in the span of eight months?

    Spanish flu.

    I'd like to think we'd made great strides scientifically, medically, socially in the 102 years since that one.

    saintor1 wrote: »

    Infectious diseases are common.

    WHO mentions 17 millions of person in a year (a while ago).
    https://www.who.int/whr/1996/media_centre/press_release/en/

    That 17 million appears, on a quick read, to be a cumulative total of ALL illnesses. Including mad cow disease. Not sure that's still a big threat these days, possibly in some parts of the world.

    Well, I would like to think that too. It seems like something that should be true. Sadly ...
  • cgvet37
    cgvet37 Posts: 1,189 Member
    I don't believe the numbers. We are being lied to. The CDC and the WHO are master manipulators. Even Dr. Fauci himself was seen not wearing his mask, nor social distancing. Yet, people hang on to his every word. You are being programed, if you believe anything the puppet masters say. Unplug yourself.
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