Non Sequitur and COVID Foolishness

 

This morning on the way to work, I was listening to the local AM talk radio station.  During a commercial break, the station aired a spot for an organization supporting “first responders.”  For the most part, the ad was unremarkable and what one would expect–the main narrator sounded like a young girl, thanking first responders for keeping people safe and risking their lives each day, followed by a variety of voices (male, female, young, old) all saying “thank you.”  But then they cut to the voice of a “first responder”…

His entire quote went something like this (I’m going from memory, so this is a paraphrase): “Each day I go to work worrying about COVID.  I do everything in my power to keep myself safe from it and to make sure I don’t bring it back home to my family.  So do what you can to keep yourselves safe too.”

Huh?!  That was the extent of the “first responder’s” comments.  How weirdly self-focused.  How unrelated to serving others in need.  How divorced from the current realities of COVID.  No statement of how he’s glad to serve the community or that he finds great satisfaction in helping others.  Just fear of COVID infection to and through him.  For someone who might face actual dangerous situations, coming in contact with COVID-positive patients seems like it should be the least of his concerns.

To be honest, I’m not even sure what his point was, although I suspect it was two-fold.  One, that we should appreciate how much extra dangerous the job is because of COVID (I’m not sure it was ever true, but it’s definitely not true at this point).  Two, although the ad didn’t mention getting vaccinated, that people should make sure they get the shot.

Just one more example of what a strange time we live in.  We can’t simply honor the efforts of first responders without trying to make some kind of (completely unrelated) political statement.

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  1. OldPhil Coolidge
    OldPhil
    @OldPhil

    I just finished reading Alex Berenson’s Pandemia. Even though very little of what he writes about was news to me, what our government(s) did to us for nearly two years (and in some cases are still doing) still makes me very angry.

    • #1
  2. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    I have no way of being sure about this, but my guess is that the ad was recorded during the initial wave of Kung Flu in spring 2020. The organization hasn’t bothered to send a new ad to the station, so the station just plays whatever they have in the “PSA” rotation.

    • #2
  3. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Got to keep the fear zeitgeist front and center.

    • #3
  4. EODmom Coolidge
    EODmom
    @EODmom

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I have no way of being sure about this, but my guess is that the ad was recorded during the initial wave of Kung Flu in spring 2020. The organization hasn’t bothered to send a new ad to the station, so the station just plays whatever they have in the “PSA” rotation.

    Or – it’s a refresher for the fall push to boosters and a fear booster. Propaganda doesn’t have to be fresh, just unrelenting. 

    • #4
  5. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I have no way of being sure about this, but my guess is that the ad was recorded during the initial wave of Kung Flu in spring 2020. The organization hasn’t bothered to send a new ad to the station, so the station just plays whatever they have in the “PSA” rotation.

    You may well be correct.  That would make the ad make more sense at least.

    • #5
  6. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I’m more cynical. I think the first part of the ad was to lure you in–voices of kids will do that. Then they hit you with the propaganda–I’m a good guy-firefighter and I worry about COVID and you should, too.

    • #6
  7. DrewInWisconsin, Oik Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oik
    @DrewInWisconsin

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I have no way of being sure about this, but my guess is that the ad was recorded during the initial wave of Kung Flu in spring 2020. The organization hasn’t bothered to send a new ad to the station, so the station just plays whatever they have in the “PSA” rotation.

    Spotify still runs these ads for podcasts featuring Doctor Fauci as the voice of SCIENCE on COVID, and I grind off a few molars every time I hear it.

    Yeah, I have no teeth left.

    • #7
  8. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    EODmom (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    I have no way of being sure about this, but my guess is that the ad was recorded during the initial wave of Kung Flu in spring 2020. The organization hasn’t bothered to send a new ad to the station, so the station just plays whatever they have in the “PSA” rotation.

    Or – it’s a refresher for the fall push to boosters and a fear booster. Propaganda doesn’t have to be fresh, just unrelenting.

    And maybe shaping the election battlefield. If the fear can be ratcheted up, plans to steal can be implemented. That’s why basement dummy’s voting trip for the Delaware primary was odd on a few levels. Conservatives got to harp on the costs of transportation and fuel that environmentalists claim to care about. Also, it was a missed opportunity to highlight the importance of voting by mail. It can now be claimed that voting in person is the way to go. A little slip from the propaganda team.

    • #8
  9. tigerlily Member
    tigerlily
    @tigerlily

    I still see and hear ads and PSA’s pushing vaccines and boosters for young and old alike which I find obscene. COVID is over – the vaccine is much much more risky to the young than is COVID  and, except for the elderly and those with certain health problems, the vaccine and the boosters are also probably a bigger health threat than what’s left of COVID.

    • #9
  10. DrewInWisconsin, Oik Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oik
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Denmark has banned the COVID vax for those under 50.

    Not just “not recommended,” but banned.

    • #10
  11. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine.  I guess they think they being subtle about combating misinformation…

    • #11
  12. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they being subtle about combating misinformation…

    We have a billboard advertising vaccines for six month olds and up. Can’t remember if it specifically mentions Covid, but I’m pretty sure that’s the focus of the ad.

    • #12
  13. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    tigerlily (View Comment):

    I still see and hear ads and PSA’s pushing vaccines and boosters for young and old alike which I find obscene. COVID is over – the vaccine is much much more risky to the young than is COVID and, except for the elderly and those with certain health problems, the vaccine and the boosters are also probably a bigger health threat than what’s left of COVID.

    This is the part that especially infuriates me–pushing the vaccine for the young.  It’s demonstrably untrue that they (as a group) are at any calculable risk of death or serious illness.  Further, at least around where I live, the ads (like the ones you mention) assert that young people make up a significant and growing percentage of those hospitalized with COVID.  That simply cannot be true, but the lie is still spread.

    **Edit:  When I write “that simply cannot be true”, I technically mean that it simply cannot be accurate.  I suppose someone can twist the statistics to show that (perhaps because the elderly are now less at risk then before) that the percentage of young people in the hospital (even though they’re in the hospital for something else) who test positive for COVID constitutes a larger percentage of “hospital/COVID cases” than was the situation previously.  But to assert such a thing is still ridiculously misrepresenting the data.

    • #13
  14. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Last week I went to visit a family member at Georgetown U Hospital which is even more COVID-fascist than the rest of the campus. Masks are required and only two visitors are permitted each day.  If a visitor goes down to the gift shop and a vending machine and returns, that counts as two visits.  Instead of 1 or 2 receptionists in the lobby to say what room the patient is in and whether visits are permitted, the 2-visitor-max policy requires an additional staff of 4-6 to manage a very large color-coded board with wristbands and markers for each room in the hospital along with a stack of handouts in English and Spanish about the new rules.

    Given that (a) COVID-19 is now and will continue to be endemic and seasonal for many years and (b) it is impossible to now admit that masks and closure policies offer very marginal if any protection against respiratory viruses, how does one ever end such a policy?

    • #14
  15. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Last week I went to visit a family member at Georgetown U Hospital which is even more COVID-fascist than the rest of the campus. Masks are required and only two visitors are permitted each day. If a visitor goes down to the gift shop and a vending machine and returns, that counts as two visits. Instead of 1 or 2 receptionists in the lobby to say what room the patient is in and whether visits are permitted, the 2-visitor-max policy requires an additional staff of 4-6 to manage a very large color-coded board with wristbands and markers for each room in the hospital along with a stack of handouts in English and Spanish about the new rules.

    Given that (a) COVID-19 is now and will continue to be endemic and seasonal for many years and (b) it is impossible to now admit that masks and closure policies offer very marginal if any protection against respiratory viruses, how does one ever end such a policy?

    My hope is that eventually (one year?  two?) the rank and file office assistants/nurses/doctors/etc. will grow weary of the theater and quietly begin a form of “civil disobedience”.  At some point the powers that be will relent, but only quietly and without admission of any guilt.

    • #15
  16. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Last week I went to visit a family member at Georgetown U Hospital which is even more COVID-fascist than the rest of the campus. Masks are required and only two visitors are permitted each day. If a visitor goes down to the gift shop and a vending machine and returns, that counts as two visits. Instead of 1 or 2 receptionists in the lobby to say what room the patient is in and whether visits are permitted, the 2-visitor-max policy requires an additional staff of 4-6 to manage a very large color-coded board with wristbands and markers for each room in the hospital along with a stack of handouts in English and Spanish about the new rules.

    Given that (a) COVID-19 is now and will continue to be endemic and seasonal for many years and (b) it is impossible to now admit that masks and closure policies offer very marginal if any protection against respiratory viruses, how does one ever end such a policy?

    My hope is that eventually (one year? two?) the rank and file office assistants/nurses/doctors/etc. will grow weary of the theater and quietly begin a form of “civil disobedience”. At some point the powers that be will relent, but only quietly and without admission of any guilt.

    No.  I think more drama and some kind of cover will be required.

    • #16
  17. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):
    My hope is that eventually (one year?  two?) the rank and file office assistants/nurses/doctors/etc. will grow weary of the theater and quietly begin a form of “civil disobedience”.  At some point the powers that be will relent, but only quietly and without admission of any guilt.

    That sounds about right. Just let the changes gradually slip in, slowly but surely.

    • #17
  18. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    Last week I went to visit a family member at Georgetown U Hospital which is even more COVID-fascist than the rest of the campus. Masks are required and only two visitors are permitted each day. If a visitor goes down to the gift shop and a vending machine and returns, that counts as two visits. Instead of 1 or 2 receptionists in the lobby to say what room the patient is in and whether visits are permitted, the 2-visitor-max policy requires an additional staff of 4-6 to manage a very large color-coded board with wristbands and markers for each room in the hospital along with a stack of handouts in English and Spanish about the new rules.

    Given that (a) COVID-19 is now and will continue to be endemic and seasonal for many years and (b) it is impossible to now admit that masks and closure policies offer very marginal if any protection against respiratory viruses, how does one ever end such a policy?

    My hope is that eventually (one year? two?) the rank and file office assistants/nurses/doctors/etc. will grow weary of the theater and quietly begin a form of “civil disobedience”. At some point the powers that be will relent, but only quietly and without admission of any guilt.

    No. I think more drama and some kind of cover will be required.

    Oh how I do hope you’re wrong.

    • #18
  19. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

    Maybe this only appeared  recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

     

     

     

     

    • #19
  20. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

    Maybe this only appeared recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

    This kind of thing is infuriating.  By analogy, I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not an expert at many legal issues.  I suspect the overwhelming majority of doctors are also not “experts” in medicine generally.

    I took my son to the doctor for a physical sometime in this past spring.  I was curious what the doctor (in this case it was a PA) would say about vaccinating a 16 year old.  Simply put, she had nothing intelligent to say about it.  She simply said something like “we are generally recommending he get the shot”.  She gave me no confidence in her expertise.

    **Edited the first paragraph to improve clarity.

    • #20
  21. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

     

    Maybe this only appeared recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

    This kind of thing is infuriating. By analogy, I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not an expert at much. I suspect the overwhelming majority of doctors are also not “experts”.

    I took my son to the doctor for a physical sometime in this past spring. I was curious what the doctor (in this case it was a PA) would say about vaccinating a 16 year old. Simply put, she had nothing intelligent to say about it. She simply said something like “we are generally recommending he get the shot”. She gave me no confidence in her expertise.

    This sounds like a couched way of saying, “I’m told to say…” without saying those four words out loud.

    • #21
  22. DrewInWisconsin, Oik Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oik
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

    Why does the color scheme match the Tranny Flag?

    Transgender Pride flag.svg

    I wonder if YOUR DOCTOR is an expert on cutting bits and pieces off teenagers?

    • #22
  23. Justin Other Lawyer Coolidge
    Justin Other Lawyer
    @DouglasMyers

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

     

    Maybe this only appeared recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

    This kind of thing is infuriating. By analogy, I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not an expert at much. I suspect the overwhelming majority of doctors are also not “experts”.

    I took my son to the doctor for a physical sometime in this past spring. I was curious what the doctor (in this case it was a PA) would say about vaccinating a 16 year old. Simply put, she had nothing intelligent to say about it. She simply said something like “we are generally recommending he get the shot”. She gave me no confidence in her expertise.

    This sounds like a couched way of saying, “I’m told to say…” without saying those four words out loud.

    I think that’s a possibility.  But the tone suggested to me that she had no interest in knowing one way or the other.  Her experts/bosses told her that kids should get the shot, and that was good enough for her.  I didn’t get any sense of skepticism on her part.

    • #23
  24. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

    Maybe this only appeared recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

    This kind of thing is infuriating. By analogy, I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not an expert at much. I suspect the overwhelming majority of doctors are also not “experts”.

    I took my son to the doctor for a physical sometime in this past spring. I was curious what the doctor (in this case it was a PA) would say about vaccinating a 16 year old. Simply put, she had nothing intelligent to say about it. She simply said something like “we are generally recommending he get the shot”. She gave me no confidence in her expertise.

    This sounds like a couched way of saying, “I’m told to say…” without saying those four words out loud.

    I think that’s a possibility. But the tone suggested to me that she had no interest in knowing one way or the other. Her experts/bosses told her that kids should get the shot, and that was good enough for her. I didn’t get any sense of skepticism on her part.

    This is possible, too.  My PA used pretty much the same words, and had that bland tone, and a non-committal expression on his face, but I know that he’s never received a single covid inoculation.  When medical providers are employees, they are really in a bind.

    • #24
  25. CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Not So Easy To Kill
    @CarolJoy

    tigerlily (View Comment):

    I still see and hear ads and PSA’s pushing vaccines and boosters for young and old alike which I find obscene. COVID is over – the vaccine is much much more risky to the young than is COVID and, except for the elderly and those with certain health problems, the vaccine and the boosters are also probably a bigger health threat than what’s left of COVID.

    Agreed.

    The spouse and I went on  two national weather websites last night to determine if this weekend will offer the rain storms that have been promised.

    And both had banners reminding us about the existence of COVID, and how we could obtain more information by going to “WhyNotTryAndBeAfraidOfAnInfectionThatIsDisappearing.com”

    Okay, I made the URL up.

    But who in the world needs more info about COVID? And while looking at the weather reports?

    • #25
  26. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    I’ve noticed more ads on tv, too. They’re ramping up with fall coming, hoping those who get flu shots will get COVID boosters. Not for me!

    • #26
  27. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Hey, it could be worse.

    “I’m a first responder and my greatest fear every day is that I will catch monkey pox.”

    • #27
  28. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):

    Hey, it could be worse.

    “I’m a first responder and my greatest fear every day is that I will catch monkey pox.”

    What about social workers sent in to disarm drug gangs and murder suspects?

    • #28
  29. DaveSchmidt Coolidge
    DaveSchmidt
    @DaveSchmidt

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Flicker (View Comment):

    Justin Other Lawyer (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    Mad Gerald (View Comment):

    A billboard went up in my town last month stating that you can ask your uncle about cars, but you should ask your doctor about the Covid vaccine. I guess they think they are being subtle about combating misinformation…

    I was out shopping so I snapped a pic.

     

    Maybe this only appeared recently because they have run out of other ideas on how to spend free Covid money.

    This kind of thing is infuriating. By analogy, I am a lawyer by profession, but I am not an expert at much. I suspect the overwhelming majority of doctors are also not “experts”.

    I took my son to the doctor for a physical sometime in this past spring. I was curious what the doctor (in this case it was a PA) would say about vaccinating a 16 year old. Simply put, she had nothing intelligent to say about it. She simply said something like “we are generally recommending he get the shot”. She gave me no confidence in her expertise.

    This sounds like a couched way of saying, “I’m told to say…” without saying those four words out loud.

    I think that’s a possibility. But the tone suggested to me that she had no interest in knowing one way or the other. Her experts/bosses told her that kids should get the shot, and that was good enough for her. I didn’t get any sense of skepticism on her part.

    Or real concern about the patient.  

    • #29
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