Don’t take health advice from the ignorant

by philg

“Why So Many Tennis Players Don’t Want the Covid Vaccine” (NYT, August 30) describes a heretic and a suspected marrano:

Third-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas caused an uproar in his native Greece this month after he said he would get vaccinated only if it were required to continue competing.

“I don’t see any reason for someone of my age to do it,” said Tsitsipas, 23. “It hasn’t been tested enough and it has side effects. As long as it’s not mandatory, everyone can decide for themselves.”

Giannis Oikonomou, a spokesman for the Greek government, said Tsitsipas “has neither the knowledge nor the studies nor the research work that would allow him to form an opinion” about the necessity for vaccination, and added that people like athletes who are widely admired should be “doubly careful in expressing such views.”

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic has drawn scrutiny for his approach to health issues throughout the pandemic, and has declined to disclose his own vaccination status. Djokovic said it was a “personal decision” when asked about vaccine protocols on Friday. “Whether someone wants to get a vaccine or not, that’s completely up to them,” Djokovic said. “I hope that it stays that way.”

My favorite part of the above is the idea that nobody should listen to the 23-year-old Tsitsipas on the topic of maximizing personal health. From ATP:

(Having chosen to live in tax-free Monte Carlo (Greece, like nearly all of the world’s countries besides the U.S., doesn’t tax non-resident citizens), is it possible that Mr. Tsitsipas could obtain a New York Times stamp of approval as an expert on minimizing tax liability?)

From whom should we take health advice, if not Messrs. Tsitsipas and Djokovic? How about Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services? Here’s Dr. Rachel Levine:

Except in South Dakota and Florida, state governors have held themselves out as experts on public health, confident that muscular government action can, for the first time in human history and contrary to W.H.O. guidance through 2019, stop a respiratory virus. Let’s look at JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois? He’s issued nearly 100 executive orders so far regarding health in the time of COVID-19. My favorite, of course, is Executive Order #3 (March 12, 2020):

WHEREAS, in late 2019, a new and significant outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged; and,

WHEREAS, it is necessary and appropriate for the State of Illinois to immediately take measures to protect the public’s health in response to this COVID-19 outbreak;

THEREFORE, by the powers vested in me as the Governor of the State of Illinois, pursuant to Sections 7(1) and 7(12) of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act, 20 ILCS 3305, I hereby order the following:

Section 1. The application submission deadlines in the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act and implementing regulations for submitting in-person applications by March 16, 2020, are suspended as follows:

(summary from the index page: “CANNABIS APPLICATIONS — The deadline for cannabis grower, infuser and transporter license applications is extended, and applicants are now allowed to mail completed applications, rather than submitting in person.”)

Can we see a photo of the heroic health expert governor who protected Illinois residents from a potential shortage of health-promoting marijuana during the global pandemic?

(Perhaps Governor Pritzker is an expert who contributed to CNN’s “Why does smoking pot give you the munchies?”)

11 thoughts on “Don’t take health advice from the ignorant”

  2. It is pure brilliance to put the pictures of Levine and Pritzker after the Tsitsipas and Djokovic section. Well done!

    I think you have summarized it well: Any drug that is approved by the left (cannabis, magic mushrooms, LSD, Xanax) is “safe”. Anything that rednecks or free thinkers like Tsitsipas and Djokovic promote is “unsafe”.

    Speaking of Levine, gender reassignment surgery is of course also 100% safe. We need to free up those ICUs so teenagers don’t have to wait for essential surgery.

  3. History doesn’t repeat but it does rhyme. So today’s righteous hatred for those unwilling to become human livestock has its parallel: the Popish Plot of the late 17th century.

    For Anthony Fauci substitute Titus Oates; for those dirty unvaccinated substitute Catholics. Like Fauci, Oates persuaded the legislature and the public that they were in grave danger, threatend by a recalcitrant minority devoid of reason and humanity. The majority, convinced of the danger, hurled their anger at the enemy among them, urging the authorities to do more to avert the threat. After all, there was nothing to stop those Catholics from admitting their error and converting to the path of righteousness.

    There is one point where this analogy fails: after increasing doubts, the Plot was discredited and Titus Oates convicted of perjury. It’s hard to image anything equivalent happening to today’s Coronapanic.

  4. Physician’s Assistant Deborah Conrad blows the whistle on the lack of reporting to VAERS (this is less sensational than the Project Veritas release):
    https://streamable.com/5q0ket

    Don’t forget Theresa Tam:
    https://www.peakprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/hm_bbpui/660210/tjf467v8b7t867zq46p76y26cnkj3624.jpeg

    And Chicago Mayor Lori “Livingdead” Lightfoot:
    https://www.chicagotribune.com/resizer/BsKbnG-jywzcdQHODbGKY2Rb2nY=/800×533/top/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/HKD256JWJBFEJFZJNFHPROX2F4.jpg

    In contrast, anti-mandate Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Abbot look much healthier, despite the latter’s paralysis.

    I think there is a causal relationship here. Pigs whose own health is out of control are at high risk of COVID and would personally rather risk myocarditis, thromboembolism, and cancer in 5 years than make healthier dietary choices and take vitamins, and they assume that their subjects are just like them. Their only conception of “taking care of my health” is “consuming healthcare resources including high-profit pharmaceuticals” and label anything else as “misinformation”.

  5. > Can we see a photo of the heroic health expert governor who protected Illinois residents from a potential shortage of health-promoting marijuana during the global pandemic?

    This afternoon I was listening to “NPR Now!” on satellite radio as they gleefully discussed how the authorization for banks and other large financial firms to open up and deal with the burgeoning marijuana industry has been slipped in to the 1,700 page Defense Authorization Bill, in what both the host and the guest described as a clever-but-necessary “tactical measure.” This will insure, in the words of the host, that our communities are safer (and thus, it is a penumbra of National Security and *belongs* in the Defense Authorization Bill) because marijuana dealers will not have to rely so much on cash transactions, guns and armored cars. Everyone agreed this was a necessary and prudent move, just in the nick of time to prevent more mayhem and societal decline, and should get as much support as possible.

    After bidding politely goodbye to his helpful explainer, the host segued into a story about his daughter standing around missing her first period of school because there is a school bus driver shortage. Apparently he lives in a town nice enough to let his young K-12 kid stand by herself waiting for a school bus that never arrives. Also, it seems now that any live body that can see at least one hand in front of their face qualifies to drive a school bus – especially because they have hand sanitizer, they disinfect each bus after use, and all the schoolchildren are wearing masks. All of this passed through his lips without a hint of irony or anything other than fulsome approval, especially because the sound bites for the story focused on some guy named “Rodriguez” with a thick Latinx accent explaining how great it was that he was able to land a job driving school buses so quickly and easily.

    • Oh, I forgot to add: After his sound bites ended, the host noted that he and (apparently) his wife have decided instead to drive their daughter to school rather than risk another first period being spent waiting by the side of the road. He noted that so many people don’t have that option, and that’s why it’s so very important that those open school bus driver slots get filled as quickly as they possibly can – and of course, more funding is needed to guarantee that so that everybody’s kids can get to school on time.

  6. Not sure why they mentioned Djokovic. He should have natural immunity after having had the virus, so no need to get vaccinated.
    https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/29351887/novak-djokovic-tested-positive-coronavirus

    It looks like natural immunity does not count as a reason not to get vaccinated (regardless of this post main points) in the current political/pseudo-scientific-medical climate. Apparently, the modern immunology advanced so much that it is unable to provide an objective measure of the level of antibodies sufficient to overcome the virus onslaught, even after two years of presumably investigating the disease in their spare time left over from studying the CRT. This sort of scientific descent is quite expected, of course.

  7. The best piece of corona logic I’ve encountered this year:

    https://www.rappler.com/entertainment/celebrities/jennifer-aniston-defends-cut-ties-unvaccinated-friends-covid-19

    “Because if you have the variant, you are still able to give it to me. I may get slightly sick but I will not be admitted to a hospital and or die. BUT I CAN give it to someone else who does not have the vaccine and whose health is compromised (or has a previous existing condition) – and therefore I would put their lives at risk,” wrote Aniston.

    We have an advanced kind of #Science: The vaccinated Aniston can can still spread the virus, but vaccinated people (who she hasn’t disavowed) apparently cannot give it to her!

    I sense that there’s a new secretary of health in the making.

Comments are closed.