“Conservative” ideas kill.

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https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667193X22002010

Yet another study which adjusts for every known demographic risk factor finds that living in a “conservative” Congressional district significantly increases your risk of death from Covid. In the words of the authors . . .

“In the context of adult vaccine availability, the higher the exposure to conservatism across several political metrics, the higher the COVID-19 age-standardized mortality rates, even after taking into account the districts’ social characteristics.”

Maybe someone should do something about people spreading deadly disinformation?

Published by Paul Murphy

Published

46 thoughts on ““Conservative” ideas kill.”

    1. “Magical thinking?”

      Yeah, you know so much more than a bunch of fancy pants Harvard epidemiologists. Of course you do.

      The correlation is there. It is evidence for the theory that people spreading public health disinformation kill people.

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          2. “Do you require an explanation,”

            Not really. I am not interested in why you think peer reviewed studies by respected academics at one of our best public health graduate schools is based on “magical thinking.”

            As for your tombstone, I was referring to you bravely and stubbornly following “conservative” ideas about vaccination, masking, and social distancing – the same ideas that have killed tens of thousands of your compadres – if not more.

            Liked by 1 person

          5. Oh, I think the authors were very clear that it is exposure to conservative ideas that is deadly. Read this again . . .

            “In the context of adult vaccine availability, the higher the exposure to conservatism across several political metrics, the higher the COVID-19 age-standardized mortality rates, even after taking into account the districts’ social characteristics.”

            They did not need to go into the causal mechanisms because they are so obvious. Anti-vaxx, anti-mask, anti-social distancing are ALL deadly ideas spread mostly by right wingers.

            Liked by 1 person

          6. RE: “They did not need to go into the causal mechanisms because they are so obvious.”

            That’s where you are wrong. The authors did not go into the causal mechanisms because it would have been illogical to do so. Their study would not have survived peer review, just as your opinions about it do not.

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          7. Illogical?

            How?

            Like most of observational vs experimental science establishing the facts has value in and of itself. In this case it is a fact that exposure to conservatism and elevated risk of death from disease go hand in hand.

            Liked by 1 person

          9. “Not really. I am not interested in why you think peer reviewed studies by respected academics at one of our best public health graduate schools is based on “magical thinking.”

            Less than 25% of peer reviewed studies in medicine are reproducible.

            What my Biology prof always told me was that if it isn’t reproducible, it didn’t happen.

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          10. “Less than 25% of peer reviewed studies in medicine are reproducible.”

            This is not medicine. It is epidemiology. And it is the last of a long string of studies that have come to the same basic conclusion.

            The reason that they reach that conclusion is pretty easy to understand. Anti-vaxx, anti-mask, anti-social distancing are all dangerous ideas during a spreading epidemic and they are spread primarily by “conservative” leaders.

            Liked by 2 people

    1. “So long as they’re only killing themselves . . .”

      Now they are. Before the vaccines were available they were killing a lot of people other than themselves. At the top of the list were the health care workers who died trying to keep them alive.

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      1. I’m not okay with people like DeSantis forcing teachers into overcrowded classrooms filled with unvaccinated, unmasked students. I’m not okay with forcing the worker bees back into plague-filled jobs just to keep the stock market from crashing and making Trump look bad. I think, for one brief moment, the wingnuts realized who actually keeps this country running… and it wasn’t who they thought it was. And it scared them beyond constipation.

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  3. I don’t have time right now to review the methodology, but assuming it were true, the proper remedy would be to counter misinformation with better information, in a persuasive manner.

    Conservatives do not respond well to the command voice.

    Consider the vaccine rollout.

    At the beginning, when the vaccines were most effective, vaccines were passed out based on race and government union membership.

    Later on, vaccination was mandated for most employment.

    To the conservative, that sounds like “We decide if your parents live or die, and then we decide if you get vaccinated.”

    To Libertarians, it sounds like “Buy more ammo”

    You have to read the room.

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    1. “At the beginning, when the vaccines were most effective, vaccines were passed out based on race and government union membership.”

      “Buy more ammo”

      More lies and more threats of violence.
      Just can’t stop, can you?

      Your “solution” is bullshit. As Mark Twain may have said “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.” The real solution is for people to punish the murderous liars at the polls. No ammo required.

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        1. Somehow the not-a-threats you bring up always seem to involve guns and ammo.

          As stubborn and proud as a “conservative” may be, he has no right to endanger other people with his foolishness. And when the virus was spreading like wildfire, those who refused vaccination did exactly that.

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          2. Good grief.

            Vaccines reduce the viral load of people exposed. That is how they keep you from getting sick. That is how they reduce your symptoms such as sneezing and coughing. Heavy viral loads, sneezing, and coughing is how you transmit the virus to other people. The fact that vaccinated people CAN transmit the virus does not alter the fact that they are LESS LIKELY to do so.

            Liked by 1 person

    2. “ Conservatives do not respond well to the command voice.”

      The whole MAGA movement was dependent on unquestioned cult worship of one man. “Just following orders” was the defense of many of the attackers. Election deniers were not allowed to even moderate or question the Big Lie.

      Those followers bristled at a mask or vaccine requirements because someone told them to. #Liberate anyone?

      Of course you want them armed. They obey orders from the autocrat.

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          1. Yeah, and even Henry didn’t think of it as an order.

            But as usual, you are so committed to your narrative that you miss the point. For all his faults, Trump knew how to talk to people in a way that he would be heard rather than resisted.

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          2. “Yeah, and even Henry didn’t think of it as an order.”

            Just a misunderstanding? I don’t think so even though the murderers were punished in a classic CYA move by the instigator. And, I am sure that once the dust settled President-for-Life Trump would have punished the murderers of Mike Pence.

            Liked by 1 person

        2. You don’t care, do you?

          Sorry you are so lackadaisical about 1/6, but I understand.

          He did not say go home in peace until over three hours after the breach of the Capitol, BTW.

          A president with a love of country would not have sat and waited to see if his mob prevailed. In fact, he tweeted an insult to his own VP, calling him cowardly, as the mob was chanting to hang him.

          But you don’t care enough, so here we are with you repeating the same falsehood as a few days ago.

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          1. and again, totally missing the point.

            “You must get vaccinated” to a conservative is going to get a FU response.

            Conservatives do not respond well to being bossed around like sheep.

            Not even if it is for their own good.

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          2. Nobody likes to be told what to do. That isn’t a conservative thing. It’s a human issue. The 1/6 attackers did exactly what they were told, like good gang members and their groupies. We know from their own admissions. And after hours of injuries, deaths and destruction they were told to go home, and they did.

            About 2000 entered the Capitol, thousands more outside.

            Sheep? I think so.

            I think you are missing the point.

            Do you have a driver’s license?

            Liked by 2 people

          4. You brought up being led like sheep. I took exception to that with a perfect example that you conservatives did exactly that.

            Any deviation from the Big Lie was the death penalty for GOP candidates.

            How are those admirable qualities compared to balking about pandemic issues so Trump could politicize masking and vaccination.

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          6. Not long after he left office, he had a rally. He brought up vaccines and was heartily booed.

            MAGA marches to Trump, and whether he directly or indirectly politicized vaccination, MAGA sure did.

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          7. “Trump never politicized vaccination”

            When he should have.

            He should have made it a test of loyalty to him just as he should have done with mask wearing and careful social distancing. If he had, uncounted thousands of his supporters would be alive today who died needless, stubborn, foolish deaths and he would have won re-election in 2020.

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          8. “Conservatives do not respond well to being bossed around like sheep.”

            You folks are far more sheep-like than you realize. Which party cannot abide people who are different in almost any way, or who have different cultures or different ideas? Which party drives out such people and labels them with the epithet “RINO.” Which party requires absolute loyalty to a single Dear Leader? There is nothing on the progressive side of politics anything like such attitudes.

            If you think rugged anti-social individualism is a good thing when it leads people to risk their lives stupidly rather than be “bossed around” then I would say your priorities are screwy.

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        3. “…If you don’t fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore.”

          Pretty commanding to most folks. This was not a call to lobby your Congress. The stack climbers were already at the fences. This was the last chance, so “fight like hell” to a crowd with a scaffold and noose, camo gear, tactical vests, helmets and armed with a variety of deadly and crippling weapons, including some that later were found to be firearms as photos revealed and admissions in court.

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          4. Are you really that naive?

            “You gonna stand around like cowards, or fight”?
            That is not a choice when issued in front of a rabid, armed mob.

            Liked by 1 person

          5. Still a choice, not a command. It really is an important difference.

            Consider how the vaccines were brought out under Biden/Fauci.

            At first it was ‘We have limited quantities, so we’re going to prioritize who gets the first doses in secret through instructions given to your local health dept. Shut up and wait your turn.’

            Then it was ‘Ok we have enough now, you will report for vaccination or you will lose your job and we will take away your children,’

            And yes, it was pretty much like that.

            Imagine instead it had been,

            ‘The vaccines developed under President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed are becoming available as fast as possible. For now, we ask for your patience as we first vaccinate those most vulnerable to the disease first.’

            ‘As supplies allow, we are now able to vaccinate the general adult population. The decision on when and if you get vaccinated is an individual choice, If you are young and healthy, we ask that you wait a couple of weeks to let the older patients get protected first, after they have had a chance, you will be invited to get protected.’

            Presented that way, there would still be some hard core anti-vaxxers, there always are, but you would not see much difference by political ideology had personal choice been respected. Persuasion works better than command.

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  4. It is not enough that conservatives are killing themselves with just COVID. Those same red counties, cities and states also have the lowest life expectancy, least accessible quality healthcare for low incomes, highest maternal and infants mortality rates.

    Must be a point of pride for Republicans because this has been an issue for decades.

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