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Comment by chungus_amongus | Hacker News Reader

maybe medical professionals shouldn't have discredited themselves through rent seeking and playing politics

Or perhaps “journalists” shouldn’t wildly and sensationally extrapolate from the most nuanced of findings in research to create unrealistic and unjustified expectations, especially when there exists other research drawing somewhat different conclusions.

Maybe people need a better education in science, the scientific method, logic, and reasoning.

Yeah, most "scientific" wild claims upon investigation are journalists ignoring the nuances.

Admittedly, sometimes the scientists involved are complicit--consider the oft-reported claim that 2/3 of bankruptcies are due to medical debt. No, what the study actually said is that 2/3 involve medical debt. Well, duh, when someone's going bankrupt think they don't have unpaid bills?? The fact that the majority have an unpaid medical bill doesn't mean the medical bill caused the bankruptcy. It's only a few percent that are mostly medical in nature. I think it was crafted to get journalists to make this mistake.

And all too often the real issue is something caused both medical bills and a loss of income.

Healthcare professionals: "Gathering in large groups in causing a genocide of the old, infirm, and immunocompromised!"

Healthcare professionals a week later: "Racism is a global health crisis and you must gather and protest in large groups to combat it. No, these specific gatherings won't spread COVID."

Big gatherings *indoors*: big risk.

Big gatherings *outdoors*: low risk.

Church is pretty dangerous, a protest is reasonably safe.

Except that's not what they said. Large gatherings anywhere were risky with people in close proximity. Outdoor events with many people in close proximity could become super spreader events. Unless the outdoor event was a politically aligned protest. In that case the rules didn't apply and there was no risk of it becoming a super spreader event.

Big outdoor gatherings *for right-wing causes*: big risk.

Big outdoor gatherings *for left-wing causes*: low risk.

I do not recall any such claims about right wing things.

I do recall worry about right wing things which were "outdoor"--but would have a lot of indoor spillover. Things like that motorcycle thing--the motorcycle part was outdoors but you would have a lot of people going to bars and the like in the evening. The right always tried to portray it as political, but only by oversimplification.

>I do not recall any such claims about right wing things.

Because you were gas lit or are currently gas lighting.

>I do recall worry about right wing things which were "outdoor"--but would have a lot of indoor spillover.

Don't more the goal posts or attempt to bring in something that never happened. This was about ANY large gatherings outdoors.

> The right always tried to portray it as political, but only by oversimplification.

The left are the ones who politicized the pandemic to unthinkable levels. The country's trust in the government is at all time lows because of it.

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