Fear of Facts

We've come to a point now where people have gone from thinking about what they will do to actually doing it. Those who've taken the vaccine have placed their bets. Those who haven't are increasingly reluctant to participate. A strategy has been chosen, and for the vaccinated, there's no way back. What has been taken cannot be untaken.

A consequence of this is that the vaccinated don't want to hear anything negative about the vaccine. I first noticed this two week ago when I pointed out that a post on Facebook was merely missing context, and therefore factually correct. That statement didn't go down well with the vaccinated because the post was down right scary in its implications.

A few days ago, I talked to my parents in Norway. They think me a bit of a nutter, which must be particularly painful for my mother since I happen to be her favourite child. My father on his side is protective of my mother and resentful of me for upsetting both of them with my unorthodox ideas. I'm the black sheep of the family, which goes a long way towards explaining why I live in Portugal rather than Norway.

I'm in turn less than enthusiastic about the way my family in Norway talks about me behind my back. I know they think me a little mad because it shines through in conversations. They've created quite a straw man out of me, and this straw man is something of a flat earth loony. This is particularly irritating because I know that they are less informed than me. They are by and large a bunch of complicity theorists, the lot of them. So when my parents once again expressed dismay over my refusal to vaccinate myself, I couldn't help pointing out that the Delta variant is quite harmless, and that the vaccinated get more sick than the unvaccinated. That made my father snap. He challenged me to prove it. My mother cut in and changed the topic. The rest of the conversation was about the weather and micro-composts and other less political topics. Of course, I had to once again defend my scepticism about global manmade warming. But they are so used to this that it didn't provoke any anger. Besides, they are not personally invested in it, unlike the vaccine that they took.

The conversation ended on a positive note, as always. We're good friends despite our differences in opinion. However, I didn't want to leave my claim about the vaccine undefended, so I sent my father a link to the NHS document from which my claim was based. I also did the calculations. All of which was easy to do because of the way I've archived things on this blog. I opened the post containing all the information, narrowed it down and sent it to them as an e-mail.

I didn't expect any answer to my e-mail. However, I received a reply from my mother a few days later. She sounded concerned, emphasizing the good news about Delta being relatively harmless, and toning down the bad news about the vaccine being counterproductive. Her concluding sentences were telling. She feels personally comforted by the fact that she's vaccinated, and is therefore happy with her decision. As for us, our decision should be based on what we feel is more comforting. In other words; please stop worrying us.

On a similar note, we're going to have visitors from Lisbon in about a week from now. My wife's brother, wife and five year old son are coming up by car, as they do every year. But they aren't staying with us this time, and it's obvious that this has to do with my wife's refusal to cave to his peer pressure. They will no doubt deny this. If pressed they may say something about us being among the unclean. But they are too polite to do so, and we won't pressure them. However, their real concern is almost certainly not with our vaccine status. What they fear is the sort of conversations that may emerge during the hours we spend together. They don't want to know why my wife and I refuse to take the vaccine. They too fear what they may learn. As the saying goes: My mind is made up. Don't confuse me with the facts.

Together with family