Some months ago, a Facebook acquaintance posted an anti-Trump meme attributing a quote to him that was derogatory. I'm not a Trump fan but, for some reason, I decided to fact check it and learned that he had not actually said it. I shared what I had learned. She thanked me and took the meme down.
Recently, again on Facebook, I saw a post that attributed the COVID-19 virus to a scheme created by some Harvard professor. Fact checking showed that he was in trouble for misuse of funds, but not the creation of this pandemic. I shared what I had learned. I was outright dismissed. And the fact finding site I linked to was dismissed as "liberal". My guess is ANY fact finding resources would be dismissed as "liberal". Perhaps fact finding is now a "liberal" endeavor.
I made the mistake of writing a blog about clues to use in sorting stories that may be misleading. I did not post it under their meme or name anyone. But WOW did I get blasted on my page.
Today, again on Facebook, a friend shared a version of that Harvard professor story. She seemed to post it as wondering about it's possibility. So, I took a deep breath and shared what I had learned. She thanked me. But she might be "liberal" leaning.
I'm a curious person. I like to look beyond the surface and try to understand things. I try to be respectful. I try to seek truth.
I'm a bit mystified with the often repeated "You can't believe any news" statements. I want to ask, what are you believing? You are getting information from somewhere. What is making that information more compelling?
The things I'm seeing, don't match with that reality.
As COVID-19 broke out in China, I had my annual doctor visit. It was early February. He encouraged me to boost my immune system. I love that he is very into a supplement routine. And he said, this virus was coming. "We don't know when, but it will come."
So, I boosted. And I watched international news - BBC and Sky News. People I knew across the political aisle, expressed disbelief about the reporting from China. I think they were right, but maybe not always from the perspective they expressed. I watched Italy.
As I heard our leadership dismiss this virus as "like the flu", I continued to watch Italy. But I did take note as those around me expressed that many people die of flu each year. And, at the time I was concerned, mid-February, less than 1000 people had died due to COVID 19.
I researched flu seasons to see if there were times our health systems were overwhelmed. Indeed, there were pockets of flu outbreak in 2016 that overwhelmed local hospitals. And last year about 35,000 people died in the US from flu related illness.
But Italy's problems grew. And then, we passed Italy. We followed their path. In just 8 weeks, we have lost nearly 44,000 people due to this virus. And this has happened while much of our country is shut down. This is not "like the flu". This is one of those virus' that come along every 100 years or so.
It's also not some nefarious plot to derail this president any more than the Spanish flu was an attempt to derail President Wilson's presidency. Now, in hindsight, it appears that flu didn't originate in Spain at all. Decades from now, it may be discovered that COVID-19 didn't originate in China. There's so much we don't know.
What we do know is that this is a deadly virus - most deadly for those who are elderly and/or have underlying health issues. What is healthy to debate is how to best address it. It's painful. The question is, how much death is acceptable to offset the economic impact of extreme measures? If you feel there is little risk to you or those close to you, you likely feel that personal freedom and economic conditions are most important. Open up. If you feel there is great risk, no amount of money is worth the risk. If you are hurting financially, you may be somewhere in the middle.
What's not healthy is getting caught up in fringe arguments that have nothing to do with the real problem. Health versus money is the real issue. What's the balance that is socially acceptable by the majority of citizens. The majority of our governing bodies have been focused on the health side.
Where do we go from here? I wish I knew that answer.
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