Footnotes and Scare Quotes

Erik and I had a good discussion this past week. It started after I commented on the harassment that Senator Sinema was receiving from members of her own party. His response was, "Were you this bothered by the harassment Mitt Romney received in the airport?" The answer: not really. Didn\"t even remember it. Besides, Mitt Romney is a posturing, self-admiring, big-government, silk-stocking Republican. And there\"s the rub. That is the problem. I am part of the problem.  Over the next couple of hours I was able to actively name ways, just in the last handful of years, that people on the Left and people on the Right both exhibited the same repugnant behavior all the while pointing at the others as the epitome of "real" guilt of that exact thing. (Or, conversely claiming themselves to be the “real” defenders of a certain virtue. Like, “How can they say they support women when they defend the ability of a man to dress up and steal their victories, walk into thei...

This one? https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21ADfHk3IuaBrEH34&cid=914431B73799994E&id=914431B73799994E%2176735&parId=914431B73799994E%2173522&o=OneUp

https://videopress.com/v/4egEyh2b

Hate to let one source get so much play time, but it’s just such a perfect example, administration quotes and all.  https://youtu.be/pAqh7GG9cHc

  In response to an article I posted here previously ( https://escipub.com/Articles/IRJPH/IRJPH-2021-08-1005.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3kHdPDrgIgXDgebZDAF_xfKB9oMdeF9yzNaGeeRyRr8gUO-4CTUfX9TQk ), more than one friend responded with links to compendiums of studies in support of the efficacy of masks. For example, this one:  Do face masks work? Here are 49 scientific studies that explain why they do | KXAN Austin   I committed to reading the first ten from this collection to learn more and to make sure I wasn’t just plugging my ears and closing my eyes. Here are my impressions of those 10 (which actually turned out to be over 20, since I had to follow the deeper links to finally get to the raw data). This is not to say my opinion is the be-all-end-all, but I do consider myself to be a considerate, science-loving, non-moron and as such feel the need to explain how someone can oppose universal masking while also being those things: Study 1.) This was a summary of about a dozen handpicke...

I enjoyed this interview that popped up on my drive home today. I appreciated the in-depth analysis of an issue that is so cartoonishly described by most media and politicians. Little grinds my gears as much as a widely-accepted cartoonish portrayal of takeaways from “The Science.”  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hold-these-truths-with-dan-crenshaw/id1498149200?i=1000534740486

Whenever your brain encounters information it finds threatening to your pride, it asks itself “Must I believe this?” Whenever it encounters information it finds reaffirming, it asks eagerly, “Can I believe this?” I know I am not exempt. No one is. I am eager to believe this. The thing is, I think this is enough to confront the “must I?” If it’s not, tell me why. https://escipub.com/Articles/IRJPH/IRJPH-2021-08-1005.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3kHdPDrgIgXDgebZDAF_xfKB9oMdeF9yzNaGeeRyRr8gUO-4CTUfX9TQk