How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

For philosophical reflections on the COVID-19 pandemic. How can philosophy help us to understand it, to combat it and to survive it?

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henry quirk
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by henry quirk »

Skepdick wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:22 pm
henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:46 pm absolutely (and cuz I'm right)
Nothing that we can't fix with a good spanking.
cone ahead, then: spank me
commonsense
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by commonsense »

henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:01 pm
commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:17 pm
henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:46 pm

absolutely (and cuz I'm right)
Aren’t there others on this forum who agree with Henry? Why are they silent now instead of supporting Henry’s position? Or is he a minority of one here?
I ain't lookin' for allies

this cheese is more than capable of standin' alone
So it’s one against the world and that’s OK with you.
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henry quirk
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by henry quirk »

commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:31 pm
henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:01 pm
commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:17 pm

Aren’t there others on this forum who agree with Henry? Why are they silent now instead of supporting Henry’s position? Or is he a minority of one here?
I ain't lookin' for allies

this cheese is more than capable of standin' alone
So it’s one against the world and that’s OK with you.
this forum ain't the world
commonsense
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by commonsense »

henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:33 pm
commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:31 pm
henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:01 pm

I ain't lookin' for allies

this cheese is more than capable of standin' alone
So it’s one against the world and that’s OK with you.
this forum ain't the world
Everyone in the world disagrees with you.
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henry quirk
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by henry quirk »

commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:42 pm
henry quirk wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:33 pm
commonsense wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 6:31 pm

So it’s one against the world and that’s OK with you.
this forum ain't the world
Everyone in the world disagrees with you.
nah
gaffo
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by gaffo »

Gary Childress wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 3:58 am Saw this and immediately thought of a couple of people here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/maga ... -hoax.html
have him talk with Herman Cain in Havana.

Evolution is a good thing, it kulls the herd.

you get my meaning.

dumb is as dumb does and no you can't fix stupid.
Gary Childress
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by Gary Childress »

gaffo wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 6:31 am you can't fix stupid.
Sadly, this seems true.
commonsense
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by commonsense »

To doubt the seriousness of COVID is to believe that lies and conspiracies are being perpetrated regarding the morbidity and mortality of this virus, or to be in a state of denial.

To convince a person that his beliefs, on COVID or on anything else, are false is generally fruitless. Beliefs are held on the basis of inarguably blind faith or on a person’s immutable interpretation of the facts at hand.

There’s no argument that can penetrate the persistence of a belief, no matter that the belief is illogical. The only thing that can be accomplished by confronting a friend about what you believe to be his delusion is to stress the relationship.

I think it’s fair to say that HQ feels that COVID is overhyped. I no longer will confront him about this. I would like to think that he and I can discuss anything else quite amicably, such as robots for example.

So avoid confrontation, respect that your friend is honestly expressing what he believes, and, if necessary, “agree to disagree” because the difference is unresolvable.

Disclaimer: if you have the skills of a cult deprogrammer, feel free to ignore the foregoing.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by Immanuel Can »

You should "deal with" a friend who thinks COVID is a hoax the same way as you ought to deal with somebody who thinks it's not.

Ask for his evidence.
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henry quirk
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by henry quirk »

Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:20 pm You should "deal with" a friend who thinks COVID is a hoax the same way as you ought to deal with somebody who thinks it's not.

Ask for his evidence.
his evidence won't make a damn bit of difference

I, for example, have offered, and regularly link to, tons of evidence castin' doubt on the severity of beer virus...no one looks at any of it, or counters it...I'm just told I'm bein' provocative or that I'm wrong

again, cuz I want to be clear: I offer evidence, it is ignored and never countered...I'm just declared wrong

once an issue is politicized or controversialized, folks stop listenin'

I haven't stopped listenin' but no one on the other side is sayin' anything
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Immanuel Can
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by Immanuel Can »

henry quirk wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:10 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:20 pm You should "deal with" a friend who thinks COVID is a hoax the same way as you ought to deal with somebody who thinks it's not.

Ask for his evidence.
his evidence won't make a damn bit of difference
That may be so. But this OP asks "how to," not "how will goofballs respond..."
commonsense
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by commonsense »

Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:29 pm
henry quirk wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:10 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 10:20 pm You should "deal with" a friend who thinks COVID is a hoax the same way as you ought to deal with somebody who thinks it's not.

Ask for his evidence.
his evidence won't make a damn bit of difference
That may be so. But this OP asks "how to," not "how will goofballs respond..."
Ask your friend to consider 34 cases of COVID-positive attendees at a WH superspreader event.

Then explain to him that, fake media or not, there are images of the president’s shoulders heaving to inhale, and voice recordings of the president talking hoarsely while coughing and pausing to breath, and Twitter postings consistent with mental alterations due to steroid euphoria—all indications of a serious respiratory sickness.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by Immanuel Can »

commonsense wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:07 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:29 pm That may be so. But this OP asks "how to," not "how will goofballs respond..."
Ask your friend to consider 34 cases of COVID-positive attendees at a WH superspreader event.
Like, say, a riot, or protest in Portland, Seattle, New York or Dallas?
Then explain to him that, fake media or not, there are images of the president’s shoulders heaving to inhale, and voice recordings of the president talking hoarsely while coughing and pausing to breath, and Twitter postings consistent with mental alterations due to steroid euphoria—all indications of a serious respiratory sickness.
Problem: you might be right, but we don't know if you are. As the old saying goes, "Correspondence is not causality." The president could have contracted something from his pet gerbil, for all we know. So that's not going to do the trick.

So we need better evidence.
commonsense
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by commonsense »

Immanuel Can wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:19 pm
commonsense wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:07 pm
Immanuel Can wrote: Sun Oct 04, 2020 11:29 pm That may be so. But this OP asks "how to," not "how will goofballs respond..."
Ask your friend to consider 34 cases of COVID-positive attendees at a WH superspreader event.
Like, say, a riot, or protest in Portland, Seattle, New York or Dallas?
Then explain to him that, fake media or not, there are images of the president’s shoulders heaving to inhale, and voice recordings of the president talking hoarsely while coughing and pausing to breath, and Twitter postings consistent with mental alterations due to steroid euphoria—all indications of a serious respiratory sickness.
Problem: you might be right, but we don't know if you are. As the old saying goes, "Correspondence is not causality." The president could have contracted something from his pet gerbil, for all we know. So that's not going to do the trick.

So we need better evidence.
Protests are likened to WH events in what way?

So the evidence is strong that the president contracted Coronavirus from his gerbil and went on to infect 33 others.
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Immanuel Can
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Re: How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

Post by Immanuel Can »

commonsense wrote: Sat Oct 10, 2020 3:35 pm Protests are likened to WH events in what way?
You asked about "super spreader" events. Riots are certainly that.
So the evidence is strong that the president contracted Coronavirus from his gerbil and went on to infect 33 others.
No: the evidence is weak that the COVID the president got was contracted through any particular event we can identify. We actually don't know if he got it from one of his aides, or off a surface in Airforce 1, or from an accidental contact in the street. So we aren't going to convince anybody sensible by saying, "Well, the president got COVID after a WH event, so WH events cause COVID." That's going afoul of the correlation-causality fallacy.
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