Coronavirus...post your thoughts here...

[GaryE]

Why does this thread have so many members with 1 post - meaning they joined a fish forum to talk about Covid and their opinions about various approaches to it...

That's the political talking point aspect. If you want to normalize weirdness, the internet is ideal. You join every group and repeat the things you've been told to repeat, and suddenly the fringe looks mainstream. Our first anti-mandate marches were Hari Krishnas and neo-Nazis banded together, which was a wild sight to behold. But the politicians who stood to gain were media savvy, and here we are.

The silent majority just live their lives with common sense - we had 90% plus people here masking and taking care of others as well as they could. It's hard to madly post about common sense as it's a world view, not politicians' talking points. The social engineering crowd work hard to change us.

 

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Hari Krishnas and neo-Nazis banded together

Maybe they finally discovered their shared love of shaving one's head? Brothers in baldness?

 

[GaryE]

Maybe they finally discovered their shared love of shaving one's head? Brothers in baldness?

You can't imagine how truly uncomfortable the neo Nazis looked. It was priceless. The religious crew just kept their tunes coming... they looked like they were having a lot more fun!

I thought the hair styles looked fine, but that may be a result of what genetics did to my once flowing locks. Or maybe my cells knew I'd get vaccinated in the future and my baldness was caused by that... ooh, I can get followers with that one.

 

[AlexT]

Why does this thread have so many members with 1 post - meaning they joined a fish forum to talk about Covid and their opinions about various approaches to it...

Probably a mixture of skullduggery, paranoia, conspiracy anxiety, and political agenda I believe

 

[Magnum Man]

I've not tried a www. search of Corona... but would guess if I want to spout as much as possible this forum would come up in a search, because of the title of the thread, so the fish take 2nd stage to the virus

 

[jaylach]

I've not tried a www. search of Corona... but would guess if I want to spout as much as possible this forum would come up in a search, because of the title of the thread, so the fish take 2nd stage to the virus

Hmmm, Actually I just did a Bing search for 'corona' and 'coronavirus' and these forums did not come up in the first two result pages and I didn't look further. The results were primarily CDC, WHO, Wikipedia, Corona beer and Corona California. On the other hand if a fish related search is done these forums will come up.

Covid is a serious topic. I run a computer help forum but still added a Covid thread. That thread has actually been a lot of help to one of my members that got Covid early on and is still suffering from 'long covid'.

While a forum can normally be based on a specific topic most are not strictly so or there would not be threads here such 'tell me something funny' or what are you doing today.

 

[GaryE]

There's a social media aspect to the forum. We see it at with the tweet type posts about being online at school, etc. And we see it in the chat threads. At its best, it's people with a shared interest making connections. We get to know each other here, to a degree.

As long as it doesn't bury the goal of the forum in empty posts, it's fine. It's bound to attract the fringe types and the tavern ranters.

Coronavirus is a subject that needed outlets, It put enormous pressure on societies, and it's hard to sweep away the fact that 1.1 million people died of it in the US alone. We can debate and rant and try to organize anti-learning movements and all of that. But I lost family to it, and that hard fact can't be explained away. It makes me want to hear the sound a tin hat makes when you flick your fingers at it. It's hard to sit back and ignore the propagandists, because if sensible people do, then the crazy stuff becomes normal.

We can't even agree on how to cure Ich, so of course we'll panic about getting vaccinated and get scared of "them". We always have and we always will.

 

[jaylach]

There's a social media aspect to the forum. We see it at with the tweet type posts about being online at school, etc. And we see it in the chat threads. At its best, it's people with a shared interest making connections. We get to know each other here, to a degree.

As long as it doesn't bury the goal of the forum in empty posts, it's fine. It's bound to attract the fringe types and the tavern ranters.

Coronavirus is a subject that needed outlets, It put enormous pressure on societies, and it's hard to sweep away the fact that 1.1 million people died of it in the US alone. We can debate and rant and try to organize anti-learning movements and all of that. But I lost family to it, and that hard fact can't be explained away. It makes me want to hear the sound a tin hat makes when you flick your fingers at it. It's hard to sit back and ignore the propagandists, because if sensible people do, then the crazy stuff becomes normal.

We can't even agree on how to cure Ich, so of course we'll panic about getting vaccinated and get scared of "them". We always have and we always will.

As to your first two paragraphs above I totally agree and that is why just about any and all forums will have, at least, a general discussion area.

As to the third and fourth paragraph above except for an exception of. "Coronavirus is a subject that needed outlets", I agree but it is left out that it still needs outlets as there are many millions of people that supposedly recovered yet still show and suffer the effects. I'm referring to 'long covid'. It hasn't even been until the last year or year and a half that medical research would even admit that it existed and sufferers were denied any help.

I hope that it is OK that I post the below link to a thread on my computer help forums. It is from a user on my forums that is a journal of his 4+ years of suffering and the lack of the medical society to even admit there was such an issue as long covid. It is a very long thread but, if you want to know what this thing is all about at least scan through. Many people died and many survivors still suffer when there was no need. At least in the US it was largely due to politics with an election year coming up. The severity of what was coming was known yet covered up so it would not affect election numbers. The below journal link id from a guy that lives in Scotland but it applies to what has gone on in the US. While I will go with the quoted number of 1.1 million deaths in the US the number is higher. If not for politics the number could easily be less.

Here is the experience journal from the guy on my forums... He worked at a zoo but no longer has his job...

View topic - My experience. • Computer Haven

Computer Help in Plain English, specializing in novice users

computerhaven.com

 

[GaryE]

My grandmother only opened up once about the 1919 influenza epidemic that killed so many people. It was a short window into something horrifying, as she had witnessed a few deaths in the family I never knew about. As a side note, apparently, dropsy was a big final symptom.

People who came through that were like war veterans in that they didn't discuss what they'd seen. As someone who studies history, I find it remarkable that the deadly pandemic back then is barely mentioned in novels or literature, and wasn't deeply studied by social historians until the latest pandemic created an awareness. You would think it would be in the backdrop of old movies and books, but no.

I hope people like your friend or one of my kids who have longterm damage from the virus aren't forgotten about. It seems a human thing to not mention people who died in traumatic events, but people who lived injured are another issue. I used to know a number of badly hurt polio survivors, or thalidomide victims. They were pushed off the mainstream very quickly.

On this one, at least we had whatever memory will be preserved in social media. I could pull up some sharp passages from the 1666 Black Death in London that describe today's vaccine denial and pandemic denial responses perfectly - we aren't original in our ways no matter how much technology changes.

 

[ClownLurch]

I had the latest vaccine yesterday. I’ve bad asthma and travelling into London has been worrying as the immunity wears off from the last one. Thankfully I’m still here (though you lot may not agree!). Plenty aren’t. Be careful out there.

 

[GaryE]

Vaccines cause you to develop flowerhorn head. Be careful.

I should get my booster too, as asthma is an old friend I can't get to go away.

 

[Essjay]

I'm also asthmatic and I'm having my booster on Sunday. I'm also in the age group which is offered the vaccine, heath issues or not. (OK, I'm 70 so well over the 65 lower limit ) and my flu jab is booked for October.

 

[GaryE]

@Essjay Flu shot too? You may sprout fluorescent antlers and treat other people with even more kindness and respect than you do now with those jabs. Word on the web is the flu shot causes you to develop an interest in fish you haven't watched much before.

I joke, but I fear I'll be believed.

 

[Essjay]

I've had an annual flu jab every year but one since I was diagnosed with asthma in spring 1998. I didn't have it in autumn '98 and of course I caught "a flu like virus" (quote from out of hours doctor) in spring '99. Whatever it was it was bad enough and I never want to get flu again. I literally had to hold my mouth and nose shut when taking my inhalers (preventer and reliever where you have to hold your breath for at least 20 seconds after the dose) or I would have coughed it out.
Needless to say, I have had the flu vaccine every year since. Apparently we can have flu and covid vaccines at the same time, but as I always have a sore arm afterwards I don't want 2 sore arms at the same time or I would sprout fluorescent antlers

And because of my age & health issues, I had a pneumonia vaccine a few years ago and I'm now entitled to a shingles vaccine. I must ask about the shingles one; I had shingles in 2015 and I never want that again either.

 

[GaryE]

I have had lung issues since childhood, and am pretty well a chronic asthma person, though I try to counter it by staying in shape. Into my 40s (I'm 65) I caught every flu, given that I was a teacher and in contact with every virus that came through. I had an uncanny knack for catching the flu on the Christmas break. It would turn into pneumonia every 2nd or 3rd year, and that you don't want to play with. I developed an antibiotic resistant pneumonia at 44, and if the last resort antibiotic hadn't worked, I would have died within a few weeks. That made me a loyal dupe of the system (ie, I started getting the flu vaccine every year without fail) and I only had one very mitigated flu in the 20 years since. I'm calling a success there.

I'm not a right wing libertarian activist, a religious fundamentalist or a person frightened of science, so I have no reason to jump on bandwagons or follow propaganda networks. I can see how in some years, it would be easy for researchers to make a mistake on what form the influenza will take, and in those years, I could get a mild flu. Viral evolution is amazing, and we're always a few steps behind it. I also know that I can get a less virulent version of COVID - I already caught it with partial protection, and while it was unpleasant, it wasn't the full virus.

I've learned about aquariums from often older mentors, and have older friends and family. I will go to great lengths to avoid carrying the virus to them, as I believe older lives are very valuable, especially to the fine people living them. So I get my vaccines, avoid the vulnerable or mask up if I'm exposed, and otherwise act like a sheep, according to the very strange lady next door.

I think she shows a serious misunderstanding of animal behaviour. I'm a pack, hunter gatherer animal, not a herd animal. People...