Most of us don’t live in the echo-chamber we are accused of. Most of us have friends and family who fall along every part of the political spectrum. And if you know the political affiliations of your Holiday guests (or have access to their Instagram), then you already know where they are on the Covidian spectrum.
So as you head off into the lion’s den of Covid Crazy, let me give you a couple of ideas to make your visits more enjoyable.
But first, let me state this premise: I see no way to convince people off their stance. So don’t try.
The people who are entrenched are not moving. And quite frankly, they aren’t your target anyway. In Gulag Archipelago Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes people who were literally in prison and who still believed in Lenin, the State, and the Communist movement.
Put the die-hards on a raft, give them a gentle push, and let them drift down the river. They gone.
Second. The others, those who are Going Along to Get Along, are probably going to have some fodder for arguments, but the conversations will be mostly useless if they are suddenly led to beLIEve that what they have gone along with for 2.5 years has mostly been a lie.
And it’s probably not their fault anyway. Most people have more important things to do than investigate whether or not ALL mainstream media, academia, science, government agencies, corporations, Hollywood, professional sports, and international NGOs have gotten everything wrong.
The fact is, some people are naturally skeptical. Some people naturally disrespect authority. Some both. Some neither. The weaker you are in these qualities the more you will have needed an outside influence (impact) in order to see the light.
And if you haven’t been personally impacted by the response to Covid then it is a tough transition from Team Apocalypse to Team Reality.
That said, If you plan on taking any sort of stance then I recommend keeping it really simple. Here goes:
Make Their Argument Great Again
Is winning your arguments really gonna work anyway? Sure you can reference studies and data. You may even be clever enough to have an answer to every question. But how often have you ever changed your own mind after losing an argument?
Probably never.
So do the opposite. Make the Covidian’s argument the best it could ever be.
Spend your time helping them articulate their own argument—but don’t argue. Generally bad arguments fall apart on their own. So go through the process of helping the Covidian articulate their own argument. Just keep repeating and clarifying. “So you’re saying that even if the vaccine ended up not working we should still have had a vaccine mandate, is that a fair representation of what you believe?”
Poke around. Do some mild stress testing. Offer scenarios. But don’t do this to destroy; do it to improve. Good arguments can handle it; bad ones can’t.
And if you can help make their argument better, then it should make your argument better. I mean, wouldn’t you want to go against the best possible argument anyway?
Non-Starters
There have been enough Crimes of Common Sense during Covid that you don’t really need to dive into anything too nuanced. Just keep it simple.
Stick to a few things that are just non-starters for you. Something logical. Some examples:
“there is zero long term data on this technology, so get back to me in 10 years.”
“if masks work why couldn’t our kids be in school?”
“why does Pharma need liability protection if the vaccines are safe?”
“wasn’t one of the golden rules of pregnancy that you should absolutely NOT put anything untested into your body? why did that change?”
“they said that if we got the vaccines we could neither get or spread Covid. They lied or were negligent. Either way they should never have mandated and they cannot be trusted.”
Side note:
I don’t recommend a data argument with Covidians or even Normals, but if you are more of a data person, I have found the vax-injury data to be compelling. I happen to know from the VAERS/CDC data the number of Covid vax injuries and deaths for my state. When I bring those up in conversations with normal people, it is a big surprise to them.
Two helpful resources here:
Data-driven My Ass
Our school board loved to use the phrase “data-driven” during the lockdowns. But when pressed on the actual data, they either provided nothing or just punted to the CDC’s recommendations.
In reality, the phrase “data-driven” has no meaningful definition anymore. When the Covidians use those words what they really are about to do is drop some kind of emotional attachment. Like fear.
So fight fire with fire.
Surely you have some emotions pent up since all this nonsense began. Anchor yourself to one deeply personal emotional perspective that you lived through. Fight their emotion with your own emotion. Here’s mine.
“They robbed my kids of their adolescence and drove them into mental health issues. I will never forgive them.”
Who can argue with that?