Items
topic_interest is exactly
debate
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2022-06-25
"Pro-life" and COVID death
This is a tweet from BillHMcCarty. This person is criticizing the amount of COVID deaths that are happening is states that are looking to outlaw or heavily restrict abortion. -
2022-06-25
The same sort of people
This is a tweet from Connybub. This person is pointing out the hypocrisy of the pro-choice crowd and their use of "my body, my choice" while many in this same group also wanted people to take the vaccines against their own will. This is obviously a very controversial topic, and there have been people using different aspects of the vaccine debates and the abortion debates to show which side in the correct one. -
2022-03-15
Passionate and (mostly) respectful recent debate in the waning pandemic
While the all-encompassing strength of the COVID-19 Pandemic is waning, it still persists and lingers. This is a critical time where countries can either dreamily and abruptly attempt to return to idealized pre-pandemic existence or continue to return to their visions of normalcy through steps found in scientific methodology. Debates that focused on safety, health, and personal freedoms (especially about masks and vaccines) were constantly in the news the last two years, with some deteriorating into disheartening and embarrassing public displays. Surely, these debates will continue indefinitely, and all perspectives will be important to history. While browsing this archive, many of the stories are of those who subscribe to the reality of the pandemic, who trust and listen to science, and who have highlighted the way their lives have changed during the pandemic. I am from Arizona, born and raised. I often find myself to be the lone liberal or democrat, particularly at work, in a state formerly known as a red state, now perhaps purple. While Arizona is well represented in this archive regarding life during a pandemic, it has many people living in it who dispute the pandemic's origin, virulence, and the government's attempt to control personal freedoms, as much as I personally disagree. The attached YouTube video shows a meeting of the Kyrene School District Governing Board from January 25th, 2022. The relevant background is that before the 2021 Winter Holiday break this district emailed parents that masks would no longer be mandatory after the new year. By the end of the break, Omicron infections had increased, and the district regressed back to mandatory masks after the holidays. Please watch, specifically from minutes 20:35 through 38:28. To me, a person who reads a diverse group of news sites daily, this clip has brought me hope. Of all the ugly comments I have read on far right or left news sites, debate like the one in this video is instead mostly constructive, passionate, and respectful. I may not agree with everything discussed in this sample, but I respect people's right to debate their beliefs. I believe studying other perspectives is useful for future generations. Historians one hundred years from now may wonder why certain people thought masks were useless in schools. Hopefully, between this J.O.T.P.Y. archive and the articles that exist on the internet, a thoughtful sample of diverse perspectives can be researched. Additionally, I hope this video adds to material in this archive that demonstrates the anti-mask perspective to historians who could research and educate future generations on state and federal authority during health crises to hopefully prevent conflicts as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. This video is owned and uploaded by the Kyrene School District to YouTube. -
2021-11-13
Anti-Vaxxers in the Family
I have a minimum of 2 resolute anti-vaxxers in my extended family. We try to avoid conflict but sometimes their ignorance is just too much for me to bear and I feel like I have to set the record straight. Here's a summary of what's going on in these screenshots from a FB post. 1. Great aunt posts a meme using the experience of the Polio vaccine to promote the COVID vaccine. (meme included) 2. Anti-vax aunt (orange) posts snarkily that in the case of the polio vaccine, it was only rolled out after 60 years of research. 3. I step in (as a historian of public health) and comment that she's mistaken, the polio vaccine went from lab to roll out in 25 years. While mRNA (on which the COVID vax is based) was first discovered in a lab 35 years ago so it stands to reason that the amount of time between lab and roll out is similar. 4. Meanwhile... anti-vax second cousin (purple- daughter of great aunt who made the original post and also resolutely anti-vax) tags anti-vax aunt (orange) and says "amen." as in... she lends her support 5. Anti-vax aunt (orange) responds to my initial rebuff in #3 and says "wrong. it took 35 years to discover it was a virus" (as if that, added to the 25 years of development constitutes 60 years of "research" 6. I step back in and repeat... polio vaccine research began in 1930, and it rolled out in the US in 1954. Surely she doesn't want to go back to the "good old days" when it took 30 years to discover whether something was a virus, really...?? 7. I was wrong. Anti-vax aunt (orangs) DOES want that. She says, "Yes, really" 8. pro-vax cousin (light blue-an oncology NP) comments "Wow. That's sad to think about" 9. Anti-vax aunt (orange): ? 10. pro-vax cousin (light blue): is we were not able to identify viruses like we can today. It's sad to think about all of the people that would die unnecessarily. This exchange went on but I just don't have it in me to continue with screenshots. Great aunt (original poster) chimes in and says she doesn't care what people's beliefs are but both of her daughters (one of them the anti-vaxxer in purple) families have COVID right now and she's in her 70s and was exposed to both and never caught it. She firmly believes it's because the vaccine works. Anti-vax aunt claimed she "didn't post a belief, she posted a fact" I said "no. you posted an incorrect fact that was skewed to make it look like the polio vaccine underwent 35 more years of research than it actually did and I corrected you." It's amazing to me that technology that has been in development for 35 years (mRNA) is seen with such suspicion because the virus it's being used with COVID-19 is new. So the assumption is that the vaccine is "untested" even though the technology behind it has a robust research history. I'm even more amazed by people who are anti-covid vaccine even though they had their full slew of childhood vaccines on schedule. I have two very close family members who refused to get vaccinated (different family members than the two distant family featured above) and they had all of their childhood vaccines. One of them even told me she fully expected that everyone who was vaccinated with the COVID vaccine will die in a few years or even "sprout dicks" for all she knows.... yes... It's imperative that we, as a society, figure out how to address misinformation and disinformation. Certainly, facts/statistics/"Research" are open to interpretation to a degree but much anti-vax info out there is politically motivated. It's not coming from scientists who spend their whole lives studying this stuff.... it's coming from PACs and anti-establishment groups who have beef with the US government and/or "Big Pharma" or Western medicine. -
2021-05-28
HIST30060 Frustration over lockdown restrictions in Victoria
This is a short sentence sent into the Herald Sun newspaper just after another lockdown had been announced, that says quite simply 'Daniel Andrews, just get out of my life.' This sentiment has grown throughout the course of the pandemic, as people feel very frustrated with their freedoms being restricted, if only temporarily. Thus, this item reflects the debate around pandemic restrictions- while some see them as necessary to stop the spread, others question either the need for them or their harshness. -
2021-09-10
The debate on the nature of coronavirus
This is a sticker I saw on the street that says 'imagine having a virus so deadly you have to be tested to even know if you have it.' It appears as though someone has attempted to peel it off. I think this image reflects rather well the differing opinions and theories about the origins and seriousness of the virus. That someone has attempted to remove it signals the rather heated and emotional nature of the debate, as those who question what we have been told about the virus are regularly labeled 'conspiracy theorists.' In my view, that there is differing opinions on the virus, no matter how controversial, is part of the free speech that makes this country so great, and that we can debate these issues somewhat freely should not be taken for granted. -
2021-08-10
Facebook conversations
I came across this conversation on Facebook yesterday. I thought it was a good portrayal of what's going on in society today. As everyone is trying to get back to "normal" businesses are starting to require their employees to get vaccinated. Although most people who are fighting this option hardly ever admit that there are actually three options - get vaccinated, get tested regularly, or find a new job. I found it interesting that the original poster revised his original post to add that he was not looking to debate the vaccine even though it's clear what happened. -
2020-10-07
Angry journal entry
Transcript: It’s been a wild like week and a half. The Grand Tetons are so fucking beautiful. I want to look at seasonal work there in the summer. Yellowstone is pretty dope as well, but I am fully obsessed with the Tetons. I spent like an entire week in that area, then I went to salt lake city and spent the night with aunt Debbie (first shower in like two weeks) and now I’m at little grand canyon, which is a dope random spot, Last Tuesday was the first presidential debate, which was a shit show. Trump couldn’t stop talking for more than like twenty seconds. Today was the vice presidential debate, which was also a mess, but not as bad. The star of the show was a fly on Pence’s head. But, the real news is that Trump has COVID. He was diagnosed last Tuesday and then ended up being brought to the hospital, He only stayed in the hospital before he went back to the White House, which he entered without a mask. I’m really kicking myself that I didn’t write this week. But it's been weird for sure. There was a lot of speculation at first that he was faking it, but after seeing a video of him, he definitely has me. What scares me is how this will change his attitude. He keeps telling people “not to be afraid” of it. This man had an entire team of doctors using experimental treatments and he has the audacity to tell people not to be scared. It’s disgusting. My first journal entry that mentioned COVID was from March 1st, 2020. I was complaining about the fact that my spring break school trip to Madrid might get canceled (spoiler alert, it did.) there were another one or two entries pretty much just ranting, and then on April 5th I wrote my first entry consciously thinking about the long term impacts of Corona. Well, I say long term, but at that point, I still thought COVID was going to go away by summer. I’ve never been the type of person who’s good at routine, so I don’t write every night, but since then I’ve been journaling at least once every few weeks. In this way I’ve been curating my own personal archive since pretty much the beginning of the pandemic, engaging with ethical archiving practices by thinking (sometimes intentionally sometimes not) about what I deem important enough to include in my ‘archive’, which in this case is my journal. This specific entry also illustrates the significance of the election and also the impact that covid has had on everyone up to the president. -
2020-10-09
COVID-19 Having an Impact of the 2020 Presidential Debates
Due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in America and President Trump recently testing positive for the virus, the second presidential debate was canceled. It was interesting to see that during such an important election, one of the presidential debates could not happen. -
2020-10-08
トランプ氏「コロナ感染は神からの祝福」豪語のワケ(2020年10月8日) - Mr. Trump "Corona Infection is a Blessing from God" A reason for the bold statement (October 8, 2020)
トランプ大統領が新たな動画を公開。「感染は神からの祝福だ」と話しました。 7日、ツイッターに投稿されたメッセージ。トランプ大統領は自らに投薬された未承認の抗体薬を絶賛しました。しかし、この動画には批判の声も。 そもそも、こうなったのは誰の責任か。副大統領候補による討論会。現副大統領は上司の擁護に追われます。 共和党・ペンス副大統領:「皆さんに知ってほしい。大統領は最初から皆さんの健康が第一だと考えていた。ワクチンなどもまもなくできる。大統領のリーダーシップで」 果たして、そうなのか。例えば、マスク。大統領がしていなかった期間はあまりに長く、感染発覚後、スタッフの前で外す様子も確認されています。対策は十分なのか。トランプ大統領はいまだに陰性かどうか明らかにされていません。その一方で、バイデン候補との討論会には意欲を示しています。新たな動画でこう主張しています。 トランプ大統領:「抗体薬は無償化する。皆さんの責任ではないのです。中国の責任だ。中国は大きな代償を払うことになる。 [I have personally translated the debate from Japanese to English and thus, it might not be the exact meaning/words from the actual debate.] President Trump releases a new video. "Infection is a blessing from God," he said. The message posted on Twitter on the 7th. President Trump has praised the unapproved antibody drug he had been given for treatment. However, there are criticisms against this video. Standford University, Subramanian said she was appalled by Trump’s comment that his diagnosis had been a blessing from God. “It really makes my stomach turn,” she said. “So would he say that the 210,000 Americans who died, they were cursed by God?” In the first place, who is responsible for this situation? Kamala Harris: “On January 28th, the Vice president and president received the information that this pandemic will cause death and yet they did not tell the citizens. Debate by Vice Presidential Candidates. The current Vice President is busy defending his boss. Republican Vice President Pence: "I want you to know. From the beginning, the president thought that your health was the number one priority. Vaccines will soon be available. Under the leadership of the president." Is that actually true? For example, a mask. The period that the president was not wearing the mask was too long, and it has been confirmed that he removed it in front of the staff after he was known to have the virus. Are the measures sufficient? Moderator: “(Last month) During the even at the White House, people in the front row were not social distancing, most did not wear a mask, and a lot of people from that event was found to be infected. Do you think the citizens will follow the president despite this incident?” Vice President Pence: “There are great deal of speculations. But a lot of people who participated did receive the test.” President Trump still has not stated whether he is a negative or not. On the other hand, he was enthusiastic during the debate with Biden. In the new video, he insists "The antibody drug will be free. It's not your responsibility. It's China's responsibility. China will pay a big price. Please remember that." -
2020-10-06
Arizona Senate Debate Amid the Pandemic
Political Debates have been a challenge for candidates and debate commissioners. After Trump's contraction of COIVD-19, more precautions are taken for in-person debates. In the U.S. Senate debate between Senator Martha McSally and Mark Kelly had a glass barrier between the candidates to prevent the spread of the virus were one of them to contract it and not know.