I know polling has taken a hit lately because of all the antagonizers in the politics have learned to game it to arouse the base. But, I kinda think the ones I see in my weekly magazine entitled The Week are interesting and worthy of posts once in a while. If nothing else, they make me think about how fractured we are. The next step to that ugly realization is to figure out a way to bridge the divide if that is even possible anymore.
Before I get into the polls to the right, I want to admit that I am not totally digital when it comes to my news sources. I have been getting hard copies of The Week magazine for several years now. One of the reasons for that is that there are very few ads in the magazine. Yeah, I pay a good lump of change for the subscription, but it is worth it in my mind. The format and the usual brevity of the articles suit me well.
Getting to the polls to the right, everyone seems to have an opinion about the effects of social media on our society. So to learn that the majority of us think that it has been bad for democracy in not surprising. But, isn’t social media the very epitome of what a democracy is all about. Everyone has a voice in most issues, and now there is a venue that allows them to put in their voice out there.
I have read enough about democracies to realize that they are fragile. But in fact, the U.S. is not a true democracy, It is a representative form of government where we elect a person to represent their constituents. In fact, most true democracies have usually ended up as a tyranny of the majority. That very thing is what allowed the U.S. to go for two hundred years as a slave nation.
Getting back to the polls, I do agree that the Internet has probably contributed to the serious divide among us. It is just too easy now to only see things that reinforce your current beliefs and see nothing that doesn’t. Fox News is a perfect example of that. But, at the same time, the Internet has allowed us to see a very broad view of most topics around if we chose to do so.
Getting to the second thing on the poll above, I kind of agree, it is time to move on to treating Covid the same as the flu. Those who get flu shots annually need not worry very much about this malady. If we do get it, it will not be potentially lethal. Those who are antivirus can potentially die of both the flu, and Covid. But, if that is their choice, we shouldn’t stand in their way of their early death.
RJ's Corner 
To your last point, those who disbelieve the dangers of Covid and are commited to that position have made their bed. I realize that an unvaccinated person puts others at risk. But, so does a smoker, someone who drives after drinking, or any number of human behaviors.
Make the shots and boosters freely available. Then, realize you cant’t force common sense on those who reject it. Leave them to the results of their own decision.
This position will remove one of the flashpoints of the culture wars and allow “freedom” to those who choose it over protection.
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As usual, we think pretty much the same. Thank you for adding to the conversation. At least in my part of the country, shots and boosters are freely available, but unfortunately, Indiana is still one of the lowest vaccination rates in the Midwest, and our hospitals continue to have an influx of Covid patients.
One tragic thing about this is that those who can’t physically tolerate the vaccine are put at an increased risk because of all the vaccine deniers.
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