…as posted on Gab.com….

Once again, many of my opinions barely climb to the level of “belief”: they are suspicions.

For example: I suspect that had Americans been polled prior to 2020 about a new strain of virus that would pass over kids and productive adults pretty much with mere flu-level symptoms at worst, but would indeed kill some immune-compromised older people at about the levels it is now being said to have done, and then asked them whether they would advise nearly the whole world population to take a new, understudied, unapproved-by-the-FDA genetic treatment that works in some significant ways quite different from vaccines in the past, almost no one would be in favor of the “vaccine.”

I cannot prove that. It is my hunch. Outside the context of the events as they unfolded, I suspect nearly everyone on the left would have objected to the proposed vaxx — and rightly so.

But wait. Do I believe that?

Maybe. Depending on the definition of “belief.” But I don’t know it.

And my suspicion affects other beliefs and arguments I make. I think veil-of-ignorance rationality works against the current craze of worldwide vaccination with mRNA spiked protein treatments. I hazard that people are so overwhelmed by events and panicky contexts that their rationality has been undermined, and they support policies (masking; lockdowns; vaccination) they would not have, otherwise.

I could be wrong. It is, alas, hard to prove — nay, impossible to prove — that I am wrong.

And vice versa. The mass of credulous and panicked vaxxed maskers could be wrong, too. But can I prove it? No. But how would their beliefs fare were they to take my challenge?

Probably not well, once they realize how easy it is to be duped.

But most people believe only other people can be duped. And I do very much believe that this specific belief is without any foundation in psychology or common sense.

We are, none of us, dupe-proof.

twv