Episode 92 - Omicron & Skepticism
Healthy skepticism of authority is a good thing…until it’s not. So what makes this year different? Why should anti-vaxxers take a break from their Devil’s Advocate lifestyle now?
Todd is out with Covid this week, so Joe takes us on a tinfoil-hat exploration of anti-vaxxers, sketpics, and Devil’s Advocates. At a time when most news outlets are publishing articles about what makes anti-vaxxers tic (and how to convince them to get vaxxed) we take a different approach. We explore rebels and skeptics during the bombings of WWII, and we ask why some stubborn Brits were willing to literally die in their beds from bombs rather than obey the blackout and shelter laws. We talk about the American version - the men and women who protested the lights-out order in Time Square. Then we explain why this level of ride-or-die skepticism has actually served mankind well for thousands of years. In fact, Israel military intelligence has an official Devil’s Advocate office called The 10th Man.
Having skeptics in our midst has been really useful to society. Except nowadays, our skeptics are shaking hands with the most virulent pandemic in recorded history.
Links:
https://fullfact.org/online/blitz-spirit-tweet/
https://english.elpais.com/usa/2022-01-03/omicron-the-fastest-spreading-virus-in-history.html