I never really like discussing with people; I like to ask questions and give snarky remarks but defending my opinion is not what I like or am good at in a conversation. I know some skeptical people about Covid and vaccination, and though I work with them, I try to ignore that part, knowing that arguing with them is futile. Today I couldn’t help overhearing a conversation where the denier brought up all the things he heard from people on the news and online that put vaccination in a bad light; it boiled over in me, and I more or less told him he’s an egoist that only thinks of himself and that he might mention the people that share his opinion as if that is evidence that he is right, but he forgets to mention all the other, and overwhelming, news outlets and sources that recommend vaccination. It is the typical case of cherry-picking what you want to hear and ignoring what doesn’t fit. Me getting angry doesn’t help, of course, he probably enjoys it, and I have the feeling that he does this all just to be difficult. Most of these vaccine deniers have probably never before had any problems with vaccines, and their argument that it all went so fast is kind of strange; what do we know how fast something like that goes? Suddenly we are all experts?

No, people are on most things stupid; I don’t know anything about medicine; I am stupid in regards to medication and vaccination and what is good or not. If I have some problem, I might google my symptoms and read about it, but in the end, I trust the doctors and more or less do what they tell me to do. If I get medicine, I will normally search online for what these medicines are, but I make sure that I stay away from sites not made by knowledgeable people, there are always people that can tell you that what you swallow is bad for you.

The reason that it angers me has also to do with the kind of people that have these opinions. They seem to be skeptical but also see conspiracy everywhere. These are the kind of people that see in Trump a savior, and these were also the kind of people the Nazis lured to their side with stories that the Jews are to blame for everything because of…conspiracies. The problems you have are not because you did something wrong, no, it is because they did something wrong.

The thing is that the person I was angry at is stupid in this regard, but he is good at his job and can tell me a thing or two about it. I just wish he had enough self-knowledge to realize what he knows and what not. Self-knowledge is something most people are not good at, but luckily most people know from themselves that they are not doctors.