[ExI] us

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: extropy-chat <extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org> On Behalf Of Dave S via extropy-chat
…

 

>…No, vaccines aren't disinfectants. A disinfectant is a chemical that kills microbes directly. A vaccine prepares the host's immune system to attack a specific microbe. A world leader should know better than to speculate about possible medical treatments in public…

 

Granted that matter shouldn’t be discussed by politicians.  However, if it is, it shouldn’t be leveraged by politicians to political advantage by modifying the statement to trick one’s political opponents’ followers into drinking bleach, which is what may have happened.

 

We end up splitting hairs on the definition of disinfectant.  A virus infects a host.  Anything that fights that infection is (in my mind) literally a disinfectant.

 

The current definition of the term specifies bacteria, and viruses are not bacteria, so perhaps one could argue that direction.

 

Let us run with this just a bit.  If a politician suggests ingesting a disinfectant, then opposing politicians substitute a more specific term than “disinfectant” such as bleach, then may we also substitute a less specific term?  Bleach, and all disinfectants are artificial disease fighting agents, this being a general term which includes all disinfectants including bleach.  So is it then OK to say the politician suggested ingesting an artificial disease fighting agent?  Would it be OK to say that means the same thing?  If that is OK, then those who opposed that statement oppose artificial disease fighting agents, which means they also oppose vaccines.  Are we anti-vaxers now Dave?

 

It is misleading to substitute a different term for what was actually said, either more specific or more general.

 

  Go to political leaders for political leadership.

 

>…Good luck with that. Seriously. IMO, the less "leadership" we have, the better off we are.  -Dave

 

 

Dave you and I are in rare full agreement on that comment.

 

spike

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