Play Long

Their "science" has nothing at all to do with actual science. The "approved scientists" are just trained seals barking on command and balancing a ball on their noses when ordered, but no thinking allowed. My wife and I acted on my research and my logical thinking, and we did not get the shots when all our friends save a very few were leaping onto the bandwagon. One even drove across the state line and used the address of a friend to get the shots a week or two earlier. She was advising us how to do it, too. We just sort of said "OK, fine." She did not want to even hear of not taking the shots. And she got infected a few months later. And then went out and quickly got her booster shot, too. All the while, we never got the shots, and when finally she asked, we said "We didn't get the shots" and when I tried to explain, very briefly that I didn't think that they were safe, she changed the subject. People want to do what the government tells them. Thinking for themselves is uncomfortable, and they are unwilling to do it on anything important.

About 15 years ago, I received a letter from my state's division of health about how I had been chosen to participate in a state study into people's incidence of disease or illness, or something else about my health, to last over a period of years. I tossed the letter and forgot about it. Two weeks later, I received a phone call from the division of health, from a nice young woman saying they hadn't received my consent to participate, and could I hurry and send it back to them. I told her I would not do so, and my privacy is more important to me than any state health study. She tried six ways to Sunday to persuade me that I should do this. I told her I realized she needed my consent because of the HIPAA laws respecting personal health files. Finally she said, you'll be receiving a phone call from my supervisor, who works directly with the division chief." A week later, this supervisor guy calls me and we repeat the whole scenario. He insisted that my participation was crucial because I had been selected at random by the computer from the database of individuals who had my demographic qualities, and they needed this demographic to make the study of several hundred state residents scientifically and statistically accurate. I told him "No" several times. He persisted, and said I owed it to the residents of my state. I said, "No." He asked me why not, and I said I don't trust anyone with my personal health information. He said, "But you can trust US, because we're with the government." I laughed and told him, "I was in the military for eight years and I am an attorney practicing in international data privacy law. The government is the last entity I would ever trust with my personal information, not because you're malicious, but because most of you are incompetent." The call ended with him expressing his disappointment at my attitude. I never heard back.