TRIGGERnometry - January 01, 2022


Vaccine Hesitancy EXPLAINED


Episode Stats

Length

12 minutes

Words per Minute

175.16606

Word Count

2,259

Sentence Count

128

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Imagine you re a normal person, and you wake up one morning to discover that you ve been living in a world where everything you thought you knew about politics and the media is wrong, and that you re struggling to understand why some people are so hesitant to vote for Donald Trump.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.700 You're struggling to understand why some people are vaccine hesitant.
00:00:04.640 Let me help you.
00:00:09.880 Imagine you're a normal person.
00:00:12.200 The year's 2016.
00:00:14.360 Rightly or wrongly, you believe most of what you see in the media.
00:00:17.760 You believe polls are broadly reflective of public opinion.
00:00:21.160 You believe doctors and scientists are trustworthy and independent.
00:00:25.000 You're a decent, reasonable person who follows the rules and trusts authority.
00:00:30.000 Imagine you're shocked then when Brexit, which you were assured won't happen because it's a fringe movement led by racists for racists, happens.
00:00:39.040 The polls, which widely predicted it wouldn't happen, were completely wrong.
00:00:43.240 The experts and media pundits who told you it wouldn't happen day after day are also wrong.
00:00:48.840 Oh well, you say, these things happen.
00:00:51.920 Imagine that soon after Donald Trump is running for president.
00:00:55.280 You're told by your favorite media publications that he's going to lose.
00:00:59.720 Some experts say his opponent has a 99% chance of winning.
00:01:04.240 Imagine waking up on the morning after the election
00:01:06.700 to discover that pollsters, media experts and politicians you still trusted were wrong again.
00:01:12.840 And now the racist monster they told you would never get near the White House
00:01:16.200 is the leader of the free world.
00:01:18.700 How did this happen, you ask yourself.
00:01:20.660 How could all the people in charge of informing me be so wrong?
00:01:24.780 It was the Russians, they tell you.
00:01:26.880 The Russians did Brexit and they got Trump elected too.
00:01:30.980 Imagine that for the next three and a half years,
00:01:33.120 you watch as the media and the political class run with the Russia collusion narrative.
00:01:38.060 They tell you the how, the when, the where, the dossiers, the whistleblowers, the peeing prostitutes.
00:01:43.760 Imagine your desperation for things to make sense again.
00:01:47.400 The Mueller report is coming and it will set your world straight.
00:01:51.360 Evidence of foreign meddling in the 2016 election and Brexit is coming to save your unsettled mind.
00:01:57.600 Imagine your shock then when you discover that Brexit and Trump had little to do with foreign meddling.
00:02:02.720 The screaming about Russians and Brexit dies down as well.
00:02:06.480 Imagine that bit by bit you discover that events which the media and political class told you would not
00:02:11.600 and could not happen, not only happen, but happen without some sort of evil interference.
00:02:17.300 Instead, millions of your fellow citizens voted for them.
00:02:20.660 Again you ask, how could this happen?
00:02:23.660 And again the media has the answer.
00:02:25.660 Racism.
00:02:26.660 Your country is racist, they tell you.
00:02:28.660 If you're white, this seems strange to you.
00:02:31.660 Other than a handful of idiots, you've never met a racist.
00:02:34.660 If you're an ethnic minority immigrant like me, this seems even stranger.
00:02:38.660 Why would people in one of the most welcoming, tolerant countries in the world
00:02:42.660 want to convince themselves their country is racist when it's so obviously not?
00:02:47.660 But the evidence is right there on your TV screen.
00:02:51.660 Imagine your horror as a gay black actor is assaulted by MAGA hat wearing thugs
00:02:55.660 who racially abuse him and put a noose around his neck.
00:02:58.660 He cries while talking about it.
00:03:01.660 Imagine your outrage as you see news reports of a bunch of MAGA hat wearing kids
00:03:05.660 from a religious school contemptuously confront a Native American elder.
00:03:10.660 Reza Aslan tells you the kid has a punchable face.
00:03:13.660 And while you abhor violers, it's hard to disagree.
00:03:17.660 Imagine that for days you watch coverage of these events with expert after expert, pundit after pundit, sharing and fueling your outrage about them.
00:03:26.620 With every word, your belief that you are a good person and that your country is a good country wavers.
00:03:32.800 Imagine that soon after, however, the Juicy Smollett story turns out to be an attention-seeking hoax.
00:03:39.040 Imagine that you quickly discover that the Native American elder was the one who confronted the kids and not either way around.
00:03:46.180 If this is such a racist country, you ask yourself,
00:03:49.380 why would they need to make up stories of racism?
00:03:52.420 As you ponder this, you remember that for years now,
00:03:55.180 you've been expected to go along with other make-believe.
00:03:58.080 You're expected to believe that whether you're male or female
00:04:00.700 is not as simple as you once thought.
00:04:02.920 Whatever you learn about biology at school is wrong.
00:04:06.000 You no longer know how many genders there are,
00:04:08.300 and it seems dangerous to try and find out.
00:04:11.620 Imagine reading that the experts at the American Psychological Association
00:04:15.280 say that traditional masculinity is pathological and harmful.
00:04:19.840 Imagine that you still want to believe the media and the experts,
00:04:22.520 but now that requires you to think your country is racist,
00:04:26.040 men are bad, and gender is a social construct, whatever that means.
00:04:30.700 It is at this point that a pandemic emerges on the other side of the world.
00:04:34.900 You're initially unconcerned, but as scenes emerge from Italy and other countries,
00:04:38.700 it is clear that something big is happening.
00:04:41.320 You watch nervously as politicians give press conference after press conference,
00:04:45.280 flanked by experts, to explain the situation.
00:04:49.020 The racist Donald Trump shuts down travel from China.
00:04:53.220 In response, the mayor of Florence in Italy
00:04:55.160 advises citizens to fight racism by hugging a Chinese person.
00:05:00.040 Shortly after, Nancy Pelosi, a respected Democrat,
00:05:03.140 visits Chinatown in San Francisco to explain
00:05:05.680 that there's no reason tourists or locals should be staying away from the area
00:05:09.400 because of coronavirus concerns.
00:05:12.180 Thank God there are some sensible non-racist people
00:05:14.860 who aren't overreacting, you say to yourself.
00:05:18.160 Imagine watching as Trump doubles down on his racism
00:05:20.840 by claiming the virus may have come from a lab in Wuhan.
00:05:24.760 Nonsense, you think to yourself,
00:05:26.280 as you wonder how best to protect yourself and your family
00:05:28.740 from this deadly disease.
00:05:30.880 You consider getting masks.
00:05:32.260 You've seen visitors from Asian countries wear them.
00:05:35.040 But the UK's chief medical officer tells you not to wear a mask
00:05:38.100 and to wash your hands instead.
00:05:41.120 As lockdowns are introduced around the world,
00:05:43.500 you diligently follow all the rules.
00:05:46.040 You stay at home, only go out once a day,
00:05:48.640 live off savings or government grants.
00:05:51.240 You're proud to be doing your part.
00:05:53.620 Thanks to you and millions of your fellow citizens,
00:05:56.000 the first wave of the pandemic
00:05:57.320 does not overwhelm the healthcare system.
00:05:59.740 While thousands sadly die,
00:06:01.540 you've helped to protect the NHS.
00:06:04.260 Imagine your confusion as the same people
00:06:06.320 who have spent three months telling you masks don't work
00:06:08.580 and you shouldn't wear them,
00:06:10.520 then introduce mask mandates.
00:06:12.840 We're following the science, they tell you.
00:06:15.100 This makes little sense, but a pandemic is no time for questions.
00:06:19.260 As you cautiously go to the supermarket,
00:06:21.380 you notice that masks have made people far less likely to socially distance.
00:06:25.740 You remember reading somewhere that bicycle helmets work the same way.
00:06:29.220 They give the wearer more confidence,
00:06:30.980 and the result is more accidents and injuries, not fewer.
00:06:34.900 Silly people, you say to yourself.
00:06:36.800 If only they would just follow government advice.
00:06:39.960 You turn on your TV to learn that shoppers at your local supermarket
00:06:43.320 aren't the only ones who have been ignoring the rules.
00:06:46.660 Neil Ferguson, the man whose projections were used as the basis for lockdowns,
00:06:50.820 appears to have broken his own rules to get some action with his married lover.
00:06:55.100 Boris Johnson's chief advisor, Dominic Cummings,
00:06:57.860 drove halfway across the country to ensure he had a better place to isolate.
00:07:02.160 The journalists who berate him for this
00:07:04.060 are later found to have attended a birthday party in breach of the rules.
00:07:09.080 The lockdown continues.
00:07:11.360 However, a man is killed in Minneapolis while being arrested for a petty crime.
00:07:15.960 The man is black, the officer is white.
00:07:19.040 The arrest is captured on video and quickly goes viral around the world.
00:07:23.400 Imagine your horror as you watch an officer of the law
00:07:26.400 kneel on another man's neck until he passes out and later dies.
00:07:30.980 This is disgusting, you say to yourself.
00:07:33.880 I hope they throw the book at him.
00:07:35.380 overnight a huge campaign for racial justice springs up around the world
00:07:40.600 no one explains what racism had to do with the incident but they don't need to as you know by
00:07:46.500 now the west is racist and therefore anytime a white person does anything bad to a black person
00:07:51.420 there can be only one explanation the fact that an identical incident happened to a white man
00:07:57.140 called tony timper is never mentioned for context while the lockdown rules remain in place the
00:08:03.180 Protests against injustice spill out onto the streets.
00:08:06.620 Tens of thousands of people crowd into major cities.
00:08:09.820 Few wear masks and social distancing is non-existent.
00:08:13.980 Clashes with police ensue, and in America,
00:08:16.560 protesters loot stores, attack residents, and start fires.
00:08:20.640 A retired black police officer called David Dorn
00:08:23.060 is among dozens of people who are murdered in the chaos.
00:08:26.560 The media describe these events as mostly peaceful protests,
00:08:30.100 as the reporters stand in front of burning buildings.
00:08:33.300 After months of harsh restrictions,
00:08:35.260 the media and political class offer no criticism
00:08:37.860 of protests, which violate every element of lockdown.
00:08:41.420 After months of telling you to stay at home
00:08:43.420 to avoid spreading COVID, doctors explain
00:08:46.300 that rather than being a mass COVID-spreading event,
00:08:49.260 protest is a profound public health intervention.
00:08:53.700 Big tech companies go into overdrive
00:08:55.620 to stop the spread of disinformation.
00:08:58.100 All discussion of alternative points of view
00:09:00.140 regarding the efficacy of masks and lockdowns,
00:09:02.760 as well as the origins of the virus, are censored.
00:09:05.820 Attempts to discuss the negative impact of lockdown
00:09:08.160 on health and mental wellbeing are suppressed.
00:09:10.980 As the year runs on,
00:09:12.240 with a pivotal American election looming,
00:09:14.640 President Trump promises a huge push to develop a vaccine.
00:09:18.660 Kamala Harris, who is later elected vice president,
00:09:21.520 says that she would not take the vaccine
00:09:23.180 if Trump told her to.
00:09:26.060 On the eve of the election,
00:09:27.300 A publication in America releases a damaging report about Hunter Biden,
00:09:31.460 son of presidential candidate Joe Biden.
00:09:34.300 The story alleges corruption, which may involve his father,
00:09:37.540 as well as drug-taking, use of prostitutes, and more.
00:09:40.980 Twitter and other social media companies prevent the story from being shared.
00:09:45.480 The media lines up commentators to claim the story was Russian disinformation.
00:09:50.080 Once his father wins the election,
00:09:52.340 it becomes clear that several key elements of the story are likely accurate,
00:09:55.460 and the laptop from which the information was recovered is in fact Hunter Biden's laptop.
00:10:01.700 Meanwhile, the numbers of COVID patients and deaths turn out to have been wrong.
00:10:06.280 For some time, anyone who died at any point after a positive COVID test
00:10:10.260 was counted as dying of COVID, even if they were killed by a drunk driver.
00:10:14.640 This figure is later revised again.
00:10:17.120 The number of people who are in hospital because of COVID also turns out to be incorrect.
00:10:21.940 Now that racist Donald Trump is no longer president,
00:10:25.000 closing borders is no longer considered xenophobic
00:10:27.300 and is widely advocated for in the media.
00:10:30.900 The racist conspiracy theory that the virus came from a lab in China
00:10:34.780 is now also allowed to be discussed
00:10:36.920 and appears likely to be the most credible explanation of the origins of the virus.
00:10:42.080 Imagine your horror as you learn that the reason thousands of people died
00:10:45.640 in the first wave of the pandemic
00:10:46.960 was that elderly patients with COVID were allowed to be released back into care homes.
00:10:52.560 This is especially true in the UK and in New York, run by Governor Andrew Cuomo, brother of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.
00:10:59.780 Governor Cuomo published a suspense promotion of his book about leadership during the pandemic amid the inquiring to nursing home deaths.
00:11:07.440 Meanwhile, Texas and Florida, which remained open, continue to thrive.
00:11:11.180 In the UK, the health secretary, the person responsible for saving lives, is found to be
00:11:18.180 cheating on his wife with a married aide in breach of social distancing guidelines.
00:11:23.340 The man making the rules for you does not follow them. It is at this point that the vaccine,
00:11:29.060 which you were initially told would need to be given to the vulnerable before restrictions can
00:11:32.640 be lifted, becomes the main drive of government policy and media commentary. The same people who
00:11:38.540 told you Brexit would never happen, Trump would never win, that when he did win it was
00:11:42.700 because of Russian collusion, then because of racism, that you must follow lockdown rules
00:11:47.280 while they don't, that masks don't work and then that they do, that protests during lockdowns
00:11:52.480 are a health intervention, that ransacking black communities in the name of fighting
00:11:56.420 racism is mostly peaceful justice, that Jussie Smollett was a victim of a hate crime, that
00:12:01.420 men are toxic, that there is an infinite number of genders, that COVID didn't come from a
00:12:06.100 lab, and then that it probably did. That closing borders is racist, and then that it's the most
00:12:10.680 important thing to do. That the Hunter Biden story is Russian disinformation, and then that it's not.
00:12:16.220 That they would not take Trump's vaccine, and then that you must take the vaccine.
00:12:20.420 That Governor Cuomo is a great COVID leader, and then that he's a granny killer and a sex pest.
00:12:25.840 That the number of COVID deaths is one thing, and then another. The hospitals are filled with
00:12:30.360 COVID patients, and then that many of them caught COVID in hospital. These are the same people now
00:12:35.840 telling you the vaccine is safe, you must take it, and if you don't, you will be a second-class
00:12:41.020 citizen. Understand vaccine hesitancy now? How do I know all this? Here on Trigonometry,
00:12:48.360 we have honest conversations with people who can actually explain why things are happening.
00:12:52.560 Join us.