KCRag Forum

Highlander wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 3:38 am
I have probably voted republican more than I've voted democratic but the ACA is the one thing Obama did that pushed me into the democratic camp in 2016. I didn't like Hillary but I knew the republicans would try to destroy the ACA which was exactly the case and I thought it was well worth protecting. I was not impacted by ACA but as imperfect as it was, it was a step in the right direction to control an unsustainable system that was bankrupting many Americans and contributing to our poor national health care record compared to many other western nations. I had a plethora of friends and family members that benefited greatly from the ACA. Trumps attempt to destroy it without anything in it's place, and even destroy the pre-existing condition clause, has been deplorable.

DColeKC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:17 pm Trump finally said we should wear masks and they're effective during this live press conference...... PLEASE let that finally be enough for the anti-maskers!

Riverite wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 5:04 pm

DColeKC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:17 pm Trump finally said we should wear masks and they're effective during this live press conference...... PLEASE let that finally be enough for the anti-maskers!

Hopefully, if we can get a lot of the governors to mandate masks we might be able to get this thing more under control

DColeKC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:17 pm Trump finally said we should wear masks and they're effective during this live press conference...... PLEASE let that finally be enough for the anti-maskers!

FangKC wrote: ↑Tue Jul 21, 2020 11:19 pm Today at the post office one of the clerks had his mask over his mouth but not his nose. Many humans cannot even operate masks correctly.

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:04 pm It is rather amazing that NY and NJ have nearly 1/3 of US deaths from CV19 (47,000 out of 155,000) but they are only currently contributing about 3% of US deaths. Herd immunity? New York has had confirmed 442,000 cases of CV19. That's only a 2.3% of the population that are known to have the disease. Even if the number of actual cases is 10X higher than the confirmed cases, that's still only 23% of the population. I wonder what they are doing differently?

Highlander wrote: ↑Thu Jul 30, 2020 7:04 pm It is rather amazing that NY and NJ have nearly 1/3 of US deaths from CV19 (47,000 out of 155,000) but they are only currently contributing about 3% of US deaths. Herd immunity? New York has had confirmed 442,000 cases of CV19. That's only a 2.3% of the population that are known to have the disease. Even if the number of actual cases is 10X higher than the confirmed cases, that's still only 23% of the population. I wonder what they are doing differently?

phuqueue wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:10 am On the other hand, all of these Sunbelt states had plenty of lead time to prepare and they squandered it on half-assed "lockdowns" that they then prematurely ended.

Highlander wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:44 pm

phuqueue wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:10 am On the other hand, all of these Sunbelt states had plenty of lead time to prepare and they squandered it on half-assed "lockdowns" that they then prematurely ended.

That was because the pandemic became a political football in the SE aided and abetted by Trump. Not that it isn't elsewhere, but the republican governors in the SE refused to take necessary steps because they wanted to stay aligned with the nonsense coming out of Washington. It still pains me to see my older and vulnerable conservative friends/family take no precautions whatsoever because they expect miracle drugs pushed by Trump and quacks to allow them to quickly overcome any effects of the virus.

flyingember wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:47 pm
What he needed to do was hold a rally and hand out a free MAGA mask and sell several varieties on some website for people who can't get a ticket. Take over large parks in multiple cities with video screens in each. It would let them have people across the county and enables swing voters to come out easily. Tell his supporters that liberals don't want them to wear the masks and to go out and show the huge amount of support there is with a product that businesses can't ask them to remove. Use masks as a walking billboard like the hats were, whoever came up with the hats was brilliant.

flyingember wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 2:47 pm

Highlander wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 12:44 pm

phuqueue wrote: ↑Fri Jul 31, 2020 9:10 am On the other hand, all of these Sunbelt states had plenty of lead time to prepare and they squandered it on half-assed "lockdowns" that they then prematurely ended.

That was because the pandemic became a political football in the SE aided and abetted by Trump. Not that it isn't elsewhere, but the republican governors in the SE refused to take necessary steps because they wanted to stay aligned with the nonsense coming out of Washington. It still pains me to see my older and vulnerable conservative friends/family take no precautions whatsoever because they expect miracle drugs pushed by Trump and quacks to allow them to quickly overcome any effects of the virus.

If you haven't, look at the MLM (pyramid scheme) market. It explains a lot.

The people who sell through these systems, many of them are well meaning people but they're either easily controlled or ignorant.

Of course it's not 1:1 but a huge number of MLMs come out of groups where following a strong religious leaders is normal, regardless of which religious group you're talking about. Mormon, evangelical Christian and Hispanic Catholics are three (but not the only) groups well known for being associated with MLMs.

Many of these people also de-friend people seen as being against their sales and has parallel to religious shunning or dismissing people with other religious views. This isn't a group where working well with others is common.

It's somewhat anecdotal but there's a large overlap between people who sell these products and support Trump.

So what's more powerful than a deeply held belief? Narcissism. We haven't sufficiently got everyone to take action to save themselves.

That's what's so bad about what Trump's doing. He's so out of the norm that he's not even doing what it takes to get his supporters to save their lives. I'm not saying he's narcissist but it's incredible how his being right is more important than winning.

What he needed to do was hold a rally and hand out a free MAGA mask and sell several varieties on some website for people who can't get a ticket. Take over large parks in multiple cities with video screens in each. It would let them have people across the county and enables swing voters to come out easily. Tell his supporters that liberals don't want them to wear the masks and to go out and show the huge amount of support there is with a product that businesses can't ask them to remove. Use masks as a walking billboard like the hats were, whoever came up with the hats was brilliant.

In MLM recruiting materials, both subtle and overt religious tones are often used, e.g., the word “blessing” is used frequently with regard to profits.138 In an example of these overtones, the history of Amway starts with the following: “In this book you will find the same insights . . . that have served as a guiding light and a resource for millions of people around the earth to create a more rewarding life.”139 Indeed, recruitment methods for at least some MLMs have often been compared to recruitment into religious organizations.

Altogether, the belief linked to American civil religion that “both God and the market should be left free . . . to reward correct behavior and punish the evil or lazy”141 plays into the mythology of the self-made man142 and can be translated into two mythical values removed from actual religious belief but tied to identity: (1) Grit (the idea that outcome is perfectly correlated with effort) and (2) independence. The first value sustains MLM consultants’ optimism in the face of potential losses, while the second value reduces the focus on economic losses altogether.

In the social psychological literature, situations that emphasize particular identities (i.e., priming) may cause behavior changes among individuals.143As such, one could imagine a situation in which situations that stress particularly religious or gendered themes alongside MLM opportunities may cause potential consultants to engage further with MLMs. These contexts would serve as a social norm or reference point for what the consultant “should” do.