Anti Vaxxers are sooooooooooooooooooo sure of themselves. Where does this certitude come from?
The vast majority of the medical establishment believes in the efficacy of masks and the vaccines. A small minority does not. In addition - this is a NEW illness, with a NEW vaccine and the BIGGEST EXPERTS who are honest admit that there is MUCH we don't know.
Yet, the anti vaxxers KNOW and many of them are very vocal about it, trying to convince the world that they are right. How do they know? 99.9 percent of them have NO BACKGROUND IN SCIENCE? How are people with no basic knowledge of the topic [infectious diseases in general and corona specifically] suddenly world class experts who know BETTER than people who have spent years studying infectious diseases???
The correct way would be to humbly admit that a] there is much yet to learn and b] there are experts who know much more than I do and c] if there is a study that reveals information abt. the virus and the prevention, one must know how to read and analyze the data and that there are often other studies which indicate otherwise.
If one is AFRAID to take the vaccine - I get it. But to be SURE that the harm is greater than the benefit? To my mind - insanity. Oh yes, but there is a podiatrist in West Texas who says that!! We MUST follow the podiatrist b/c he SURELY knows better than anyone else!!
And masks - If one doesn't believe that they prevent the spread of the virus, he must believe that LACK OF CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS who do believe in masks is certainly an illness that needs a cure. He also must believe [if he is honest] that no prophet has revealed from Hashem that masks don't help. We also can't say that every study reveals that masks don't help. If that were true - the overwhelming consensus of the medical establishment wouldn't say that they DO help.
My explanation: We ALL do this. People need a narrative of life in order for it to make sense. So it goes in 2 stages. First they create a narrative that works for them. Then they believe it with all their hearts and don't even bother questioning it. Now - we know that this narrative is purely subjective b/c this person is the ONLY one who thinks exactly this way ON THE PLANET!!! Often there is a 3rd stage of trying to convince other of the veracity of their narrative.
Therapy is in order to question the narrative/s that so often stop one from living a happy and fulfilling life.
That is EXACTLY what is happening here [acc. to my narrative...]. First, people decide [for many possible reasons] that they accept the narrative that the vaccine and masks are bunk [which IS accepted and advanced by some professionals]. Then they assume that this is fact and to think otherwise is crazy. Then [many of them] get to the task of proving to the world that they [the world] are making a huge mistake and the pure truth resides with the anti-vaxxers-maskers.
So for your mental health: The story you tell yourself abt. you, your life and the world in general is just that - YOUR story. Not THE story. [History = His Story]. Not Hashem's story. Not objective. Far from it. It is very worthwhile to hear other narratives and other approaches.
Humility helps in the process of letting go of one's narrow perspective. More humility - broader perspective.
Big topic. This was just a basic outline.
ישמע חכם ויוסף לקח.
