Ok but maybe don't generalize the hyper specific niche weird case of your allegedly hypochondriac friend to every other person who is afraid of having their lives ruined by a communicable disease that's known to ruin peoples lives.
Whatever. The word gaslight is used a lot because it describes how people feel in the face of an overwhelming propaganda campaign to get people to rawdog covid for short term economic reputation laundering. I don't give a shit about the word or the intent: at the end of the day, anyone trying to get me to take the risk of getting covid is trying to get me to risk my life for nothing, whether or not that's their intention.
Maybe covid minimizers aren't technically trying to gaslight people, but people sure as hell feel gaslit. The end result is the same: protections being undermined and more people's lives ruined.
I am! I'm acutely aware that if I got long covid and couldn't be athletic anymore, my mental health health would collapse to the point where my life would be destroyed and -- whether by my own hand or some knock-on effect of being disabled and unable to enjoy life -- I'd be dead within a year. Part of why I take precautions is to protect my mental health. Back in the brief period of time when I didn't wear masks due to social pressure and thinking that the vaccines 100% prevented infection, I had multiple scares where I was an anxious wreck because someone I had hung out with tested positive a few days later, or came down with symptoms, or their roommate had it or something. But now that I only hang out with people outside with some distance or inside with us all masked up, I never have that terror! I'm so much happier and more comfortable socializing taking reasonable, effective, realistic precautions.
Sure there are some downsides. I skip the big indoor parties and I do miss them. But I know they aren't worth the risk, especially since friends have spread covid to each other at some of the very events I avoided. I still make sure to see my core group of people regularly, for 1 on 1 hangs or in groups when we can coordinate it. It's different for safety, but not that different.
No more indoor clubbing or concerts for me, sadly. Those I do miss and there's no substitute that comes close. But I can live without those. I can't live with lungs so shot that strenuous workouts become impossible, as happened to a friend of mine.
I hope someday this pandemic is actually beaten and we can go back to how things were, but that requires us to still be alive and healthy -- so I'm doing what I can to stay OK until then.
Ok but maybe don't generalize the hyper specific niche weird case of your allegedly hypochondriac friend to every other person who is afraid of having their lives ruined by a communicable disease that's known to ruin peoples lives.
Sure, just don't think that everyone who's mad about COVID shut-ins is trying to gaslight you.
Whatever. The word gaslight is used a lot because it describes how people feel in the face of an overwhelming propaganda campaign to get people to rawdog covid for short term economic reputation laundering. I don't give a shit about the word or the intent: at the end of the day, anyone trying to get me to take the risk of getting covid is trying to get me to risk my life for nothing, whether or not that's their intention.
Maybe covid minimizers aren't technically trying to gaslight people, but people sure as hell feel gaslit. The end result is the same: protections being undermined and more people's lives ruined.
My buddy did a fine job ruining their own life without ever getting covid.
Oh man you got me, I'm going to stop taking covid precautions now because I don't want to end up like your buddy.
Just be mindful of the effects it has on your own mental health, comrade.
I am! I'm acutely aware that if I got long covid and couldn't be athletic anymore, my mental health health would collapse to the point where my life would be destroyed and -- whether by my own hand or some knock-on effect of being disabled and unable to enjoy life -- I'd be dead within a year. Part of why I take precautions is to protect my mental health. Back in the brief period of time when I didn't wear masks due to social pressure and thinking that the vaccines 100% prevented infection, I had multiple scares where I was an anxious wreck because someone I had hung out with tested positive a few days later, or came down with symptoms, or their roommate had it or something. But now that I only hang out with people outside with some distance or inside with us all masked up, I never have that terror! I'm so much happier and more comfortable socializing taking reasonable, effective, realistic precautions.
Sure there are some downsides. I skip the big indoor parties and I do miss them. But I know they aren't worth the risk, especially since friends have spread covid to each other at some of the very events I avoided. I still make sure to see my core group of people regularly, for 1 on 1 hangs or in groups when we can coordinate it. It's different for safety, but not that different.
No more indoor clubbing or concerts for me, sadly. Those I do miss and there's no substitute that comes close. But I can live without those. I can't live with lungs so shot that strenuous workouts become impossible, as happened to a friend of mine.
I hope someday this pandemic is actually beaten and we can go back to how things were, but that requires us to still be alive and healthy -- so I'm doing what I can to stay OK until then.
Wishing for the best for you, friend.
Thank you. Same to you.