# Why do conservatives take some diseases seriously, but not others? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2021, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012 "2021-07-21T22:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/61 "2021-07-22T19:51:06Z")
But you don’t see this sort of denial in other aspects of conservative life. If a conservative’s house catches on fire, he’s going to charge out of his home calling 911 with as much alacrity as a non-conservative. If a conservative is aboard a sinking ship, he’s going to head for the lifeboats like anyone else. If a conservative finds himself beset by a mass shooting while he’s at school, or in the workplace or at a mall, he’s not going to calmly keep chowing down his food with coffee in hand while the AR-15 sprays in his vicinity. So what makes Covid so particular an exception? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/62 "2021-07-22T19:58:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But you don’t see this sort of denial in other aspects of conservative life. > > If a conservative’s house catches on fire, he’s going to charge out of his home calling 911 with as much alacrity as a non-conservative. If a conservative is aboard a sinking ship, he’s going to head for the lifeboats like anyone else. > > So what makes Covid so particular an exception? Thats where the political leadership comes in. Its not in the interests of the GOP leadership to say “fires are hoax”. So they didn’t. Saying that about Covid worked as there was _just_ enough separation from reality (i.e. in my experience generally you might know someone who died, but its probably not a close family member or friend, so you can explain that away as “fudging the stats, they were old they probably died of natural causes”) I do wonder (somewhat fearfully) now that the precedent has been set GOP is the party of “diseases are a hoax” how bad it has to be before that changes. If a Covid variant (or another disease) appears with a fatallity rate of 10%, 20%, 90%? At what point do they go “Oh crap, forget everything I used to say\*, where a mask! lockdown! get the jab!” Will the same people who are berating people for wearing masks listen? \*- of course they won’t say this, they never do, they will just pretend their past statements never happened. > If a conservative finds himself beset by a mass shooting while he’s at school, or in the workplace or at a mall, he’s not going to calmly keep chowing down his food with coffee in hand while the AR-15 sprays in his vicinity. And in terms of denying mass shootings that is absolutely mainstream (or at least not lunatic fringe, in as much as any bit of the GOP is not lunatic fringe) GOP policy (after the fact of course, as witness by the terror and self preservation exhibited by GOP house members during the 1/6 coup attempt): > **[Video surfaces of Marjorie Taylor Greene confronting Parkland shooting...](https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/27/politics/marjorie-taylor-greene-david-hogg-video/index.html)** > > Video of Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene confronting Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg before she was elected to Congress went viral Wednesday amid an uproar over newly surfaced comments she made in 2018 and 2019 as reported by CNN’s... ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/63 "2021-07-22T20:04:46Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If a conservative’s house catches on fire, he’s going to charge out of his home calling 911 with as much alacrity as a non-conservative. If a conservative is aboard a sinking ship, he’s going to head for the lifeboats like anyone else. If a conservative finds himself beset by a mass shooting while he’s at school, or in the workplace or at a mall, he’s not going to calmly keep chowing down his food with coffee in hand while the AR-15 sprays in his vicinity. > > So what makes Covid so particular an exception? Apparently a conservative who gets Covid will demand the vaccine just as much as a non-conservative. The difference is when the conservative _doesn’t_ have Covid, the conservative mindset is that are aren’t going to get covid, so they don’t need to worry about it. Frankly this is the same for the AR-15 example. The conservative mindset when actually under fire in a mass shooting is the same as anyone else’s – run/hide/try to survive. The conservative mindset when not in a mass shooting, but seeing statistics that mass shootings are a serious problem, is that it won’t happen to them, or anything to prevent it is too hard to do. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/64 "2021-07-22T20:35:36Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I will just point out that anti-vaxx used to be shared between the ultra-right and ultra-left. Now it is largely the former. And now it’s not just the ultra-right, it’s the mainstream right. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/65 "2021-07-22T20:41:02Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I will just point out that anti-vaxx used to be shared between the ultra-right and ultra-left. Now it is largely the former. Yeah I made the point in the previous thread that was the case. And it was a _conscious decision_ to make that so by the by GOP. There are no words to describe how f\*cked up that is. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/66 "2021-07-22T21:22:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > So what makes Covid so particular an exception? Let’s not forget that COVID started out in the blue states of NY, NJ, and CT. It was seen as a big city, crowded space, urban problem, that won’t affect real America. So, their leadership and their media went all in on the hoax/flu/no big deal message and it’s hard to turn that around. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/67 "2021-07-22T21:30:52Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Do you want to address my points and make some of your own, or just post links that don’t actually dispute what I am saying? > > Yeah, some people disagreed with the WHO. Those people used data and evidence to make their case, and pretty quickly convinced the WHO to reevaluate their guidelines. I think what those links suggest and subsequent events confirm is that the WHO and other health agencies would have been better off saying they didn’t yet know how Covid spreads, or whether masks would help, rather than giving their best guess on modes of transmission and advising people not to use them. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/68 "2021-07-22T21:35:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But you don’t see this sort of denial in other aspects of conservative life. > > If a conservative’s house catches on fire, he’s going to charge out of his home calling 911 with as much alacrity as a non-conservative. If a conservative is aboard a sinking ship, he’s going to head for the lifeboats like anyone else. If a conservative finds himself beset by a mass shooting while he’s at school, or in the workplace or at a mall, he’s not going to calmly keep chowing down his food with coffee in hand while the AR-15 sprays in his vicinity. > > So what makes Covid so particular an exception? Those are all immediate problems where you can see the danger for yourself. How much do conservatives care about things like pollution where the harm is mostly indirect and invisible? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/69 "2021-07-22T21:38:44Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Let’s not forget that COVID started out in the blue states of NY, NJ, and CT. Isn’t it likely that it started there not so much due to politics but because so many international flights arrive there, as opposed to states further inland? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/70 "2021-07-22T21:39:09Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > I think what those links suggest and subsequent events confirm is that the WHO and other health agencies would have been better off saying they didn’t yet know how Covid spreads, or whether masks would help, rather than giving their best guess on modes of transmission and advising people not to use them. In hindsight, I agree, not because the WHO did anything wrong by giving the best advice they could at the time but because of how stupidly certain segments of the population interpreted the change in policy. But honestly, who could have seen the level of self destructiveness that people would subject themselves to? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/71 "2021-07-22T21:40:26Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Isn’t it likely that it started there not so much due to politics but because so many international flights arrive there, as opposed to states further inland? Their point wasn’t that liberal politics contributed to COVID, but that conservatives didn’t care about the plague as long as it was seen as mostly affecting those dumb libs on the coast. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/72 "2021-07-22T21:41:36Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > …but that conservatives didn’t care about the plague as long as it was seen as mostly affecting those dumb libs on the coast. That’s exactly right. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/73 "2021-07-22T21:45:20Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Their point wasn’t that liberal politics contributed to COVID, but that conservatives didn’t care about the plague as long as it was seen as mostly affecting those dumb libs on the coast. But conservatives still didn’t care even long **after** it started infecting red states more than blue states and hitting the rural people hard. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/74 "2021-07-22T21:50:03Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But conservatives still didn’t care even long **after** it started infecting red states more than blue states and hitting the rural people hard Because by that point both the government and conservative media were fully invested in the “coronavirus is fake news” narrative. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/75 "2021-07-22T21:50:47Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > But conservatives still didn’t care even long **after** it started infecting red states more than blue states and hitting the rural people hard. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ask this question on a board with some conservatives, rather than inviting a bunch of Democrats and leftists to speculate? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/76 "2021-07-22T21:51:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Isn’t it likely that it started there not so much due to politics but because so many international flights arrive there, as opposed to states further inland? That and they delayed their response. In the Bay Area, a place with plenty of international flights also, county leaders shut things down before the crisis was obvious - and we had relatively low death and infection rates thanks to that. Covid required a fast response with inadequate information. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/77 "2021-07-22T21:53:02Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > But honestly, who could have seen the level of self destructiveness that people would subject themselves to? I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the particular brand of idiocy currently afflicting America. But it’s pretty foreseeable that significantly changing official advice will make people trust it less or take it less seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/78 "2021-07-22T21:57:30Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > But it’s pretty foreseeable that significantly changing official advice will make people trust it less or take it less seriously. But that WAS the consensus at the time. And as was already said, > [@Voyager](#): > > Covid required a fast response with inadequate information. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/79 "2021-07-22T21:58:38Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > And then somehow it all got mixed up in the culture war, and wearing a mask and taking the pandemic seriously became a signal of political allegiance rather than something individuals decided for themselves. A ridiculous and very damaging situation. Mostly from the view of the right, I think. I’m discussing (well arguing) vaccine issues with a conservative. His last post said that if Trump had won in 2020 I’d be then against Covid vaccinations because he would supposedly be for them. (And he is for them, just not very loudly.) I told him no, I’d do what the science says, and was for vaccines when Trump was in office. Which shows that this person sees it as a political issue, and seems to have a hard time conceiving that anyone doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012/80 "2021-07-22T22:11:13Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Mostly from the view of the right, I think. Unfortunately I think it influences the left in turn, to believe that if the right support something then it must be wrong. > [@Voyager](#): > > His last post said that if Trump had won in 2020 I’d be then against Covid vaccinations because he would supposedly be for them. (And he is for them, just not very loudly.) I told him no, I’d do what the science says, and was for vaccines when Trump was in office. So… is he against Covid vaccinations, and did he say he’d be for them if Trump had won in 2020? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-conservatives-take-some-diseases-seriously-but-not-others/947012.md?page=5)