Credibility Gap -- According to Wikipedia

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Credibility Gap -- According to Wikipedia
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The term "credibility gap" came against a background of the use of the term "missile gap", which the Oxford English Dictionary lists as first being used by then-Senator John F. Kennedy on 14 August 1958, when he stated: "Our Nation could have afforded, and can afford now, the steps necessary to close the missile gap."[4] "Doomsday gap" and "mineshaft gap" were the imagined post-apocalyptic continuations of this paranoia in the 1964 Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove.

The term "credibility gap" was widely in use as early as 1963, according to Timetables of History.[5] Prior to its association with the Vietnam War, in December 1962, at the annual meeting of the U.S. Inter-American Council, Senator Kenneth B. Keating (R-N.Y.) praised President John F. Kennedy's prompt action in the Cuban Missile Crisis, but he said there was an urgent need for the United States to plug the "credibility gap" in U.S. policy on Cuba.[6] It was popularized in 1966 by J. William Fulbright, a Democratic Senator from Arkansas, when he could not get a straight answer from President Johnson's Administration regarding the war in Vietnam.[7]

"Credibility gap" was first used in association with the Vietnam War in the New York Herald Tribune in March 1965, to describe then-president Lyndon Johnson's handling of the escalation of American involvement in the war. A number of events—particularly the surprise Tet Offensive, and later the 1971 release of the Pentagon Papers—helped to confirm public suspicion that there was a significant "gap" between the administration's declarations of controlled military and political resolution, and the reality. These were viewed as examples of Johnson's and later Richard Nixon's duplicity. Throughout the war, Johnson worked with his officials to ensure that his public addresses would only disclose bare details of the war to the American public. During the war the country grew more and more aware of the credibility gap especially after Johnson's speech at Johns Hopkins University in April 1965.[8] An example of public opinion appeared in The New York Times concerning the war. "The time has come to call a spade a bloody shovel. This country is in an undeclared and unexplained war in Vietnam. Our masters have a lot of long and fancy names for it, like escalation and retaliation, but it is a war just the same."[9]

The advent of the presence of television journalists allowed by the military to report and photograph events of the war within hours or days of their actual occurrence in an uncensored manner drove the discrepancy widely referred to as "the credibility gap".

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Even then?

I have been told that I need an excuse to avoid letting somebody inject something into my body. If the excuse is good enough, the implication is, "Well, all right. At least you have a good enough excuse not to face the scientific truth that you should get vaccinated."

My excuse is that I do not accept the premise that the burden of proof is on me.

I have my doubts about how well masks actually have been working all along, mainly due to the largely ignored problem of user error, which I see every single time I go out in public. I cannot claim to bat a thousand on that score, myself. But I have been absolutely conscientious about wearing my mask since they were first required. It is no worse than annoying and it does not threaten my own health in any way.

The best story Team Spike Em All has is that it could keep me alive rather than dead if I catch the targeted illness. If they stuck to this story, I would respect them -- as I respect many people who post on this board detailing the facts as they see them, without trying to bully anybody into anything.

Bottom line. You can tell me. Some guy in a white coat can tell me. Hell, a million guys in a million white coats can all tell me. God in Heaven can tell me through divine revelation. Anybody can tell me that THIS time, the power structure of the United States is on the up and up and the vaccines are a sincere effort to save lives and protect public health.

Sorry, I can't get over the Credibility Gap. I saw the first one open up when I was in grade school. It never closed, but has gotten a lot wider over the years.

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Lookout's picture

especially when it comes to COVID IMO because big pharma is purposely misleading and controlling the recommendations.
My go to people include:
https://covid19criticalcare.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisMartensondotcom
https://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching

Your mileage may vary. Someone this week said they were through reading anything on this site about COVID. I'm in the other camp. Let's put all ideas on the table and evaluate them based on best evidence.

As to masks, this is pre-delta, but pertinent none the less (using studies to support conclusions)

https://covid19criticalcare.com/guide-for-this-website/masks-clearing-up...
bottom line conclusion... but the whole piece is worth reading.

So, my recommendation: wear masks indoors. Always. Avoid close quartered, crowded conditions among non-household members for prolonged periods unless the mask is an N95. In all other situations indoors, standard masks are sufficiently protective. Here is the most disturbing part of this story: the reality of airborne spread was known as early as the first thirty cases of this pandemic, at the end of December 2019, when a public health announcement fleetingly appeared on a Wuhan health ministry website (this notice was detected by a W.H.O. pandemic detection system that continually scours the internet for words suggesting illness outbreaks). That notice, although it was quickly taken down, was known by the W.H.O. to have read, “Avoid closed public places and crowded places with poor air circulation.” This fact was detailed in a Wall Street Journal article: How Coronavirus Overpowered the World Health Organization. Thus, it was known by at least one health official in Wuhan that the new virus was likely spread by airborne means – in December of 2019 – yet the W.H.O. still only considers airborne transmission “a possibility” at this time. Palm to forehead (once again) at the innumerable, perplexing actions and positions adopted by multiple national and international health care agencies throughout the pandemic. I just hope, once this is over, all can learn from the many frightening mistakes that have been made.

In conclusion, I agree that constant, ubiquitous mask wearing does not make sense in almost all outdoor settings, but they are absolutely critical in nearly all indoor spaces. This is unless the space is some large, cavernous, uncrowded space, and/or you are there for a brief period, and/or it is a very well-ventilated space.

Choosing not to get vaccinated is a personal decision. If that is your choice then I would recommend considering ivermectin plus as a preventative whenever you are exposed to indoor crowded places.

prevention protocol.png

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout .
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Let me tell you exactly why I do not want to take this vaccine. The question is comparative risk -- chance of getting sick or dying versus chance of the vaccine harming you or killing you. Both risks are tiny unless something utterly unpredicted and unpredictable takes place. What are the chances of that? Er, uh. Gotta admit the possibility of yet more weird turns in this story.

Unknown This versus Unknown That amid a world full of uncertainty and sudden changes.

The risk of the vaccine is far more unpredictable than the risk so far from the pandemic. We now have a year and a half of accumulated statistics regarding the risk of infection, serious illness and death. The numbers have been hyped mercilessly and the fear porn shamelessly paints a picture of catastrophe with headlines like More Cases than Ever!!! Nevertheless, I always cite the Official Numbers -- I submit that the truth will never be any scarier than what the authorities are telling us.

(Caveat -- I have seen a few random assertions that the death toll is understated, and for all I know we have had six million deaths rather than 600,000. I will leave this aside for now to show how un-scared I am of The Numbers.)

As of today, the World-O-Meter shows that in the USA there have been
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37 Million Cases -- 11.08% of the population

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I still do not know what a "case" means. Or what the difference between a case and an infection is. Whatever, these terrifying numbers mean that
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296 Million Not Cases -- 88.92% of the population
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An 89% chance of absolutely nothing happening to me. So what about fatalities?
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635,000 Deaths -- 0.019% of the population

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333.6 million Not Dead -- 99.81% of the population.

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There are always arguments and Team Lockdown specializes in proving how these numbers are really scary. Look at all the zeros in 37 million, for example. My favorite flew at at me on this board when I was informed that deaths mean nothing, cases are the only thing that matters. Said with a straight face, by the way.

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The World O Meter does not have a way to suss out the gross number of hospitalizations, but it does have a category called Total Recovered -- almost 30 million, with a balance of 6 million "active cases." I don't know what that means, but it does clearly assert that there are currently about 327 million people who are doing fine as of now.

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In context, the current numbers are beginning to approach the various published estimates for the Spanish Flu of a century ago. If the death toll triples, we will reach the per capita rate of death in that worst pandemic of all time.

Yes, getting your lungs filled with fluid is a horrible prospect and one worth trying to avoid. I avoid mass events because I always avoid mass events. The last year and a half have cured me of the restaurant habit. So, I do not feel any need to take a life and death chance to avoid what is also a life and death chance -- just one that is well below One Percent.

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Lookout -- thanks for information on alternative therapies. Very useful information.

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

mimi's picture

@Lookout
it was the first time people could walk into the vaccination centers without an appointment and get it done immediately. The German soldiers managed the whole procedure aside from hte actual vaccination. It worked without a flaw. I will get my second shot in September.

I still haven't ordered Ivermectin online from somewhere, but I hope I get this done as well.

Have a good evening.

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lotlizard's picture

@mimi  
Had to make appointments via Saxony state gov website and take streetcar to Dresden Messe (convention center).

As I understand it, the AZ shot is *not* mRNA, so in terms of personal danger the debate about risks of mRNA “gene therapy” geht mir achtspurig am Arsch vorbei, as the head of the secretarial staff at this place where I used to work liked to say.

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mimi's picture

@lotlizard
thanks for the smile. I got the vaccine from Biontech. I am too tired and busy with other work to educate myself about the itty-bitty-nitty stuff of differences in various vaccines. I would have refused astra-seneca and moderna for reasons I even do not know. I was victimized by propaganda, I guess. And I believe that too many get bribed to believe in nnything that suits those politicians in their part of the woods.

I think it is disgusting to offer people incentives, aka bribes, to get vaccinated. Either the vaccination is mandatory for all, or it is their personal choices.

Tired. Hope you are well. Have a good one.

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CB's picture

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enhydra lutris's picture

@CB

for anything, it would not be on the web. It would never have seen the light of day.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

CB's picture

@enhydra lutris
such a scenario and were remarkably prescient as events have unfolded (just as Event 201 on October 18, 2019). It is obvious that TPTB considered such an event as highly likely to occur. If we add to this the very real possibility that gain-of-function was being done and a lab leak could occur, these exercises would become more imperative. By their very nature these countermeasures must be discussed publicly.

Just "food for thought".

The SPARS Pandemic 2025–2028: A Futuristic Scenario to Facilitate Medical Countermeasure Communication

Abstract:

Effective communication about medical countermeasures—including drugs, devices and biologics—is often critical in emergency situations. Such communication, however, does not just happen. It must be planned and prepared for. One mechanism to develop communication strategies is through the use of prospective scenarios, which allow readers the opportunity to rehearse responses while also weighing the implications of their actions. This article describes the development of such a scenario: The SPARS Pandemic 2025-2028. Steps in this process included deciding on a timeframe, identifying likely critical uncertainties, and then using this framework to construct a storyline covering both the response and recovery phases of a fictional emergency event. Lessons learned from the scenario development and how the scenario can be used to improve communication are also discussed.
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After much consideration of possible emergency situations that would require MCM use, the project team decided on setting the storyline around a novel coronavirus that caused a mild, flu-like disease in most instances, but pneumonia and/or hypoxia requiring hospitalization and extensive medical treatment in a small minority of cases. The project team named this fictional pathogen the St. Paul Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, or SPARS for short, because in the scenario it is first identified in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Two features of this disease are important to note because they impact how the storyline of the scenario plays out, as well as some of the communication dilemmas that occur. First, the project team decided to make SPARS have an extended incubation period (7 to 10 days) but a short latent period (4 to 5 days). This complicates the scenario because infected persons in the story are capable of spreading the virus for up to 6 days before showing symptoms of the disease themselves. This feature of SPARS makes isolation procedures in the scenario, like urging people to stay home if they think they might be sick, less effective than what is typically expected for airborne pathogens and thus introduces novel dilemmas in the storyline. Second, the project team decided to make the morbidity and mortality from SPARS both significantly higher in children than adults, and among pregnant women and those with chronic respiratory conditions. This parallels disease characteristics associated with past disease outbreaks, including the H1N1 pandemic, and allowed for some ommunication dilemmas from the past to be revisited under different future circumstances.

In all, the SPARS scenario provides 19 specific storylines, and an associated 23 communication dilemmas for readers to consider. An outline of the entire storyline is available in Table 1, and a list of the communication dilemmas provided in the scenario can be found in Table 2. The following sections provide excerpts of two dilemmas included in the scenario as well as their associated communication dilemmas and food for thought questions.
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Conclusion

Effective communication about medical countermeasures—including drugs, devices, and biologics (e.g., vaccines)—is often critical in emergency situations. Such communication, however, does not just happen. It must be planned and prepared for.
...

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of "long term" for long term effects from the vaccination. Is long term months, years...In other words, what is a target date for knowing those effects?
Very interesting info in this thread, especially the SPARS report. I intend to read that document shortly.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

CB's picture

@on the cusp
It's déjà vu all over again.

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@CB and thought of The Truman movie.
I keep getting urgent emails from some attorney in Houston, and I got interrupted. I WILL read it.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

@lotlizard .

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I love the tone of voice in the Guardian piece -- it reminds me of Orwell's Oceania as the reader is invited to get with the spirit of National Unity of Purpose. We are all pulling together to do whatever we can to win the war that never ends, only because of the evil manipulations of Goldstein and his evil band of conspirators.

When this goofy gambit fails to move the needle, look for this technique to grow teeth and Influencers will be augmented by Identifiers who track down the real names of The Disobedient so that they can be dealt with appropriately.

Every decade of my long assed life has seen the power of the government and the corporations increase and individual options in life decrease. This shit about these particular vaccines is the most preposterous assertion of power yet.

"This is the Truth and anybody who tries to undermine the Truth must be silenced."

-- Dr. Big Brother, MD

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I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.

enhydra lutris's picture

Not going to directly address the topic, but just put forth a few broad thoughts on the whole thing.

CUI BONO - as always who benefits, and how. In this case look both deep and wide and thorougly as well.

Vaccines have been with us a long time, and vaccination has served the human species very well over a long period of time.

In addition we've seen inadvertent pseudo-blind testing. Instead of injecting a random fraction of a test group with a vaccine and the rest of a placebo, and exposing them all to a pathogen, highly unethical and likely somewhat seldom done, we have a group of people who refuse to vaccinate their kids for whatever reason. When school was still an in-person thing a certain fraction of the children of such people would get something like measles and go to school when contagious but not symptomatic with resulting mini outbreaks among their unvaccinated fellow students but not among the vaccinated ones.

When thinking about the whole cui bono thing, and the credibility thing, consider that this is a global phenomena. Just keep that in mind when doing any analysis. Every continent has had and is trying to deal with outbreaks. All kinds of countries are trying to contain and treat this, they are looking for treatments and vaccines, and begging for vaccines and lobbying to get patent restrictions eased or lifted so they can produce existing ones. They aren't all allies or aligned, the US & Nato and other affiliated states, as well as the evil Russkies, Chinese, Cubans and the like. Some who are pretty much aligned with the US-Nato glob have tired of waiting on the glob to provide them vaccines and have acquired or accepted and began using Sputnik or the Chinese Vaccine(s)

New risks of catching it keep being alleged, such as mental impairment in some percentage of victims.

Back to cui bono, in some cases, the government is buying up vaccines and seemingly providing them to the populace for free. Since when does the US government do something for the benefit of the hoi polloi for free? Well, the elites and their economy depend upon a large permanent underclass to work for them for next to nothing and to consume goods and services at inflated prices. They are the government's clients, and, arguably, salvaging a goodly chunk of the populace works to their benefit. Why else would governments do it.

Breakthrough infections, still reportedly low in number and one thing I've wondered all along is the reality. Germany just allegedly busted an anti-vaxxer nurse for giving thousands saline solution instead of vaccine. Well back, somebody in the US got busted for intentionally rendering batches of vaccine impotent by breaking refrigeration protocols. Some of the reported breakthrough cases could be of those not really vaccinated due to actual or accidental injections of fake or impotent vaccines.

Risks of injection. Wild topic. There are definitely risks. 2 problems 1- baseline & 2- post hoc ergo propter hoc.

BASELINE: Some people react negatively with varying degrees of severity to various shots (including placebos). All of the cillin/sillin types, the mycins, mmr, tetanus, you name it. "Are you allergic to Penicillin or any other drug?" is a routine medical query. In addition, clinic fuck-ups create additional risks, a classic is not reacting to the shot but getting staph from the swab or bandage. Alright, what is the ordinary, "routine" incidence of overall negative reactions to all injections and to vaccine injections, and similarly for various specific types of reactions. No information is given, but somebody will breathlessly report that 10% of the recipients of this vaccine have "some sort" of reaction. Ignoring that some sort might simply be soreness in the Deltoid, which you get from any shot there, is that abnormal, or is it baseline. If it is baseline and you have never reacted to any type of shot before, that would be useful information, but no baselines are provided.

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: "After this therefore because of this" Today I had rolled oats for breakfast and within 2 hours stubbed my toe, therefore ... Therefore nuthing. No causal link is known to exist. The risk data leaves most of the relevant information out. X many had heart attacks after the shot. How long after? Was it their first or 7th? How was their overall health? How long did they stand in line in the hot sun without water prior to getting the shot? None of that is given. There is also a baseline issue buried here - what is the incidence of heart attacks in persons of that age, sex, and general health, from that neighborhood. 110 a day? 2 per month? Somebody gasping and falling over dead with the needle still in their arm is one thing, but how often does that occur. The worst example here is "miscarriage after getting vaccinated". How soon after and why the hell is causality being assumed? It is impossible to estimate the normal incidence and expert opinions vary enormously. Several schools of thought hold that miscarriages are exceedingly common, especially in first pregnancies. Overall, I have never seen a presentation of any putative causal mechanism for almost any of those events, just that they occurred at some point after the shot. How many also occurred after riding in a bus or uber or being stuck in traffic in one's personal vehicle?

Just some stuff to keep in mind while slogging through all of the information and opinions out there.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --