Another week in the books. I still need to figure out how to remind myself that reconsideration is not a bad thing. In very basic military operations, as a leader, you conduct an After-Action Review (AAR) after you’ve finished what you planned to do.
If you have no plan, nobody can ever analyze how you performed.
Where I am, lately, though is reconsidering my initial reactions to news items and ads I’ve seen or heard lately.
The first one was this story out of the US community most-aligned with the DDR.
My initial reaction was, “you chose to live/work there.” That was quickly followed with a variation on the “Learn To Code” meme.
I shouldn’t think that way. The bigger issue is government force to compel compliance with measures taken to address a virus that has a very low fatality rate.
The numbers are presented here. If you’re under the age of 50, doing some quick math, the fatality rate of the virus is 0.02%.
For people over 70, even, the fatality rate is less than six percent.
Trust the science!!1!
Yes, also, do the math.
I’ve said before that I expect that I will probably catch this virus at some point.
I have as much concern about it killing me as I do about dying from a laundry list of other inane things. As the weather gets cold, if I find myself in a place that often serves raw oysters, I might eat some.
The next thing I’m reconsidering is writing off individuals who make misguided political endorsements. There’s been a commercial running here in Virginia in support of Terry McAuliffe, you know, the man responsible for state troopers dying because of actions taken by his party’s local officials in Charlottesville in 2017.
There is a doctor, Joseph Sakran, who’s appearing in TV commercials in support of McAuliffe. My initial reaction was, “can I figure out a way that this guy never treats me?”
In spite of hand motions that are almost as strange as Carey Wedler’s, I shouldn’t just write him off for having incredibly incorrect conclusions about politics.
What he’s doing with these sorts of ads, and I understand that strategy was very effective for President Biden last year, is a form of Argument From Authority, which is a logical fallacy. (Another good take on that is here….)
Doctors used to also recommend Lucky Strikes.
Doing the AAR on that, did a doctor’s recommendation actually help anybody by leading them to choose Lucky Strikes?
Maybe.
I wonder how much advertising might be nullified if advertisers avoided use of those fallacies.
Who knows?