Opinion : Tolerance will not be Tolerated

By Valerie Close, Editor · May 1, 2020, 3:51 pm

During the COVID-19 pandemic it has been interesting to watch the drive this has created to internet use.

People are now finding that you need to go to online platforms for essentials like groceries if they cannot go out. We now use it to hold meetings or to even see the doctor.

I actually loved my online doctor's visit. I can talk to the doctor in my living room, and NOT have to drive 2 hours. THAT needs to continue! Sure I know not all the time, but for routine visits just to get prescriptions filled, yeah it does need to continue. In the long run, for healthy patients, this makes sense and lessens the spread of "normal" flu season cooties as well.

The most fascinating thing I've watched has been the two doctors in California who have come out and basically said from what they've seen, we are overreacting, just a wee, tiny, itsy-bitsy little bit and in their opinion we should reopen because of the numbers that they have seen.

Two doctors, in the thick of it, telling us what they've seen, the numbers that they have and God forbid, they think we should reopen, has resulted in Facebook, and YouTube banning the video of them talking. The interview was first aired on an ABC channel who shared it, and now, good luck finding the interview.

Facebook is pulling it down as "False" I guess all of the Facebook doctors held a meeting. YouTube says it violates their "Community Standards" which says we ignore doctors who share what they know.

But the persistence of getting the message out continues. Just for giggles I found It now on a different platform called UGETube which labels itself as "Broadcast Freedom." It's created by a group called the Utah Gun Exchange. Now before everyone gets panicked, guns are legal. I'm not a fan of them but then I also don't like El Caminos or Volkswagons or snakes, bumlebees or wasps.

This whole article has nothing to do with whether or not you think these doctors are correct, it IS however about letting people think. If you see nothing BUT one side of a topic, you will only think that way.

If you see two or three sides of a topic you have a choice and are more well rounded in your thinking. You use that gray matter that needs to be challenged more than it probably is.

I've had several discussions with people on numerous topics and while I have my opinion on something, they sometimes have another. Sometimes I come to agree with them, not often I admit, but sometimes. HOWEVER, if platforms like Facebook and YouTube can't step back, and let people post all of their thoughts on each side of the matter, what use are they? Unless something posted is an illegal activity, what's the harm in thought?

I know some will say that people can die or get sick if we listen to these doctors and open things up. At the same time, the rest of what these doctors are saying is true. People are afraid to go to the hospital if they think they are having a heart attack because they are afraid of a virus. People who should be checked for cancer can't go because we are shut down. The mental health of many is being affected which never ends in a good result if they can't get treatment. People are getting injured and avoiding a trip to the hospital until they absolutely have to trying to avoid getting sick.

What I'm saying is this. If our country is in the state where we can't allow free thought, and we're afraid to give the microphone to someone we disagree with, we are in bad shape. It's time to take the thermometer to what we believe as a nation, this is not healthy behavior. Is your thought the only one that matters? Or perhaps does someone on the opposite side of your thinking have a point? Do we really believe if someone disagrees with us that we alone are right and the other person doesn't have a shred of truth in them?

Is that why our politics is so explosive that we can't listen to the other side? Can't we sit down and discuss anything anymore?

That’s why the Opinion page on Vinton Today is open. I don't care which side you are on any topic. The beauty of thoughts is the variety that we all have. And honest, thoughts about ANYTHING ELSE beside politics is welcome as well.

I do seriously worry about our country when platforms like Facebook and YouTube place themselves above everyone else and decide what you can and cannot read or watch simply because they disagree with the content. When there are millions of videos out there, and you decide to pull down two doctors talking about what they are seeing in their part of the world, call me crazy, but I think there's a motive out there beyond health.

Lock us in our houses, lock us out of our churches, close down our businesses, tell us that we can't see our friends all in the name of COVID. Now we have two huge platforms that benefit from this lockdown controlling any talk about getting us offline and opening up, and I think there is more to the story.

So what are your thoughts on Facebook and YouTube banning and blocking the opinions of some of us? Are you okay with that?

Should you be okay with that?

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GB May 8, 2020, 3:49 pm What makes Anthony the expert to know based on scientific fact what is the truth? He offers nothing except his opinion. I have always found Vinton Today to be both fair and balanced. Its amazing how some folks will scream bloody murder the second a different opinion is presented that differs from their own and yet will be the last to pass on the mic to another voice. I challenge anyone to check the facts on this virus. Anyone! In my county (I will not disclose) we have had two Coronavirus deaths. One of them was on hospice care with stage 4 lung cancer. Yet when they passed, the cause of death was Coronavirus. Really!! The second person was elderly and had many other on going health issues. Yet again, Coronavirus was listed as the cause of death. Again, that's two deaths and out of 62 total confirmed cases with 42 of those cases having since been cleared. Now I do not claim to be the Albert Einstein or anything close to it but it does not take a mental giant to actually look at a few facts, do some simple research and have a simple understanding of 4th grade level math to quicky come to some basic conclusions. For me, the numbers and facts (Anthony please take notes) do not add up. When a gunshot victim in a large metropolitan city in America dies of six gunshot wounds, and the medical examiner lists the cause of death Coronavirus, simply because they also happened to have Coronavirus, the numbers do not add up. Currently, the mortality rate I have seen is between 2% and 3% if you can truly believe the reported numbers and yet when gunshot victims and patients with stage four lung cancer are being counted as Coronavirus victims, a "reasonable" person could quickly come to a different conclusion than most of our national news networks. I assure everyone that Vinton Today has not fallen into a "groupthink" mindset. Anthony, please take note of this additional fact.. in just about every part of our society, the drug overdose rate is about ten times that of the Coronavirus and yet no one has shut down a single business over that. So take any national numbers you want from any source recording Coronavirus cases and multiply that by ten. Again, the numbers do not add up.

TJ May 3, 2020, 8:23 pm Ok, after debating, I did watch the video, even though the topic is censorship. Dr. Erickson has also been on other shows talking about the data from his county of about 900,000. In later interviews he talks about the collateral damage being seen across the country from the shutdown resulting in stroke cases where young people are getting sick FROM COVID, some with a stroke and NOT going to the hospital because of fear...of catching COVID-19 which makes their recovery worse for them. Dr. Erickson also said that as a doctor he is weighing the number of actual cases vs. cases like the one above. There are also multiple mental issues happening including suicides. Those are the reasons he feels that we need to reopen. I have to say I agree with that as well, as did Dr. Drew who was on another interview with Erickson. Erickson didn't blame anyone for the way things were handled in shutting down but he did state that the numbers he is seeing and those of other flu seasons are pretty similar, only this time we have the added damage, mental illness, suicides, strokes, heart attacks all untreated because of fear. But this article we are commenting on as the author said is about freedom online and NOT about our thoughts on the doctors. I have to agree after rereading this, it IS clear that there is censorship going on across the board on Facebook and YouTube as the author stated. Why would they pull down educated doctors sharing data just from their county and clinic? Is that wrong? If we had something happening in Vinton that was killing off half the population wouldn't we want someone to say, "Beware!" and NOT have Facebook or YouTube pull it down? The author probably cited this one case, because it currently happening.

AB May 3, 2020, 7:26 pm Dear Ms. Jacobs "The most fascinating thing I've watched has been the two doctors in California who have come out and basically said from what they've seen, we are overreacting, just a wee, tiny, itsy-bitsy little bit and in their opinion we should reopen because of the numbers that they have seen. " This is about as untrue as it gets. These doctors are provably wrong and Vinton Today is quoting them as if they are stating opinions. They are not. They are stating things that are not true. Not true. Yes they have different ideas. Ideas that are not true. These are not opinions, this is not a debate about what is true and what is an opinion. No one will know what works for months. That's how the scientific process works. These guys are suggesting we are overreacting to conditions that they want to deny, but are undeniable. Difference of opinion does not equal lying. Disseminating a message known to be untrue is lying. These are not opinions being cast about. These are demonstrably proven falsehoods.

TJ May 3, 2020, 2:58 pm Dear Mr. Bopp, I have been following the threads on Vinton Today. As of yet I haven't seen any "lies" but rather presentations of different ideas. Perhaps you need to reread whatever articles you are referring to and ponder the words in the articles. By allowing readers to respond, Vinton Today has stepped back and let the community have a much needed voice. Everyone is concerned about what treatments work and what might help as much as you are. Not everybody responds to each drug the same way. What works for one person does not for another. Not even doctors are sure what works, and many disagree. I think you are taking a website to task over ideas that are foreign to you, because you are only seeing one side of the issue on the news. I would tell you to do some "googling" but that too is censored, you have to dig for any information not seen on the nightly news. Difference of opinion does not equal lying. Lying indicates you know and understand something to be true yet stand for the opposite. Right now readers are sharing ideas. Some of their own and some they have found. Wishing you well friend, but I think you are overreacting.

AB May 3, 2020, 2:01 pm "I do seriously worry about our country when platforms like Facebook and YouTube place themselves above everyone else and decide what you can and cannot read or watch simply because they disagree with the content. " This is not about disagreement. This is about truth vs untruth. Unfortunately platforms like Facebook to not have the means of publishing something with disclaimers, as the media does. Vinton Today can publish something untrue that someone says with the disclaimer "The things presented as facts in this piece are largely untrue, and here are resources you can view to gain a greater understanding of why they are untrue. But we publish them because in America we have a right to disseminate lies under the First Amendment, but all citizens, and especially the media such as Vinton Today, have a responsibility to identify lies when they are told. It is the essence of journalism." Instead I see Vinton Today promoting the publication of lies that put thousands or tens of thousands of American lives at risk, under an egregious misuse of the term "difference of opinion."

RK May 2, 2020, 2:14 pm Good editorial about Facebook and YouTube. If we are allowed to read comments and see TV clips about medical treatment from an idiotic, moronic, imbecile that tells us we should inject poisonous chemicals to cleanse our blood of a virus, we should be able to see opinions from Doctors who have medical educations.

SL May 1, 2020, 3:37 pm I am reminded of the old stories of "people" speaking on the courthouse steps. Then the authorities are obliged to decide whether its freedom of speech or inciting a riot. There has always been people who get to decide. There always will be. Some decide because they've decided for their personal reasons. Some decide by what's best for the constitution or the law, and not what's popular at the moment.

TB May 1, 2020, 3:29 pm Yet, main stream media and politicians lie to us daily

TJ May 1, 2020, 11:28 am It’s the 21st century version of book burning! Let freedom ring!

AB May 1, 2020, 9:01 am Not only should we be OK with it, we should insist on it, and we should hold Vinton Today to task for promoting these dangerous ideas. This is not a matter of difference of opinion. It is a matter of patently false information that is proven more false every hour of every day around the world. Insisting we should open up because we're overreacting is tantamount to yelling fire in a theater. Freedom of speech simply does not give you the right to use speech to put thousands of lives at immediate risk. All new organizations, including this one, should be standing firmly behind the dissemination of truth, and should call out lies when they are presented. When the lies are this serious, they should absolutely be suppressed, and legal action brought against those saying it. Doing otherwise is inexcusably irresponsible. This is a very real, dangerous threat to our children, our parents, and ourselves. It's needs to be treated with the utmost seriousness, not batted around randomly as "matters of opinion." Opinions and facts rarely tolerate each other, and it is critical we act on the facts, not the opinions or the general observations of a couple of random doctors looking for a moment in the spotlight.