JIMSMASH ! ! !: IT'S 2021, START ACTING LIKE IT

Wednesday, September 01, 2021

IT'S 2021, START ACTING LIKE IT

4 comments:

Kapibara said...: Jim,

I'm your longtime reader and more times than not I agree with your takes, but you're in the wrong here. Ivermectin - although it is indeed used in treating horses - is a standard drug used for men, successully treating conditions such as onchocerciasis and rosacea. So basically with this meme people affected by these conditions are a butt of your joke, you're also undermine trust in medicine. Don't do that. It's not funny, it's not clever.; 7:28 AM
Jim said...: No, the people this meme is making fun of are those who are taking it instead of getting the Covid-19 vaccine - the same people who were drinking bleach last year to combat the virus. There is no medical evidence Ivermectin can help with Covid-19, unless a person takes well over the lethal dose. So they would rather take this than trust the global medical community.; 6:21 AM
Kapibara said...: Jim, from my understanding ivermectin is not treated as a replacement for vaccination, but as a cure. So it is taken only when someone is already infected with Covid and develops symptoms. Also, vaccination does not prevent infection, it's supposed to make symptoms less severe. I agree with the fact that there's no evidence ivermectin works on Covid, but this meme you posted does not differentiate between C-19 and other conditions. The joke here is that the drug is a horse dewormer. And it's a bad joke. Let's assume someone with a legit reason for taking Ivermectin sees this and thinks: "this quack is giving me a horse dewormer!" - it undermines patient's trust in the treatment. I know you mean well, but I really don't think this is the right way to help anyone. And please do not take my take on the matter as an attack or anything. I know tensions are high and I'd prefer to avoid any unwarranted misunderstandings. Respect, man!; 6:01 AM
Jim said...: The first lines of the meme refer to Trump telling his supporters that drinking bleach and UV rays inserted into the body were cures to COVID-19. So the punchline plays off that. However, if someone wasn't aware of that (or forgot as time passes), then I could see confusion. "Ivermectin" isn't mentioned at all in this meme, so I don't personally see any offense being put on those patients who take it for other reasons. The people who pushed Bleach, UV Rays, Hydroxychloroquine, are now pushing Ivermectin which has NOT been approved by any scientific or medical authority. The makers of Ivermectin have even come out as saying it does not help with Covid-19. The joke of the meme is there is a large group of people who deny science and will take anything except the vaccine to help save their lives and others'. It's a joke at the expense of those people. And with any joke, there is always going to be a select number of people who will take offense.

No unwarranted misunderstandings at all! All good, my friend :)

If you personally feel strong enough about this and would like me to remove it from my blog, I will.; 7:23 AM