Good advice, so pass it along
Monday, Jan 25, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* And Arnold Schwarzenegger’s advice goes way beyond COVID-19 and vaccines…
I always say you should know your strengths and listen to the experts. If you want to learn about building biceps, listen to me, because I’ve spent my life studying how to get the perfect peak and I have been called the greatest bodybuilder of all time. We all have different specialties.
Dr. Fauci and all of the virologists and epidemiologists and doctors have studied diseases and vaccines for their entire lives, so I listen to them and I urge you to do the same. None of us are going to learn more than them by watching a few hours of videos. It’s simple: if your house in on fire, you don’t go on YouTube, you call the damn fire department. If you have a heart attack, you don’t check your Facebook group, you call an ambulance. If 9 doctors tell you you have cancer and need to treat it or you will die, and 1 doctor says the cancer will disappear, you should always side with the 9. In this case, virtually all of the real experts around the world are telling us the vaccine is safe and some people on Facebook are saying it isn’t.
In general, I think if the circle of people you trust gets smaller and smaller and you find yourself more and more isolated, it should be a warning sign that you’re going down a rabbit hole of misinformation. Some people say it is weak to listen to experts. That’s bogus. It takes strength to admit you don’t know everything. Weakness is thinking you don’t need expert advice and only listening to sources that confirm what you want to believe.
- Chicago Cynic - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:34 am:
Loved this. Dead solid perfect. Wonder if Darren Bailey is gonna head down to Mar A Lago for his next Doctor’s visit.
- Hippopotamus - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:37 am:
A military generally be the expert on how to fight a battle and can best assess the number of expected casualties - but its the civilian leader who decides whether to fight and bear the cost. In short, medical experts provide scientific input into a decision - they don’t balance the numerous other factors that go into the final policy decision.
- Hippopotamus - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:39 am:
general not generally - typo
- Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:40 am:
=== they don’t balance the numerous other factors that go into the final policy decision===
And Facebook commenters do?
lol
- Mandymae - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:41 am:
@Hippopotamus - but the post specifically addressed experts saying the vaccine is safe. I get what you’re saying when it comes to balancing all the factors in deciding whether schools and businesses should be open, but his post seems more addressed to those who make claims like “its no worse than the flu” or “wearing a mask causes brain damage.”
- Ok - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:45 am:
Sometimes, as with Trump, and before him Rauner and Rod, among others, the circle gets so small that the danger of misinformation and misreality is coming from your own head.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 11:46 am:
Saw this while lookin’ on social media, I shared it with family and friends, it’s really good.
Even to a bigger picture, Arnold Schwarzenegger, when this pandemic all “ends”, he could teach a class on how social media messaging to honesty… it can be as powerful as “fake news” that litters (now seemingly silent with suspended accounts, but I digress) social media platforms. His voice has been one I know I’ve needed, and oddly, this nearly a year experience and tragedy, he’s been a calming, smart… and at times the comic relief voice I needed.
Pass his words on.
- Nuke The Whales - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:02 pm:
Man who escaped Soviet regime in Austria gets how KGB-inspired misinformation campaigns work. Who ever would have guessed?
- Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:06 pm:
“Weakness is thinking you don’t need expert advice and only listening to sources that confirm what you want to believe.”
More please.
- Streator Curmdgeon - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:07 pm:
“…and only listening to sources that confirm what you want to believe.”
That’s how it is down here with FOX News. Many of my friends treat it as gospel, and they’re addicted because it pushes their buttons.
Arnold didn’t build the career he’s had by being an idiot. This is common sense stuff.
Pritzker has taken a lot of criticism for his COVID-19 orders, but I suspect the same critics would have been on him if he had done nothing and the pandemic ran out of control in Illinois.
- wondering wendy - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:09 pm:
Spot on. I am sharing.
- Ambrose Chase - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:17 pm:
This is just perfect. Everyone should read it. Thanks for sharing it rich.
- Rich Hill - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:29 pm:
Imagine how many more Americans would still be alive if Gov. Schwarzenegger was the national leader of the Republican Party 2016-present. (And, imagine if he was still governor of California. The vaccine rollout there would likely improve.)
- ArchPundit - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:34 pm:
====Man who escaped Soviet regime in Austria gets how KGB-inspired misinformation campaigns work.
Am I missing some snark here?
- ArchPundit - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:40 pm:
====In general, I think if the circle of people you trust gets smaller and smaller and you find yourself more and more isolated, it should be a warning sign that you’re going down a rabbit hole of misinformation.
One of the challenges with the misinformation we see now is that it seems like you are enlarging your circle as you end up going down a rabbit hole of videos and conspiracy theories.
To the point about policy choices–yes, you do need to make policy choices, but you make them based on information from the experts not the likes of Scott Atlas or the TV doctors or RFK Jr.
- Ebenezer - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 12:42 pm:
I’ll admit, I never expected the star of Conan the Barbarian to become the sage of common sense.
His video on January 6th was spot on too.
- Old Sarge - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 1:13 pm:
I saw Mr. Schwarzenegger saying this on TV a few days ago. I can only hope that people will listen to someone like him, than to some of the guys in the coffee shop who want to put down every person who has studied or practiced medicine or anything else , for that matter.
- Manchester - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 3:04 pm:
Hippopotamus, advice evolves as more is known about the disease. Why is that such a hard concept for some people to grasp?
- Commisar Gritty - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 3:27 pm:
@hippopotamus
As has beeb stated so many times the federal Dept of Health has gone blue in the face, Dr. Fauci advised against masks early on because he was afraid telling people to go out and get them would cause hoarding that would prevent actual front line healthcare professionals from getting any. In the early days of the pandemic, they needed it the most. That’s exactly what happened with toilet paper, and it ended up happening with PPE in the early days.
This has been clarified so many times that I don’t even think this argument (bandied about by those on the right who want to pretend Trump’s inaction was anything less than a monumental failure) is exclusively made in bad faith.
- AnnieH - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 4:04 pm:
As is true everywhere except Capitol Fax, read the comments at your own risk. Then weep.
- Anon - Monday, Jan 25, 21 @ 4:18 pm:
Is it wrong I read that entire exchange in his voice?