No More Mask Discussions, Comrades

[deleted128562]

The consensus is in, there is no room for discussion and dissent will not be tolerated comrades. You have been warned.

I now submit myself for discipline and the two minutes hate.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Tenk]

But masks are cool and make you look like the Lone Ranger

 

[Birdstrike]

The consensus is in, there is no room for discussion and dissent will not be tolerated comrades. You have been warned.

I now submit myself for discipline and the two minutes hate.

You've been busted by the Thought Police, my friend. You are required to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you.

 

[deleted480308]

The beatings will continue until morale improves

 

[EMhawkeye]

 

[EMhawkeye]

While shutting down a thread and stopping a discussion is a ridiculous thing to do, people getting ridiculed for their stupidity is called for

 

[thegenius]

Also, I like your name. Hawkeye was one of the superficial reasons I went to medical school, but didn’t have the guts to tell the admission committee or put in my personal statement.

You have a very interesting way with words

 

[Lawpy]

what about a vaccine thread? Seems pretty important now that prelim results of mRNA vaccine are out

 

[NurWollen]

I'm increasingly worried about living in a society that seeks to shut down opinions that vary from "the concensus", even though I am a reasonable person who believes in science and who generally agrees with said concensus.

The justification given for shutting down that other thread is used all over the internet, but it seems to fit a new social more that has been invented in the last 10 years.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I'm increasingly worried about living in a society that seeks to shut down opinions that vary from "the concensus", even though I am a reasonable person who believes in science and who generally agrees with said concensus.

The justification given for shutting down that other thread is used all over the internet, but it seems to fit a new social more that has been invented in the last 10 years.

We discussed this on the rioting thread, and the "consensus" was that there is no suppression of alternate viewpoints. So move along.

 

[Rekt]

I'm increasingly worried about living in a society that seeks to shut down opinions that vary from "the concensus", even though I am a reasonable person who believes in science and who generally agrees with said concensus.

The justification given for shutting down that other thread is used all over the internet, but it seems to fit a new social more that has been invented in the last 10 years.

This is the future. You either agree with the narrative of the majority or you're silenced and cancelled.

 

[thegenius]

what about a vaccine thread? Seems pretty important now that prelim results of mRNA vaccine are out

boring, sorry

 

[thegenius]

I laughed when you wrote "superficial reasons" to go to medical school. That is funny and odd.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I think the thread closure just proves my point. Its nice to be right. Thanks SDN moderators.

 

[turkeyjerky]

Haha, fair enough. I bet we all have a partially shallow reason(s) for wanting to become a physician and it should be ok to admit. Who doesn’t want to be Hawkeye though?! Practicing EM feels a little bit like how Hawkeye might have felt towards the end of the series. Metrics, CMGs, medicolegal liability, difficult patients, etc. detract from helping people. It isn’t a fair comparison because it isn’t the same as death in war, but it is soul sucking at times.

I'd rather be Thor, or Dr. Strange. Although I have to admit Hawkeye was pretty badass in Endgame

 

[EMhawkeye]

If people want to debate the hard data on mask benefits; wonderful.
If people want to rant that any possible benefit to public health during a pandemic is outweighed by the small annoyance that is wearing a mask, they deserve to be mocked.
I wonder how they made it through medical school. I wonder if they had had their fingers crossed during the hippocratic oath. I wonder hoW they manage to get dressed on their own in the morning without their mommies.

 

[Birdstrike]

If people want to debate the hard data on mask benefits; wonderful.
If people want to rant that any possible benefit to public health during a pandemic is outweighed by the small annoyance that is wearing a mask, they deserve to be mocked.
I wonder how they made it through medical school. I wonder if they had had their fingers crossed during the hippocratic oath. I wonder hoW they manage to get dressed on their own in the morning without their mommies.

Gold star for humor.

 

[TwoHighways]

I don’t think a majority of people understand the ramifications of censorship.

 

[EMhawkeye]

Censorship is not the answer. Being from the Berkeley area originally, the cradle of the free speech movement, the censorship of free thought/ intellectual discourse is frightening.

 

[TwoHighways]

This is the future. You either agree with the narrative of the majority or you're silenced and cancelled.

It very well may be (for a while), but the weight of lies necessary to keep such system of power in place will inevitably destroy its own structure. The tragedy is that we’ve seen this story as recently as the last century, yet we’re well on the road to watching it play out again. Having the courage to speak the truth, despite whatever consequences come from it, is the only way we avoid this iceberg.

 

[Birdstrike]

This is the future. You either agree with the narrative of the majority or you're silenced and cancelled.

You're right. So, is this:

This is the present. You either agree with the narrative of the majority or you're silenced and cancelled.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I've been moderating this site for over a decade now, and this is the only time that I can recall SDN taking a formal stance on a hot-topic issue and blanket shut down discussion on a topic that isn't: A) racist/sexist/whatever other -ist fits; or B) beaten to death (MD vs. DO, etc). This is different for a couple of reasons.

First, in this case we're dealing with a topic that isn't political, it's medical. As a community of medical professionals, claims or statements about disease processes should reference widely accepted scientific resources. While a vocal minority would have you believe that there is a debate about whether we should wear masks or not during the pandemic, in reality there is not--there is broad consensus. You can argue that there is no randomized control trial data to support wearing masks, and that's true, but we do things in medicine all of the time based on expert consensus.

Second, the scale of the harm due to the spread of misinformation is significant. Look at where the US is statistically in regards to the virus - we are losing lives because politicians, social media and news organizations are allowing obvious misinformation to be given the same platform and amplification as scientifically researched information. SDN is not interested in allowing our platform to be used by a vocal minority to amplify fringe anti-science ideas that appear to be causing harm.

So, I understand if you don't like this decision. It isn't one we made lightly, and it comes from the top levels of leadership at SDN. There are plenty of other places on the internet where you can have this specific discussion if you really want to.