[DocSavage87]

Fair point.  To say it was "deliberately provocative and confrontational" did imply I can deduce her frame of mind from a tweet.  I should have said "it came across as provocative and confrontational", and I am specifically referring to "you don't get to bar me from my religion bc you're scared", and I am open to different interpretations of that statement.  Maybe, in light of the second tweet, it was just bravado on her part.

And you are correct that the second tweet did suggest that contracting COVID has changed her perspective.

Now, here's the part where I suggest you re-examine your response to DocSavage, where you suggest that he is "reveling" in her stupidity and illness.  Like the woman's statement, Doc's can also be interpreted differently by different people, and where you seem to have read a sneering tone, I just saw frustration that people like the tweeter didn't consider the consequences of contracting the virus or passing them on to a loved one with a pre-existing condition before engaging in risky behavior, and sending tweets that could be read as provocative and confrontational.

So teejers has been on my ignore list and it's unsurprising that he would say I'm "reveling" in her misfortune when I'm obviously sad and frustrated by the whole situation.  Anyone who actually has cared for patients and taken the oath should always be wishing for best outcomes regardless of their viewpoint or even animosity.  And that's a hard perspective to shelve.

I saw in those two tweets what I've seen with my brother and a brobdingnagian number of social media posts from Trump supporters.  It's almost identical scripts.  First there's false bravado -- false because they really don't believe COVID-19 is more than the flu or is actually a hoax.  So we get something like this: "Look, I'm going to go to the gym / bar / church / club / party and if I die, so be it.  I'm not going to be scared of living."  It's usually mixed with outrage and shaming: "You're not going to take away my personal freedom just because you're scared."  This is pretty much what she said in her first tweet and like I said, it's standard response from a large number of people.  Every now and then you get people who publicly turn that corner after they get COVID-19 and realize it wasn't a hoax.  That this woman also has a vulnerable husband makes it even more sad.

The woman is not stupid, nor do I see a contradiction in her posts.  I don't happen to be particularly religious, but I understand that the world has people for whom attending mass is much more important to me.

The recent SCOTUS ruling on religious gatherings despite COVID-19 restrictions is... interesting.  I lived a number of years in a non-Christian country and also spent years in a private Catholic school.  I've known impressive, extremely devout people and those who have been in what would be called fringe religions and unusual lifestyles.  In discussions and arguments, I've found people take very different attitudes depending on their beliefs and the belief system being discussed.  The degree of support someone receives changes radically IMHO as you move from Christians to Mormons to Scientologists to people I know who have worshipped under "Master Shaw" and a bespoke religion that seemed centered around polyamory.  I saw the musical, "Book of Mormon", in NYC just before the pandemic.  I wondered how popular it'd be if it had skewered some form of Christianity to the same degree.  When we say separation of Church and State, few people actually think of fringe religions as Church and almost reflexively think of the backbone of our country's founding.  Aside from the belief in something that puts it into a religion category, there's a notion of people getting joy and being part of a community.  

I've always found it interesting where the demarkation falls between how we treat religion and how we treat other things we treasure, say like football.  My guess is we know one or more people, given the nature of this forum, that probably get more joy, sense of community, and spend more of their time in football fandom than in a religion, particularly if they are areligious, agnostic, or atheist.  I'd also guess there'd be a lot less pushback for calling someone stupid who touted how they attended an indoor sports fan meetup for hours in the middle of a pandemic.  In reality, there's probably no indoor Buck Club meeting for hours precisely because it's considered unnecessary despite how some people will be affected.  I assume there's a lot more people in this country for whom religion is an essential, central part of their well-being, and it makes sense to recognize that.    But there's also a lot of people to whom religion isn't as important yet our policies aren't individual, they're very general and not concerned with people whom music / etc is an essential, central part of their well-being.  They had better adapt.

BTW, this forum editing software is glitchy.  Sometimes the words that are posted aren't the words I'm editing.  Very bizarre.  I can't even paste the real first line of my second paragraph because the copy won't print correctly down here.  I've removed all formatting as well.

[DocSavage87]

Fair point.  To say it was "deliberately provocative and confrontational" did imply I can deduce her frame of mind from a tweet.  I should have said "it came across as provocative and confrontational", and I am specifically referring to "you don't get to bar me from my religion bc you're scared", and I am open to different interpretations of that statement.  Maybe, in light of the second tweet, it was just bravado on her part.

And you are correct that the second tweet did suggest that contracting COVID has changed her perspective.

Now, here's the part where I suggest you re-examine your response to DocSavage, where you suggest that he is "reveling" in her stupidity and illness.  Like the woman's statement, Doc's can also be interpreted differently by different people, and where you seem to have read a sneering tone, I just saw frustration that people like the tweeter didn't consider the consequences of contracting the virus or passing them on to a loved one with a pre-existing condition before engaging in risky behavior, and sending tweets that could be read as provocative and confrontational.

So teejers has been on my ignore list and it's unsurprising that he would say I'm "reveling" in her misfortune when I'm obviously sad and frustrated by the whole situation.  Anyone who actually has cared for patients and taken the oath should always be wishing for best outcomes regardless of their viewpoint or even animosity.  And that's a hard perspective to shelve.

I saw in those two tweets what I've seen with my brother and a brobdingnagian number of social media posts from Trump supporters.  It's almost identical scripts.  First there's false bravado -- false because they really don't believe COVID-19 is more than the flu or is actually a hoax.  So we get something like this: "Look, I'm going to go to the gym / bar / church / club / party and if I die, so be it.  I'm not going to be scared of living."  It's usually mixed with outrage and shaming: "You're not going to take away my personal freedom just because you're scared."  This is pretty much what she said in her first tweet and like I said, it's standard response from a large number of people.  Every now and then you get people who publicly turn that corner after they get COVID-19 and realize it wasn't a hoax.  That this woman also has a vulnerable husband makes it even more sad.

The woman is not stupid, nor do I see a contradiction in her posts.  I don't happen to be particularly religious, but I understand that the world has people for whom attending mass is much more important to me.

The recent SCOTUS ruling on religious gatherings despite COVID-19 restrictions is... interesting.  I lived a number of years in a non-Christian country and also spent years in a private Catholic school.  I've known impressive, extremely devout people and those who have been in what would be called fringe religions and unusual lifestyles.  In discussions and arguments, I've found people take very different attitudes depending on their beliefs and the belief system being discussed.  The degree of support someone receives changes radically IMHO as you move from Christians to Mormons to Scientologists to people I know who have worshipped under "Master Shaw" and a bespoke religion that seemed centered around polyamory.  I saw the musical, "Book of Mormon", in NYC just before the pandemic.  I wondered how popular it'd be if it had skewered some form of Christianity to the same degree.  When we say separation of Church and State, few people actually think of fringe religions as Church and almost reflexively think of the backbone of our country's founding.  Aside from the belief in something that puts it into a religion category, there's a notion of people getting joy and being part of a community.  

I've always found it interesting where the demarkation falls between how we treat religion and how we treat other things we treasure, say like football.  My guess is we know one or more people, given the nature of this forum, that probably get more joy, sense of community, and spend more of their time in football fandom than in a religion, particularly if they are areligious, agnostic, or atheist.  I'd also guess there'd be a lot less pushback for calling someone stupid who touted how they attended an indoor sports fan meetup for hours in the middle of a pandemic.  In reality, there's probably no indoor Buck Club meeting for hours precisely because it's considered unnecessary despite how some people will be affected.  I assume there's a lot more people in this country for whom religion is an essential, central part of their well-being, and it makes sense to recognize that.    But there's also a lot of people to whom religion isn't as important yet our policies aren't individual, they're very general and not concerned with people whom music / etc is an essential, central part of their well-being.  They had better adapt.

BTW, this forum editing software is glitchy.  Sometimes the words that are posted aren't the words I'm editing.  Very bizarre.  I can't even paste the real first line of my second paragraph because the copy won't print correctly down here.  I've removed all formatting as well.