Please review the thoughts of Tom Nichols and share your insights

[Doctors of Nursing Practice, Inc.]

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[Whitney Woodard]

This post is interesting in multiple ways. First, there is a definite biased against the Trump administration and his leadership, or lack thereof, during the majority of the COVID pandemic. The author makes some interesting comments, although somewhat skewed, I do think the his election was founded on the luxury that we have as Americans and our rebellious nature against the government. If has no doubt left a long lasting effect as there is still a massive and entitled attitude afforded by many Americans. Aside from President Trump, there is a more pressing issue that the author noted-the acceptance of experts and their advice. There is no doubt that a number of Americans continue to wear their “I Know Best” hat, but many pulled together and trusted those who have studied for years. This renewed sense of trust in medical experts surely gives faith that one day the government may be able to win back the large number of Americans that have lost faith in them.

[Anonymous]

Very interesting post. While I agree, yes, America has been going through a period of changing mindsets, I would not say we are a fundamentally unserious country. Like Whitney stated, it appears this author favors one specific political party vs. another, which left a bad taste. Speaking to the facts—Yes, expertise does matter, but who are the experts? In my opinion, COVID-19 has affected views and preferences among Americans, causing a division amongst the nation. People are asking questions surrounding: to wear a mask or not, quarantine restrictions, testing, vaccines, who do we trust in the scientific community, etc. The unpredictable nature of the virus does not allow for reliable predictions about what the future has in store for Americans, but I’m optimistic we will get through this. In God We Trust.

[Anastasia G Paolini]

This is an interesting point of view. I believe that the Covid-19 pandemic most definitely highlighted the importance of expertise in healthcare and certainly showed the huge importance of public health professionals. I also think that our use of technology has become a curse in the way that false information was so easily dispersed causing many problems for expert physicians such as Dr. Fauci to slow the infection. I am seeing this so much now with the vaccine and am praying that we are not going to see another wave of Covid-19 cases like last year. As as becoming a more serous country, I think after this pandemic people who experienced it will never act as before. People will be more aware of contracting disease, keeping themselves healthy, washing their hands etc.. but not sure how long they will keep cognizant of these health practices once we are over these horrible times. I agree with Whitney about American’s and their “I know best” attitudes concerning health rather than listening to the advice from experts but also believe that the media and spread of misinformation played a role in providing false information. I am not so sure with so many still not vaccinated that our country will change to completely taking the advice of the experts. Although I wish it would be so, I think there are always going to be that population of people that think they know best and unfortunately might have to pay the consequences for it.

[HIERONIMUS E. SOLO]

Hi Nichols,
I am fascinated by your standpoint in the U.S. being a fundamentally “unserious” country in the recent years, in which I can agree with up to a certain point. Although, I am unsure whether I can truly don’t have to think about unemployment and skyrocketing interest rates which has been quite apparently significant after the pandemic began. As an independent thinker, I think it is ironic to watch that the best answer of the opposition party to having a “reality TV star” becoming a president is to bring in and elect the almost complete opposite: a senior, long serving senator of the U.S. Senate; emphasizing on the word “senior” as evidenced by signs of senility and major decrease in mental acuity. Various interviews and questionnaires in many studies concluded that most of Biden’s supporter has almost no clue as to why they support him other than to dethrone the “guy with mean tweets” for their own emotional satisfaction.

As to your second paragraph, I totally agree that expertise matters. However, there should be an adjustment in our definition of experts. A recent quote from Aaron Rodgers can resonate with those in the science community including all of us in this forum, although he’s nowhere close to being a science or medical professional. He stated that “Science that can’t be questioned is propaganda”. As we all learn through our undergraduate school as a nurse and now in graduate school, empirical study and evidence-based practice is very important. Scholars question and challenge each other’s ideas and common practice to give birth to new and better ideas that can eventually be proved as scientific and factual. However, the current practice where brave and independent doctors, nurses, researchers, and other medical professionals are being condemned, cancelled, de-platformed, and discredited despite of their expertise in the field but refused to follow the proposed agenda is not science, while the rest remain quiet and comply to protect their jobs and public image. It seems to me this article encourages people to have less control of their own decision, freedom, and practice and conform to socially acceptable (not necessarily scientifically correct) practices and ideas and allow more control from the “experts”, government, and bureaucracies. Just a two cents from a freedom-loving U.S. immigrant who has experienced a similar pattern.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 10 months ago by HIERONIMUS E. SOLO.

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