Last week some members of the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo signed a letter calling on the university to reinstate its mask mandate. Today, the President of the university responded to our letter. I will reprint his email in full here, in italics:
Thank you for continuing to be a voice of reason. I am stunned that our PHOs and leaders in our universities across Canada are claiming to make evidence-based decisions when the evidence points to COVID-19 being dangerous. It begs the question of what evidence they are using, or why are they lying?
I can’t believe that they are calling mask mandates coercive. What’s wrong with wearing a mask? They are also gaslighting about saying we know more about the virus and we have the tools. They dropped mask mandates, vaccines are no longer mandatory so there’s another tool gone and yes we know more about covid such has the damage it can do to our organs and how it can cause t-cell dysregulation so we should be more vigilant than ever! The vaccines are not preventing all infections either. I’m so frustrated with all the gaslighting and minimizing of covid.
You've been one of the most consistent voices of reason on this subject in the face of growing public inattention to, and worse mockery about, the vital need for continuing public health measures against Covid. Thanks for your work on this.
Emmett, there was a HUGE difference between December 2022 and January 2023. It's called "Christmas", and it's a magical time of year. Overworked, cynical CEOs return to their small, American hometowns and meet their high school crushes and fall in love -- maybe for the first time -- with another person and with Christmas! Scrooges learn to be humanitarians. Adults learn to embrace a child-like faith in Santa Claus, who turns out to be real. And deadly viruses disappear. It was a Christmas miracle, Emmett. Perhaps they'll make a Hallmark special about it!
You are clearly stuck in a "reality based community". Don't you remember the nugget below from a Bush administration source talking about whether Saddam Hussein had WMDs?
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
University presidents are not constrained by "discernible reality", "science", or "facts". They don't live in a reality-based universe. Unfortunately, the coronavirus does.
Maybe ol' Vivek Goel needs some good information on COVID19, before spouting off platitudes. Maybe after getting properly informed from a wide swath of sources ol' Vivek might be able to make an informed response rather than just yapping off with platitudes. Here's some information to get them started. https://raindrop.io/JW_Lists/covid-list-30427555
Well put! I avoided COVID for almost 3 years but finally contracted it last week (the day before returning to class) and I will be masking and encouraging my students to do the same in all my classes - once I am well enough to return.
Sadly, the only thing that will really get them to comply would be one of those highly "coercive" commands from "on high" - I guess, as I lie in bed recovering or deal with dozens of student absences, I should be thankful that the university is not trampling on my "freedom". (Pardon the sarcasm.)
Thank you for continuing to be a voice of reason. I am stunned that our PHOs and leaders in our universities across Canada are claiming to make evidence-based decisions when the evidence points to COVID-19 being dangerous. It begs the question of what evidence they are using, or why are they lying?
I can’t believe that they are calling mask mandates coercive. What’s wrong with wearing a mask? They are also gaslighting about saying we know more about the virus and we have the tools. They dropped mask mandates, vaccines are no longer mandatory so there’s another tool gone and yes we know more about covid such has the damage it can do to our organs and how it can cause t-cell dysregulation so we should be more vigilant than ever! The vaccines are not preventing all infections either. I’m so frustrated with all the gaslighting and minimizing of covid.
You've been one of the most consistent voices of reason on this subject in the face of growing public inattention to, and worse mockery about, the vital need for continuing public health measures against Covid. Thanks for your work on this.
Well put, Emmett!
Emmett, there was a HUGE difference between December 2022 and January 2023. It's called "Christmas", and it's a magical time of year. Overworked, cynical CEOs return to their small, American hometowns and meet their high school crushes and fall in love -- maybe for the first time -- with another person and with Christmas! Scrooges learn to be humanitarians. Adults learn to embrace a child-like faith in Santa Claus, who turns out to be real. And deadly viruses disappear. It was a Christmas miracle, Emmett. Perhaps they'll make a Hallmark special about it!
You are clearly stuck in a "reality based community". Don't you remember the nugget below from a Bush administration source talking about whether Saddam Hussein had WMDs?
The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality."
University presidents are not constrained by "discernible reality", "science", or "facts". They don't live in a reality-based universe. Unfortunately, the coronavirus does.
Maybe ol' Vivek Goel needs some good information on COVID19, before spouting off platitudes. Maybe after getting properly informed from a wide swath of sources ol' Vivek might be able to make an informed response rather than just yapping off with platitudes. Here's some information to get them started. https://raindrop.io/JW_Lists/covid-list-30427555
Well put! I avoided COVID for almost 3 years but finally contracted it last week (the day before returning to class) and I will be masking and encouraging my students to do the same in all my classes - once I am well enough to return.
Sadly, the only thing that will really get them to comply would be one of those highly "coercive" commands from "on high" - I guess, as I lie in bed recovering or deal with dozens of student absences, I should be thankful that the university is not trampling on my "freedom". (Pardon the sarcasm.)
Yeah, but how do you really feel about the letter?