That would be good, yes. A more relaxed approach to vaccination has caused plethora of public health problems.

Side effects tend to get less likely when we get more experience working with vaccines of a certain type. Modern coronavirus vaccines are better and safer than the first ones already, and flu ones have been around for so long that making a new vaccine very safe is no issue.

Meanwhile, side effects caused by repeated exposure to the disease may compound very badly.

Vaccines have side effects.

No one argues with that. But you know what also has side effects that are orders of magnitude more likely? Diseases.

Forcing people to is where I have the issue

I understand that mandatory policies are to be reviewed with caution, and forcing people to do something that has inherent risks should normally be avoided. But here, by not taking a vaccine, you simply multiply and outsource the risk elsewhere, putting others in danger. If your decisions around vaccination would only hurt you, government would have no business dictating you what to do - yet, someone’s refusal to vaccinate has killed someone else - say, immunodeficient person or a child who couldn’t get vaccinated.

Sometimes we desperately need collective action, so much so that it may be mandated. This is one of such cases. Yes, it would be cool to have more time and do even more testing, to refine the preparations, etc. But when people die by millions, you’re on a short timer.

COVID-19 has demonstrated a level of deadly disorganization in the face of a global crisis. People “mind their own business” so much that it kills others, with governments struggling to keep everyone looking in the same productive direction.

Depending on the country, it might be banned, and that’s one obvious example I came with.

And, in my opinion, it must be, no matter what you smoke, tobacco or weed or something else. Why the hell should others inhale terrible chemicals just because you chose to?

Same, why should they be exposed to dangerous microbes just because you are reckless?

It quickly gets more complicated when it affects others.

Is it your bodily choice to smoke on the street? No, because others have to inhale it. Same idea - no one wants to breathe in your disease-causing microbes.

On the death rate: in some countries, mortality rate went as high as 5%. To be fair, though, this only takes confirmed cases into account, leaving behind those who never reported a case, mostly because it went milder.

https://ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid

On a personal note, my mother lost two colleagues to it, and I lost an acquaintance. All confirmed COVID deaths.

I did get COVID-19 once. It went easy though, and I rapidly recovered after a mild fatigue and headache without long-term consequences. Some of the people I know had long-term effects, like warped smell, chronic fatigie, etc. One got it before vaccines rolled out, and two decided not to vaccinate. None of the vaccinated folks I know had something of this magnitude.

Vaccine is not a protection from infection. It’s a pre-training program for an immune system to quickly beat the hell out of the disease before it gets nasty (and spreads violently).

Sad you got side effects, and I understand how it changes your perception on the matter. Personally, my only bad experience is having weakness in the arm for the first two days after the very first vaccine dose. In any case, I hope it will pass rather soon!

Every pre-COVID representation of global pandemic: scientists discover a vaccine, everyone vaccinates and lives happily ever after

Real pandemic: people chicken out, start obsessing over 1 in 10000 side effects (vs, you know, a 1 in 50 chance to die of COVID-19 at the time) and then forever tell the story of “it’s not tested enough yet”.

You know what also constantly changes and cannot be tested for decades? Every. Single. Virus. Your flu vaccine is also not tested for side effects forever, because the virus changes all the time.

Before rolling COVID vaccines out, we were very damn sure they work and won’t wreak havoc on you. But as people suddenly decided to go anti-vax, government had to get more assertive, for any vaccine works best when most people are vaccinated. You could normally self-isolate and not take vaccines, though, so it’s up to you, the government’s concern is that you don’t spread this thing further, straining medical system that was already under a heavy load.

Disclaimer: not a medical professional. Had four COVID-19 vaccines though, including Sputnik-V, the very first one.

We are certainly shaped by our upbringing in a big way, but we can learn throughout life and change whatever concerns us

It doesn’t have to be one or the other. Communal action and solidarity are essential for providing benefits to individuals.

You may ask your boss to raise your pay, likely to be rejected, or you can join a union and demand a much higher pay and better working conditions.

You may do your best to add small niceties to shared spaces, or you can unite with your neighbors and make the community thrive.

You may stand alone against injustice, only to be moved when convenient. Or you can walk the streets together, making your shared concerns heard.

Neither of it is actually much ideologically tied, and it can go in any direction. But the point is, collective action is best when addressing issues many people face individually.

Building a culture of self-made individualism is a deliberate attempt to remove the levers of power granted by collective action, and to make it easier to crush dissent on the way to build an authoritarian dystopia.

That’s not to say collective action cannot be abused to make a very ugly society - fascism is one example - but that the best results are achieved when the individuals retain their own views, but are willing to cooperate over the shared issues.

The classic ones are “шиншилла” and “лишишься”, although the latter could be extended to “лишившийся”. 11 of the same strokes for the latter, if my calcultations are correct.

You were telling about cultures worth preserving - and by your definition, most of the cultures you list were not worth preserving and should have become extinct. Good thing that they were preserved even through the worst of times.

About half of these countries were militaristic authoritarianist shitholes, some even not that long ago by historical measures. All of them had some shameful moments in history.

Yet, all these cultures have proliferated, and you consider them worthy of studying. Same idea here. Give it time.

True lol

But figuring out just how much “u” you need to write, or how many are there, is a bit tedious without the language experience.

Name me one major culture that was not poisoned by dictatorship, misinformation, and hate.

They all are. Our duty is to take the best of each.

You need to Polish your joke a little

A casual reminder that Slavs are a diverse group of people not united by the same ideas and political agenda.

If your worry is association with Russia specifically, several Slavic countries are actively anti-Russia and are parts of NATO.

Ukraine is Slavic, too.

I mean, actual Russians are native Russian speakers and majority sees through Chekist bullshit, so this checks out!

Shout out to Interslavic! This is a language that is comprised of common words and roots from all Slavic languages, all united under consistent rules.

Learning it will enable you to understand all Slavs to a good degree, and they will in turn understand you very well.

Knowing 2 Slavic languages (3 if we count basic Czech), I can confirm it works.

Russian culture spans way beyond whatever Putin’s currently doing, and has given the world an immense cultural, scientific, historic heritage.

Trying to cancel and destroy Russian culture is akin to destroying German culture and heritage just because one German dude with a weird moustache decided to start Holocaust.

Would be a tragedy to lose either.

As a Russian myself, it depends.

Do you want to explore classic Russian literature without translation losses? Explore the cultural ties of Russians and how language and culture affects history and politics? Figure out what Russian politicians are saying? Hang out with Russians somewhere? Are a proud pirate looking for Russian resources? Finally figure out how to write the word “лишишься” in cursive?

If at least one answer is “yes”, go ahead! It’s not easy, but quite rewarding. If you just want to dip your toes a little, however, and feel like you grasp something, there are better options.

As always, there’s a relevant XKCD:

https://xkcd.com/927/