ozimoron

I doubt that Evergrande gets bailed out. The Shanghai stock market opens in a few hours after a 3 day break.

I should have mentioned a large contingent of misogynists also find a soap box on these forums.

What has gone "wrong" is the rise of the politically motivated and toxic culture of conspiracy theories and really egregious lies accompanied by a demand for equal time just because they are "alternative opinions". More and more often they are being deplatformed on social media and are desperately seeking and audience in forums like this. Fortunately the moderators do tend to quell the worst outbreaks and that is leading to push back in the form of topics like this one. The "other forum" referenced earlier is just a dwindling handful of people with extremist and outright racist views who have found sympathetic admins who allow them a voice. That forum is a mere shadow of its former self as a result. Keep up the good work admins.

You're too kind.

If a virus variant is more infectious than another, it is impossible for the slope of the graph to be anything other than exponential, all other factors being equal. This is basic math. 1. We do know that the delta variant is several times more infectious than the alpha. It may be many more times and has a nasal viral load up to 1000 times more than the alpha variant. 2. Given an exponential rise in cases, any population is going to react accordingly which mitigates the spread of the virus and pushes the case load down so the graph becomes less steep. 3. Every country has a different graph reflecting the percentage of the vaccinations administered, the government response, density of the population, etc.

It's blindingly obvious that twice as infectious means that growth in infections is going to be exponential. As in, 2, 4, 8, 16. Basic high school math. No need to prove it. The reason you get silenced is not because you have alternative ideas, it's that you spread dangerous misinformation. You don't seem to understand that you're simply wrong and when it comes to covid that has potential consequences for everyone else. That is the problem here. You can say the Earth is flat all day long and nobody cares but start saying that vaccinations cause covid to spread (if that was you, I can't be bothered to check) and people have every right to object. Ask yourself why your ideas aren't being tolerated. There is no conspiracy to silence alternative ideas in play. There is truth and there are lies.

That's because those who don't vaccinate may kill us or our children and grandparents. If you want to ride a motorcycle without a helmet I don't care. If you want to drive drunk that's a different matter. The sheer idiocy of the antivaxers is breath taking.

you got nothing, you're clutching at straws to defend hate speech.

It was objective and may have been true. What was the purpose of putting a sign on his front lawn?

I don't take offense at people disagreeing with me. I'm just saying that placing a lawn sign sign blaming an ethnic minority can have no reasonable purpose other than to offend. You can dodge that all you like but that's how it is.

get real, I'm commenting to a third party about the alleged actions of a person probably years later from another country on a private forum. That's a world away from being in his face in the way that his sign was for his neighbours. Can you not see the difference? I did not racially abuse him from next door like he did to his neighbours. Nor did I use racial hate speech of any kind while his sign was explicitly intended to cause offence to Chinese people in his immediate vicinity. The disagreement is perfectly acceptable. The use of hate speech is not. Your apparent inability to understand this is disingenuous.

It's impossible for him to be offended by a comment not made to him. You're being obtuse.

they use the same game plan to suggest that climate change is fake because it's now called climate change instead of global warming and the goal posts have changed ????

if that's true, isn't the converse also true?

I didn't tell him anything.

The ones with peer assessed publications in reputable journals.

You couldn't be further from the truth and what is deeply, deeply offensive is projection - telling others what they think. Your contention that the lawn sign did not demonstrate intention is totally disingenuous. The lawn sign was absolutely intended to whip up anti Chinese sentiment. The is no other reasonable conclusion.

In my country your attitude to religion is regarded as the norm and is unremarkable.

I never said any of that but it doesn't mean science is responsible. The fact that we understand anything about what is going on is the product of science.

That would involve statements of fact as well. I don't think that's a reasonable definition of snowflake, I think it should be defined more narrowly. 99% of it goes to intention. More on this below. Was the intention of the sign poster to establish a front lawn based encyclopedia? I don't think so. The sign was clearly intended to whip up anti Chinese sentiment. No other intention can be reasonably inferred from his actions. This wasn't a situation calling for the defence of free speech. This was out and out racial vilification as outlawed by clause 18c of the racial vilification act. I think you believe Thais to be unsophisticated. I'll warrant that a great many Thais understand perfectly well that such a comment would be offensive. That argument was even common in Australia not very long ago before courts refused to allow it. I have seen many comments that "she invited rape" because she dressed provoctively. Only the uneducated and unenlightened. Everyone else knows what the rules are. The other part of being tolerant is understanding and appreciating what causes offence to others and refraining from engaging in offensive behaviour. It is not about demanding that other people not be offended by your behaviour and labelling them as snowflakes when they are.

Children are far less likely to either contract or transmit the virus than adults, even when unvaccinated. A vaccinated adult is likewise far less likely to contract or transmit the virus. Stop spreading lies.

That's fine, the OP didn't either.

For some it isn't and only because some refused to wear masks and get vaccinated. That should be a felony, much the same way as deliberately infecting somebody with HIV is.

It's fine to denigrate snowflakes. I have no problem with that. I assume you mean a snowflake is a person who becomes unreasonably offended by offensive comments? On the other hand, a necessary part of the bargain is that the other party must be willing to demonstrate due deference and regard by refraining from making offensive comments. Is it just a one way street?