so, when we encounter people who are feeling this way about the vaccine, i think we need to hear what their concerns are and not criticize and attack those concerns. we say something to the effect of, ‘i was also concerned to a degree about the quick rollout of the vaccine. for me, some of the deciding factors that made me take the vaccine were as follows.’ and leave it there.
if you can express to them that you had the same concern and they hear the concern, you let them relax a little bit and not feel attacked but feel a sense of empathy, a sense of safety. then they’re open to hearing what the alternative perspectives might be. or at least more open, right? crack the door, in other words.
is social media amplifying this hesitancy to embrace new information?
there’s no question about it. a lot of people are existing in an echo chamber — an echo chamber of their own thoughts and of like-minded people. and they’re not having any empathetical experiences that are constructive other than, you know, somebody on facebook calling them an idiot or what have you, which isn’t going to change anybody’s mind.
any opportunity for them to have an empathetical experience that’s not hostile could very well move a lot of people in a positive direction. one thing people have to realize is whatever our environment is, the context is always going to greatly shape how we view reality and how we receive information. the same information in different contexts becomes different information. that’s especially true for language and wording. if people are existing in these social media echo chambers, the context in which they’re hearing information becomes very different from other people who are in different echo chambers.
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