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Dani Richards's avatar

I have dozens of friends and neighbors who work (or have worked) for NIH. I live nearby. Here is what I will say about the qualities of these friends, from what I have observed:

- they are all highly intelligent, most with multiple or advanced degrees. Some of them are retired after lifelong careers at NIH. Others have been there for 5-10 years.

- they are all very nice, fun-loving people (not weirdos, though they might be nerds)

- they like their colleagues (friends with each other outside of work) and have professional respect for each other.

- they are all very compartmentalized in what they do, without fully realizing (not seeing the big picture), and since they themselves are experts and trust their expert colleagues, they tend to trust all "vetted" experts.

- my NIH friends all have well-intentioned motivations and would be horrified to think that what they do for a living causes harm to others. Cancer researchers are trying to find cures, geneticists are trying to find ways to help through gene therapy, etc. Procurement officers are trying to make sure they have state of the art equipment to be able to help solve public health problems. Security guards are helping to protect the wonderful people who work there. Etc. These are kind-hearted people who want to do good.

- they make good money on a government salary and feel that their salaries are well-deserved, and besides, this is a high-cost area to live in, right?

- all of them took the jabs, wore the masks and encouraged me to do so. When I told them the truth: "it is contraindicated for me; I might die, so I am unable to get one" they were sympathetic and did not shun me.

- they are all of a compliant type of nature (respect experts and authority and don't go outside of their lane). They would all take these jabs and wear the masks to protect others.

- they are in the same self-reinforcing bubble with each other, in and outside of work. The support and validation by the group is very important to them (personally and career-wise).

- they are friends with me because I have met them through social channels and even though I'm not a scientist, I like to talk science with them.

- that last bit is sorta interesting to me: I will share scientific studies with them on such things as the efficacy of masking, the "mysterious" increase in myocarditis, ivermectin and so forth, and they will share narrative-reinforcing studies back at me in response.

- As far as I am aware, I do not know any whistleblowers among them.

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Kimpossible Truths's avatar

Way to be direct and to the point! Epic. I hope you get a response.

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