I really feel that the only way forward is if people can see interactions like this. Maybe they'll realize how rigid they've become in their own belief system and find a way to be more flexible:)

It's interesting you bring up the flu shots. My brother who in addition to being a musician is also an RN, had a similar experience years ago. He got the shot and was the sickest he's ever been, it lasted for weeks, meanwhile to that point he hadn't had the flu since he was a kid. Then a couple months later he received a memo that the shot was not protecting against the new variant, so he'd basically suffered for nothing. Unsurprisingly he also chose not to get it after that.

Here's where it gets crazy. He worked at the hospital, and at that time masks were not a thing unless you were in surgery. But they had implemented a rule that if you refused the shot, than during flu season- which was basically fall through spring- you had to wear a mask. Supposedly to protect others. Why I say supposedly, is that again about two months later he received another memo that the recent shot wasn't working for the current variant. However he was Not permitted to remove the mask, they told him if he wanted to take it off he would have to Get A Shot They Fully Knew Didn't Work! There is no making that make sense.

And this happened to him year after year. Because he's so likeable he fortunately didn't have to also deal with Judgy people with his obvious mask stigma, instead they would throw him a party in the spring called the Unmasking of Ed.

Enter Covid and both he and his wife(also an RN) really didn't want to get the vaccine, but of course since we're in NY it was a choice between that and his career. So he got the first one. Then left the hospital to work for a private company specializing in eye surgeries. His employers absolutely love him, so when the booster came along he told them he would not get it, even if it meant he'd lose his job. (At that point he'd seen enough to be angry at the coercion) Because they love him they kept pushing extension after extension and fortunately the mandate was dropped and he got to keep his job.

But how insane is that flu shot situation? And how could we possibly look at it as anything but compliancy training?

I understand your early fear, they really did a masterful job of portraying covid as terrifying. Couple that with losing someone so close to you, during a time where they were keeping loved ones apart...so much trauma to unpack with this whole thing. You know what Cuomo did, right? There's no other way to view it for me then murder, locking the elderly in nursing homes, the putting the well in with the infected, so of course they were all infected, and so many died who didn't need to. So yes, sinister is one of the words I'd use.

While I haven't experienced the intolerance with people in my analogue world, I have definitely seen a ton of it in the digital space. Those who still trust the MSM believing everyone who doesn't is a domestic terrorist, conversely those who believe the fringe are convinced that MSM believers are evil. Watching the way people treat each other, seeing the levels of indoctrination on both sides- for me this has been the most shocking thing about it all.