I was wondering what your alternative to doing research was, and you've said it is "lowering expectations and standards", "mediocre compromises", "common sense least effort" and "half-ass an alt way" but I don't think I actually understand what that looks like in practice.
Conversation
I'll tell you a story about a recent encounter I've had with crackpottery, as an example. A relative of mine said that she was considering breathing in hydrogen peroxide vapour to clean her sinuses from the virus. So, I spent a few hours looking into it.
1
1
Mostly I did some searches on Google Scholar, but also I looked at some materials put together by aerosol scientists I've been following on Twitter. Putting together the info from the scientific studies and recommendations, I figured it out enough to have an informed opinion.
1
1
Basically, hydrogen peroxide vapour should not be inhaled by humans. There are poison control data sheets that say so. Peroxide is useful for cleaning surfaces, and the vapour can be used to clean uniforms, masks, equipment, and unoccupied rooms.
1
2
However, peroxide does not remove the virus from the air enough to be useful, and when it comes into contact with human body tissues, it can wreak havoc. There are reports of people having asthma and other serious health problems caused by breathing from peroxide nebulizers.
1
So, I gathered evidence, and had a long annoying conversation with my relative in which I strongly discouraged her from going ahead with her tentative plan to do this.
1
3
So what does lowering my standards and using common sense look like in a case like this? Would it be to learn not to care if my relative poisons herself because of nonsense? As far as I can tell, her common sense might be non-existent, and mine is wacky due to life experience.
2
1
And yet, the information landscape is so difficult to navigate right now that I wouldn't feel good about abandoning her to it. I think I would feel bad if I could say something to her that would change her plan to breathe poison, and didn't.
1
1
It's not like I can point at some reliable information source or authority. "Don't do anything that isn't in the WHO guidelines" or "Check a reliable source...like the New York Times" would be laughably bad advice.
1
1
So what is the half-ass alt way to handle that situation?
1
In this case you intervened because it was someone you care about. Half-ass way would be to care less about fewer people. I basically would have given up after one warning.

