I interpret the downvotes at times as a sign that this is an attempt to keep politics out of the hive scene, but you can't be sure about that.

I agree, politics divides people and where it has a strong influence, people fight each other on a horizontal level, which can only please those who sit at the levers. The disunity among "my kind" is difficult to watch.

Wise people keep saying that it is better to keep any talk about religion or politics to yourself. I tend to agree. The problem with public office is that people think those who want to go or stand for office have to represent a certain position. Covid is great for standing pro or con. I think it's a trap because people are forced to make a choice here. It is a matter that, in my view, need not have come to that decision in the first place. To remain in the space of indecision, to say neither yes nor no, therefore seems to be something that is not accepted by either camp.

Saying no to vaccination amounts to endangering one's own social and economic foundation and actually being able to lose it. Only those who believe they can afford it can maintain their "no" or indecision over time. The others, who do not believe they have this luxury, will not risk it. At this time, total openness and honesty about the subject is rather a slippery slope for the average person and the people who meet in the daily space rather prefer not to find out what the definitive opinion is so as not to jeopardise relationships that could break up because of the clear position (which is something what people learned in the course of time). An overly offensive stance can lead to making oneself unable to manoeuvre and a word once given is difficult to break as one does not want to lose face and trust.

I think caution is indeed called for. But that is just my opinion. I do not hold any political office and therefore have an easier time talking. I don't envy anyone their office and I think it takes a lot of strength of character to make decisions for many where they cannot be avoided.

On art: Yes, art has always irritated or even disturbed where it does not meet mass taste. Since your initial experience on Steemit, have you ever created and published such a challenging piece of art that was seen as controversial?

The groups that form here, they are an inevitability of what is happening in the world and I would find it exceedingly strange if they had not formed and all were both silent and serene. Don't you think?

That the loud ones demand what they themselves think and do, I assume, it does not does really surprise you. You don't have to like everything about it, but you can accept it as a reality that people behave stormily because of what they perceive as drastic events.

How would it be if there were none of that? Is that even conceivable?

The fact that elsewhere the Covid issue is not voted down is not, in my view, a sign that it is accepted or not accepted. From my observation, the upvoted articles are rarely heavily commented on. It seems to me that there is a generalised caution not to go too far out on a limb publicly. An upvote is probably the most anyone wants to do. Compared to the pro measures and the current science you'll find many comments where the commenters need not to be cautious or hide their inner views. That's the difference I guess, which drives people crazy.