What has been the most aggravating reason that I have heard people give is that “It’s a personal decision.” The fuck it is - it’s not like deciding if you want to get a tattoo; your ‘personal decision’ affects everyone else around you and most notably the people you mentioned, Scott.
As we’ve seen in the past, screaming at people like this to get in line only makes them dig their heels in harder, so I realize that isn’t the best approach but I'm at a loss. I don't want to be so hopeless about stuff like this but it really feels like the sense of greater good or shared responsibility has just been shredded from us during this past ordeal, if it was even there to begin with.
I've told family in the UK before who are puzzled about the ferocity of opposition in the US to things like universal access to healthcare that while people in the US can be weird (to foreign eyes) about that kind of social solidarity, they'll come through in a crisis - think about folks volunteering after natural disasters, that sort of thing. So I have to admit that even though I've ranted about the corrosive political effects of individualistic political rhetoric and policies over the years, I was genuinely taken aback by first the absence of, and now the absolute opposition to, social solidarity for this particular crisis. I feel some degree of sympathy for the genial dumbasses whose failure of imagination led them to slow-walk or ignore the vaccine (e.g. my sister in law's cousin who has been in the ICU for weeks now), but the rest to them? Well, I'm only sorry for the people they might take out on their way to an early grave. If you make it clear that you don't give a shit about others, I'm not going to waste the emotional energy on fretting about you. Hell mend them, as my granny used to say.
My goodness, Scott, you knocked this one out of the park.
Just last weekend my (unvaxed) MiL was talking about how her brother was getting clobbered by the virus, and I was unable to muster a blessing of his heart.
I loathe everyday I go in to work at the cube farm, especially when every week since we've returned we get multiple notices of this person or that who attended a meeting with us has been sent home pending test results, or worse, confirmed a positive. I look at my 6 year old and pray that the petri dish doesn't somehow cling to anything that I bring home.
And of course, our governor is one of the morons trying to make this a political stand to show the virus we shall not be moved, and kids are left to either be the outcast as the only kid whose parents require them to mask or roll the dice with their own helath. And of course, we all know as soon as they walk in the school, that mask is off their nose, and the teachers face consequences if they say word one about it.
I promise, with every ounce of my being, I want to punch these decision makers in the junk while exuding the utmost of love for them. "This is for your own good."
Im tired of the media fawning over those who dont want to get their shots. Im tired of holding my tongue. I've lost friends because I've told them the truth. And quite frankly it's just as liberating as taking a mask off at the end of a trip to the store.
It makes me so sad to see how little people care about the people around them. This whole time I’ve been less worried about myself and more about unintentionally spreading covid to someone else. Even people I don’t know! And worried about protecting those people we’re relying on, that we’re asking to put themselves at risk — from doctors to nurses to first responders to grocery store employees and restaurant workers. My respect and concern and *compassion* for those folks drives my own behavior. It … doesn’t seem hard? And so it makes me sad to realize just how self-centered so many people are. Especially since many of those people are also religious and here my atheist ass is being the only golden rule follower? Wtf?
I understand about paying subscribers, but this excellent portrait of the unvaccinated needs a wider distribution. Can you free it up for the general public?
It's curious that, although Bolsonaro and Trump represent the same anti-science and extreme-right worldview (and had the same de-facto campaign manager, Bannon), vaccine hesitancy/skepticism is almost non-existent in Brazil (vaccination rates around 95% for the age groups that had the opportunity to be vaccinated).
Some of it must have to do with the fact that we have a widely beloved (if somewhat limited by the fact that we are an underdeveloped country) universal healthcare system down here. But I’m guessing that there are some deep-seated cultural differences (views toward the government and the collective in general, for example) that are more important in explaining the different attitudes toward the COVID vaccine
Thank you Scott. Perfectly summed up what I’ve felt for the past 6 months. And as someone who has extended family who are anti-vax, it takes all my effort to not tell them to go to hell.
If I'm talking to someone at work or the store or whatever and they mention that they're "just not sure yet" about the vaccine, I just walk away mid-sentence. I'm tired of my life being governed by the dumbest assholes I knew in high school.
My only hope is for vaccine mandates to become more common. Every other kind of outreach to the Absolutely Not Getting It group feels like screaming into the void.
Something I’ve been curious about is why right wing media outlets and most republican politicians are still shitting on the vaccine when all evidence points to the unvaccinated being the people who are being hospitalized and dying. Their actions are causing their viewers and voters to die, that seems to be against their interests, no?
When someone says "fuck your feelings," the key word in that phrase is "your."
"Allow me a bit of a diatribe today, won't you?" This is also the morning lead-off for every day with the EDSBS commentariat.
What has been the most aggravating reason that I have heard people give is that “It’s a personal decision.” The fuck it is - it’s not like deciding if you want to get a tattoo; your ‘personal decision’ affects everyone else around you and most notably the people you mentioned, Scott.
As we’ve seen in the past, screaming at people like this to get in line only makes them dig their heels in harder, so I realize that isn’t the best approach but I'm at a loss. I don't want to be so hopeless about stuff like this but it really feels like the sense of greater good or shared responsibility has just been shredded from us during this past ordeal, if it was even there to begin with.
I've told family in the UK before who are puzzled about the ferocity of opposition in the US to things like universal access to healthcare that while people in the US can be weird (to foreign eyes) about that kind of social solidarity, they'll come through in a crisis - think about folks volunteering after natural disasters, that sort of thing. So I have to admit that even though I've ranted about the corrosive political effects of individualistic political rhetoric and policies over the years, I was genuinely taken aback by first the absence of, and now the absolute opposition to, social solidarity for this particular crisis. I feel some degree of sympathy for the genial dumbasses whose failure of imagination led them to slow-walk or ignore the vaccine (e.g. my sister in law's cousin who has been in the ICU for weeks now), but the rest to them? Well, I'm only sorry for the people they might take out on their way to an early grave. If you make it clear that you don't give a shit about others, I'm not going to waste the emotional energy on fretting about you. Hell mend them, as my granny used to say.
My goodness, Scott, you knocked this one out of the park.
Just last weekend my (unvaxed) MiL was talking about how her brother was getting clobbered by the virus, and I was unable to muster a blessing of his heart.
I loathe everyday I go in to work at the cube farm, especially when every week since we've returned we get multiple notices of this person or that who attended a meeting with us has been sent home pending test results, or worse, confirmed a positive. I look at my 6 year old and pray that the petri dish doesn't somehow cling to anything that I bring home.
And of course, our governor is one of the morons trying to make this a political stand to show the virus we shall not be moved, and kids are left to either be the outcast as the only kid whose parents require them to mask or roll the dice with their own helath. And of course, we all know as soon as they walk in the school, that mask is off their nose, and the teachers face consequences if they say word one about it.
I promise, with every ounce of my being, I want to punch these decision makers in the junk while exuding the utmost of love for them. "This is for your own good."
Scott, this was a perfect piece.
Im tired of the media fawning over those who dont want to get their shots. Im tired of holding my tongue. I've lost friends because I've told them the truth. And quite frankly it's just as liberating as taking a mask off at the end of a trip to the store.
It makes me so sad to see how little people care about the people around them. This whole time I’ve been less worried about myself and more about unintentionally spreading covid to someone else. Even people I don’t know! And worried about protecting those people we’re relying on, that we’re asking to put themselves at risk — from doctors to nurses to first responders to grocery store employees and restaurant workers. My respect and concern and *compassion* for those folks drives my own behavior. It … doesn’t seem hard? And so it makes me sad to realize just how self-centered so many people are. Especially since many of those people are also religious and here my atheist ass is being the only golden rule follower? Wtf?
Okay I went from sad to mad fast, logging off.
I understand about paying subscribers, but this excellent portrait of the unvaccinated needs a wider distribution. Can you free it up for the general public?
American individualism and exceptionalism means no sense of what we owe to each other, and it is heartbreaking.
Great piece!
It's curious that, although Bolsonaro and Trump represent the same anti-science and extreme-right worldview (and had the same de-facto campaign manager, Bannon), vaccine hesitancy/skepticism is almost non-existent in Brazil (vaccination rates around 95% for the age groups that had the opportunity to be vaccinated).
Some of it must have to do with the fact that we have a widely beloved (if somewhat limited by the fact that we are an underdeveloped country) universal healthcare system down here. But I’m guessing that there are some deep-seated cultural differences (views toward the government and the collective in general, for example) that are more important in explaining the different attitudes toward the COVID vaccine
Thank you Scott. Perfectly summed up what I’ve felt for the past 6 months. And as someone who has extended family who are anti-vax, it takes all my effort to not tell them to go to hell.
If I'm talking to someone at work or the store or whatever and they mention that they're "just not sure yet" about the vaccine, I just walk away mid-sentence. I'm tired of my life being governed by the dumbest assholes I knew in high school.
My only hope is for vaccine mandates to become more common. Every other kind of outreach to the Absolutely Not Getting It group feels like screaming into the void.
All of this.
Yes yes yes. YES.
Something I’ve been curious about is why right wing media outlets and most republican politicians are still shitting on the vaccine when all evidence points to the unvaccinated being the people who are being hospitalized and dying. Their actions are causing their viewers and voters to die, that seems to be against their interests, no?