These stories hit the news every single day now and don’t expect them to lessen or stop. A few days ago in Georgia an anti-vaxx police captain, Joe Manning, died of COVID-19 after finding out that taking the horse dewormer, Invermectin, doesn’t work.
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 27, 2021
“I am not vaccinated by choice and that’s my right.” Absolutely. If you want to die, that’s your right. It’s intriguing that the coronavirus has become a form of suicide, isn’t it? Because people who refuse to get vaccinated for one reason or another end up dying of the virus, which is a variation of dying by their own hand. Have you thought of it that way? We’ve seen suicide by cop, now we’re seeing suicide by COVID. And there are in between stages of that, like the previous post where a guy got arrested at Miami International Airport for throwing barriers at people and screaming the n-word because he didn’t like the order that he put on a mask.
Now today there is this story. The pregnant widow of the leader of an anti-vaxxer group posted a GoFundMe page. This is a tragedy that this young man, aged 30, and father of three (four, when his widow delivers) is dead when it was so easily prevented. Now these children are left fatherless.
¯_ (ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/vsuUV3Lm4V
— Alt Spec (@SpecAlt) August 28, 2021
I think that this pandemic was handled improperly and what we should have done is this: We should have made it a status symbol to be vaccinated. We should have posted ads on Fox News that a lottery would be held and only 100 people a month could get the vaccine. That would have gotten the entire wingnut world all lined up every day buying lotto tickets and hoping for a jackpot, while in the sane world we could have all gone down to the pharmacy and taken care of business without high drama.
I feel terribly sorry for this family because it’s one of those times where the sins of the father, in this case his abject stupidity, are being visited upon the children. Someday when these kids are grown and they have a chance to look at this objectively — and I’m sure his widow is already doing that — they will realize that their lives took a tragic turn because their father embraced conspiracy theory above common sense.
These anti-vaxxers are creating a huge financial burden in this country. Maybe they should waive their rights to the vaccine and waive their rights to go to a hospital along with it. If his sounds hard nosed and heartless, it’s because every single freaking day there are more of these stories and yet the rallies go on, Eric Clapton pumped out his video, nothing stops the carnage of the anti-vaxx freak show rolling through town.
This dead anti-vaxxer has no idea the scars he has just inflicted on his kids. My paternal grandmother died in the Spanish Flu pandemic of the last century. My father was seven years old at the time and it was an emotionally crippling experience for him. My grandmother didn’t turn down a vaccine, there just wasn’t one. I have no doubt in my mind that if she could have walked down to the local drug store and gotten a shot, she would have.
This kind of needless human suffering makes me sick. The takeaway here is that people will form powerful belief systems based upon folly, but how often does the folly have to be exposed before they get it, that they’ve been duped? Mark Twain was right, “It’s easier to con people than to convince them they’ve been conned.”
This is a family headed to welfare, while the talking heads on Fox waffle and obfuscate about “research” and “choices” and “consulting with one’s doctor.” All that is lies. Get the vaccine if you want to live. I’m sure this widow is doing that for herself and her kids now.
See my comment left on another diary here.
Why should the unvaccinated get any hospital attention at all?
It’s called triage, deciding who gets treatment, and what treatment they get.
For example, if you’re on the list for a kidney transplant and they find out you’re still drinking alcohol, you’re off the list. Similarly if you’re on the list for a lung transplant, and you haven’t given up smoking.
Why waste scarce resources on you when they are better spent on others?
If you’re unvaccinated by choice, you should be treated in tents and parking garages, so that people who ARE vaxxed, or can’t get it for actual medical reasons, can get the care they need, and don’t have to die of easily-treatable problems. Because YOU are the problem.
AMEN!
I have no sympathy left to give for the willfully ignorant. If they cannot bring themselves to suffer the “humiliation” of getting the vaccine, the best thing they can do is die quickly and as far from others as possible.
I have no fucks to give for this guy. Or his wife for that matter. He didn’t suddenly get the way he is but she kept making babies with him. I do feel some sympathy for his kids due to the potential financial problems what’s left of the family might face. Maybe they will be lucky and a responsible adult will come into their lives and provide them a positive example.
I say this from experience…rarely are such unfortunate children that lucky.
I’m sorry this guy died. I don’t wish suffering on anyone. But we live in a time of great need, and I find there is plenty of work to be done helping those who are hurting through no fault of their own, and that’s where I choose to focus my efforts and my empathy.