So a local (to me) Trump-supporting, Lyn Wood supporting, Tea-party leading conspiracy theorist antivaxxer has just died after weeks in intensive care.
Before he got Covid, he memed that he preferred “dangerous freedom to peaceful slavery.” His last series of Facebook posts shows just how dangerous his freedom was.
May he rest in peace experience a restless, regretful eternity.
Perhaps those posts should be required reading for the anti-vax crowd.
Can you screen-grab a couple for those of us without Facebook accounts?
This old story comes to mind…
God Will Save Me
A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, “Grab my hand and I will pull you up!” But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.
When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
Of course there’s a very satisfying sense of narrative resolution and schadenfreude connected to the idea of anti-vaxxers suffering and dying of COVID.
However, without the allure of a good story, do they really “deserve” it? More than millions of other morons who “play stupid games” in various ways all over? Or than the millions or thousands who convince others to play stupid games, or who directly enact harm upon others because of their choices?
I’ve spent a little bit of thought and energy resisting the comfortable narrative of baddies getting what they deserve, because COVID is an arbitrary boundary on that narrative, and there are just too many people, both powerful and insignificant, who could serve the role of sacrificial lamb in similar stories.
Aside from the in-the-moment shot of happy feelings when I succumb to that story, I accomplish nothing good for myself or others in the long term when I allow myself to sit with those thoughts. I’m better off resisting.
Granted, at this point in time, it’s hard to resist.
Thanks. I almost – almost – felt a tiny bit of sympathy for the dude.
Karma is a capricious, inconsistent, unreliable bitch. We can only take what bits and pieces we can get, when we can get it . . .
. . . so enjoy what you can when you can.
Life is short. Eat your dessert first.
Are you telling me thoughts and prayers did not work? I’m shocked!
Anyone can get COVID in spite of precautions, granted. But COVID isn’t the fulcrum here; vaccination is.
Lots of people die of stupidity and he was one of them.
I’ll quote, again, my 7th grade electric shop teacher:
Agreed! A song on Girlfriend inspired the naming of my daughter. Sweet is so under-recognized.
Yes! I saw him play at the University of Idaho on his 100% Fun tour.
Winona or Evangeline?
Sure. A mis-type on my part. My reasoning still stands for me if you replace “COVID” with “COVID vaccination”.
My point simply is that I could never run out of groups or individuals who are complicit in causing death and suffering and for whom I could imagine a “hoist by their own petard” kind of situation. For me, the thought of reveling in the joy that those stories of just deserts brings (we have a lot of idioms for this kind of thing, don’t we?) feels like an opportunity for a lifetime of endless hate/anger. I prefer to not encourage those feelings in myself.
But, as I said, it’s hard to resist.
And, I certainly am not going to get too bent out of shape when obvious consequences happen. Nor am I convinced that triaging limited aid towards those who are committed to helping themselves (and each other) is out of line.
I saw an article today saying that some hospitals are starting to do this.
Sorry, I can’t find it again. But while searching, I noticed that there are MANY articles, op-eds, and message board threads discussing the pros and cons of this. It seems to be an idea that is maturing.
Okay, I found it. To clarify: It’s hospitals in northern Texas. They aren’t actually doing this yet. At this point, it’s just a contingency plan.
In case you find that paywalled, Raw Story has a summary here:
I can’t agree with you. I was reading that in the EU, some 53% of people are fully vaccinated, which seems terrible to me. In Bulgaria, long accustomed to disbelieving their government, it is 15%. Unvaccinated rates in the US are higher in some racial groups that presumably trust the government less - but being a Trump supporter is a bigger factor than being a Republican, and this is a bigger factor than race. (Other divides include rural/urban, age, education, surprisingly females are slightly more skeptical than males). Yes, the vaccine works and smarter people are doing that. Yes, not getting vaccinated has costs and should have consequences. No, it is not kosher to wish harm on ignorant people, some of whom have better reasons than others.
It doesn’t seem to me to be wishing the harm, but rather not feeling sad when the harm happens.
Plus, this thread is about politicians and media folk who spread anti-vax bullshit, not the ignorant people who slurp it up.
