Scotlyn, thank you for being here and I love these deep-diving discussions :-)
From the perspective of belief in Progress:
1) Yes, with regard to anti, not so much for pro ("pro-vax" is not a slur anywhere so far as I'm aware, except perhaps with regard to these specific terrible injections).
2) Yes
3) Definitely
4) Definitely, with the goal of having all diseases fall into that category eventually.
This is an important discussion, because I think it helps to unpack the beliefs and thought processes behind the craziness. Because ultimately this is not about the "Products", it is about the "Something."
That "something" is the entire category of infectious diseases capable of causing death, which from the lens of Progress is an aberration, something that Must Not Be Allowed.
Consider, as an analogy, the level of fear in Progress-believing nations that surrounds those few predators capable of killing humans - sharks, bears, mountain lions - and how far out of proportion that fear is to any actual level of risk.
Infectious disease is a predator. It is a component of the biosphere that can put an end to our lives, and the religion of Progress says that we, humans, are the top dog in Earth's biosphere. We must die eventually, but no other life form will kill us, and when that happens it's an aberration, a skeletal hand reaching from the evil, brutish past into the civilized present, akin to being slain by the devil himself.
Vaccines are, functionally, Products which Train the Immune System to Recognize and Attack (infections pathogens). That means that, within the belief system of Progress, they are effectively saviors from the devil. And it's not hard to see how a savior can become a sacrament, how earned trust in such a product can become blind trust, how vaccine injuries Cannot Possibly Be Worse than the diseases they prevent, how within this dominant belief system a new infectious disease that causes any death whatsoever can cause a society-wide freakout to which a vaccine must be the solution.
Nearly all human religions have wards against evil. This one happens to demonstrably work, at least some of the time. Its psychological value is at least as important as its physical value, and can persist (at least to True Believers) in the absence of any physical value. I think that if you were to ask devout believers in Progress if they would take a vaccine that carried a 1% chance of death that effectively prevented a disease that carried a 0.1% chance of death, many would say yes. Many would say that any harm done by the vaccines - no matter how severe - must be outweighed by their protections against the evils of infectious disease. And therefore immunity from liability is perfectly acceptable if it allows more vaccines to be produced and distributed to more people.
I think this also helps to explain why covid-mania was such a nothing-burger across most of Africa, where death by infectious disease or death-by-hungry-lion is still a common part of life in many areas. Belief in Progress is not so widespread there, and humans are situated within the web of life rather than standing above or apart from it.
So, yes, I think that vaccines *as a class* have a special status within the religion of Progress because they are functionally Products which Train the Immune System to Recognize and Attack those predatory pathogens which ought to be relegated to the history books but are somehow still with us (obviously because not everyone has availed themselves of the sacraments...).
Re: Vaccines as a class
From the perspective of belief in Progress:
1) Yes, with regard to anti, not so much for pro ("pro-vax" is not a slur anywhere so far as I'm aware, except perhaps with regard to these specific terrible injections).
2) Yes
3) Definitely
4) Definitely, with the goal of having all diseases fall into that category eventually.
This is an important discussion, because I think it helps to unpack the beliefs and thought processes behind the craziness. Because ultimately this is not about the "Products", it is about the "Something."
That "something" is the entire category of infectious diseases capable of causing death, which from the lens of Progress is an aberration, something that Must Not Be Allowed.
Consider, as an analogy, the level of fear in Progress-believing nations that surrounds those few predators capable of killing humans - sharks, bears, mountain lions - and how far out of proportion that fear is to any actual level of risk.
Infectious disease is a predator. It is a component of the biosphere that can put an end to our lives, and the religion of Progress says that we, humans, are the top dog in Earth's biosphere. We must die eventually, but no other life form will kill us, and when that happens it's an aberration, a skeletal hand reaching from the evil, brutish past into the civilized present, akin to being slain by the devil himself.
Vaccines are, functionally, Products which Train the Immune System to Recognize and Attack (infections pathogens). That means that, within the belief system of Progress, they are effectively saviors from the devil. And it's not hard to see how a savior can become a sacrament, how earned trust in such a product can become blind trust, how vaccine injuries Cannot Possibly Be Worse than the diseases they prevent, how within this dominant belief system a new infectious disease that causes any death whatsoever can cause a society-wide freakout to which a vaccine must be the solution.
Nearly all human religions have wards against evil. This one happens to demonstrably work, at least some of the time. Its psychological value is at least as important as its physical value, and can persist (at least to True Believers) in the absence of any physical value. I think that if you were to ask devout believers in Progress if they would take a vaccine that carried a 1% chance of death that effectively prevented a disease that carried a 0.1% chance of death, many would say yes. Many would say that any harm done by the vaccines - no matter how severe - must be outweighed by their protections against the evils of infectious disease. And therefore immunity from liability is perfectly acceptable if it allows more vaccines to be produced and distributed to more people.
I think this also helps to explain why covid-mania was such a nothing-burger across most of Africa, where death by infectious disease or death-by-hungry-lion is still a common part of life in many areas. Belief in Progress is not so widespread there, and humans are situated within the web of life rather than standing above or apart from it.
So, yes, I think that vaccines *as a class* have a special status within the religion of Progress because they are functionally Products which Train the Immune System to Recognize and Attack those predatory pathogens which ought to be relegated to the history books but are somehow still with us (obviously because not everyone has availed themselves of the sacraments...).