This is a bit of a tangent as I have no input about magic, but I do remember a strong social media push against "anti vaxxers" a few years before covid. I definitely remember it becoming very strong and sort of the scapegoat of people to mock, people too stupid to give their kids vaccines, look at the data, etc. Not that any data was ever actually given, mind you, it was more lecture-y, mocking memes and zingers, that sort of thing. Now I've been "vaccine hesitant" before that was a term, now not hesitant at all, it's just a clear NO for me. I was injured by a vaccine as a kid, had a really weird / scary reaction, my mom said she was furious when the doctors just talked about how "interesting" it was. Anyway. I'm sort of immune to mockery of "anti vaxxers" because I know it's more complicated than the bullet points they'll talk about. And they'll never, never talk about the actual facts rather than just blowing up at people emotionally about it. I've just let it wash over myself. My mom and I were both of this mindset, I feel, even though there were a lot of areas politically and otherwise where we didn't align. Just a deep skepticism and unwillingness to "go there" with people who will just want to mock you, etc. This attitude was all over social media but I wouldn't say it intruded much in real life.
My brother, otoh, definitely fell into a mild "well anti vaxxers are kinda dumb" in real life, like he believed "the science" about all of this. He's the only one in my family who got the covid shot, and he regretted it afterwards as more came out about how it was made, and a lot of other stuff. We have not talked about this a lot. I have to say we don't tend to align politically, and he's far more right wing than I am. I am left, sometimes middle, he's right, sometimes middle. Anyway. I was fine with masks and some of the pandemic measures (though in retrospect it seems many weren't as well planned and effective as they claimed), but I was absolutely immune to anything vaxx-pushing and I think the phrase "vaccine hesitant" was such a mind fuck to push onto people who were not hesitant - they were saying NO.
I saw something online about how technology keeps trying to remove "no" from us. We don't want to sign up for this or that - there's no "no" it's just Yes or Maybe Later. In many areas, this just being one. That's how it felt with the vaxx shit. They wouldn't believe that No Means No. My body, my choice - I don't want that in me.
In my area, there were frankly rather offensive billboards with lots of mexican-american families, bland statements about "hesitancy" and "getting the facts" and stuff about protecting your loved ones, helping them "understand" why they needed it. I don't know if the latino community was particularly "hesitant" here or if that was just their way of trying to make people look down on the "hesitant" or what. It just felt like really dumb propaganda nobody would believe. The subtext was pretty clearly "dumb minorities need educated." I'm sorry, but it was really gross.
It almost seems to me like everyone had their mind made up about vaccines before it all happened. Like completely made up already! It's so weird to me. I very clearly remember when we were all focused on lockdowns and people were still saying we just needed a bit longer to flatten the curve - all these posts about how great it would be, how they hoped for a vaccine soon, so that the lockdowns could all end. What a wonderful thing it would be, when this savior of a vaccine would arrive and free us all!
I just remember thinking it was weird everyone was so obsessed with vaccines before they were even on the horizon, instead of continuing to talk about how to prevent or cure this problem.
Borders should have been shut far sooner than they were. Not that I think that would have stopped it. But it might have slowed the spread more than any of the draconian measures. The flights around the world were really not cracked down on as any sane measure of safety could have recommended by a working government. I don't remember if any country did actually bother trying to close their borders for international flights to slow the spread, but ours sure fucked that one up for far too long.
Then the things like suppressing information about how to best fight off the disease, or keep yourself from getting it, even really basic things like vitamin D levels just weren't disseminated to the public and were sometimes even suppressed, much less more "controversial" treatments (such as not putting people on respirators).
I was super disappointed in the left wing crowd about this, but I saw a lot of bad actors in the right wing arena, too. Nobody in politics really gets a pass from me on this whole messy event.
I am now at the point where hearing about sudden deaths and shocking diagnoses and "weird" health events leads me to the sort of silence I've long held about the whole "anti vaxx" issue. Like I'm not going to bring it up, I'm not going to argue, I'm not going to challenge your worldview. Believe what you want. But I'm not shocked when people who've been vaxxed are dealing with more of this than most.
People who didn't / don't take this sickness seriously are playing with fire, IMO. It definitely hurt me and people I love. It left a lot of people weakened and with complicated. But none of them as bad as the vaxx, and no matter how bad this sickness has been to so many, I don't think the actions for pushing the vax on people was justified. And I think it would have been morally wrong even if it did what they said. If it was world saving and magical, and cured all the world's ills, it would still be wrong to use coercion to make people take it.
There is blood on many hands because of this, and i shudder to think how it will play out as the damage continues to unfold. I feel this is the thing now that we as a society can't talk about. The big unspoken THING. Who's next? Who got it? What will happen to us all, if they can do all of this to us, is there any hope at all? I think a lot of people can't even think this in their own minds. It's just there, in the subconscious, driving them slowly mad. I hate that for them. I don't wish harm on the antivaxxers who wished harm on me. I think they were duped and fell for it. There but for the grace of god, you know?
Sometimes a real reckoning never comes. It just gets buried and poisons a society. I think there's a lot of that in America. I think there might be more to come. Would love to be wrong about that! Would love to see some actual justice and a clearing of this miasma of evil we all live in.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2023-06-28 11:54 pm (UTC)My brother, otoh, definitely fell into a mild "well anti vaxxers are kinda dumb" in real life, like he believed "the science" about all of this. He's the only one in my family who got the covid shot, and he regretted it afterwards as more came out about how it was made, and a lot of other stuff. We have not talked about this a lot. I have to say we don't tend to align politically, and he's far more right wing than I am. I am left, sometimes middle, he's right, sometimes middle. Anyway. I was fine with masks and some of the pandemic measures (though in retrospect it seems many weren't as well planned and effective as they claimed), but I was absolutely immune to anything vaxx-pushing and I think the phrase "vaccine hesitant" was such a mind fuck to push onto people who were not hesitant - they were saying NO.
I saw something online about how technology keeps trying to remove "no" from us. We don't want to sign up for this or that - there's no "no" it's just Yes or Maybe Later. In many areas, this just being one. That's how it felt with the vaxx shit. They wouldn't believe that No Means No. My body, my choice - I don't want that in me.
In my area, there were frankly rather offensive billboards with lots of mexican-american families, bland statements about "hesitancy" and "getting the facts" and stuff about protecting your loved ones, helping them "understand" why they needed it. I don't know if the latino community was particularly "hesitant" here or if that was just their way of trying to make people look down on the "hesitant" or what. It just felt like really dumb propaganda nobody would believe. The subtext was pretty clearly "dumb minorities need educated." I'm sorry, but it was really gross.
It almost seems to me like everyone had their mind made up about vaccines before it all happened. Like completely made up already! It's so weird to me. I very clearly remember when we were all focused on lockdowns and people were still saying we just needed a bit longer to flatten the curve - all these posts about how great it would be, how they hoped for a vaccine soon, so that the lockdowns could all end. What a wonderful thing it would be, when this savior of a vaccine would arrive and free us all!
I just remember thinking it was weird everyone was so obsessed with vaccines before they were even on the horizon, instead of continuing to talk about how to prevent or cure this problem.
Borders should have been shut far sooner than they were. Not that I think that would have stopped it. But it might have slowed the spread more than any of the draconian measures. The flights around the world were really not cracked down on as any sane measure of safety could have recommended by a working government. I don't remember if any country did actually bother trying to close their borders for international flights to slow the spread, but ours sure fucked that one up for far too long.
Then the things like suppressing information about how to best fight off the disease, or keep yourself from getting it, even really basic things like vitamin D levels just weren't disseminated to the public and were sometimes even suppressed, much less more "controversial" treatments (such as not putting people on respirators).
I was super disappointed in the left wing crowd about this, but I saw a lot of bad actors in the right wing arena, too. Nobody in politics really gets a pass from me on this whole messy event.
I am now at the point where hearing about sudden deaths and shocking diagnoses and "weird" health events leads me to the sort of silence I've long held about the whole "anti vaxx" issue. Like I'm not going to bring it up, I'm not going to argue, I'm not going to challenge your worldview. Believe what you want. But I'm not shocked when people who've been vaxxed are dealing with more of this than most.
People who didn't / don't take this sickness seriously are playing with fire, IMO. It definitely hurt me and people I love. It left a lot of people weakened and with complicated. But none of them as bad as the vaxx, and no matter how bad this sickness has been to so many, I don't think the actions for pushing the vax on people was justified. And I think it would have been morally wrong even if it did what they said. If it was world saving and magical, and cured all the world's ills, it would still be wrong to use coercion to make people take it.
There is blood on many hands because of this, and i shudder to think how it will play out as the damage continues to unfold. I feel this is the thing now that we as a society can't talk about. The big unspoken THING. Who's next? Who got it? What will happen to us all, if they can do all of this to us, is there any hope at all? I think a lot of people can't even think this in their own minds. It's just there, in the subconscious, driving them slowly mad. I hate that for them. I don't wish harm on the antivaxxers who wished harm on me. I think they were duped and fell for it. There but for the grace of god, you know?
Sometimes a real reckoning never comes. It just gets buried and poisons a society. I think there's a lot of that in America. I think there might be more to come. Would love to be wrong about that! Would love to see some actual justice and a clearing of this miasma of evil we all live in.