Not Exactly "The Greatest Generation," Are We??
I don't know what's in the vaccine, but where can I find some Ivermectin?
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
Bertrand Russell
If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 18 months, it’s that ol’ Bertrand knew of which he spoke. In an era in which the stupid reject a now FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine in favor of a livestock dewormer because they read about it on social media, it’s a wonder that humanity has survived the pandemic.
There are people firmly convinced that Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the world’s foremost experts on communicable diseases and a virologist with more than five decades’ experience, is lying in the service of…well, who knows??? People no longer trust science. Instead, they rely on faith, intuition, and articles they find on Facebook.
Welcome to the 21st century, where my ignorance is equivalent to your knowledge. Except that it’s not. Not even close…which helps to explain why we are where we are. It’s as if millions of my fellow Americans are in the grips of the Dunning-Kruger Effect, which, simply put, is when someone is too stupid to recognize that they are, in fact, stupid.
And so we end up with people clogging emergency rooms with Ivermectin poisoning or sick and near death from hydroxychloroquine (Donald Trump said it would work!!). We have people believing that their immune system is all they need to beat COVID-19, which is really no worse than the common flu, anyway.
How to explain to the intellectually bereft souls that science doesn’t give a damn what they think? Nor does COVID-19 care whether anyone believes in it or not. It’s going to do what it’s going to do regardless of what anyone believes, and if someone refuses to be vaccinated…well, that only makes the virus’ job that much easier.
Ethan Wyeth: I hope you're thirsty."
Gideon Wyeth: "Why?"
Ethan: "Cause you’re dumb and ugly, but I can do something about thirsty.”
Orson Scott Card
I have no idea how to reason with people who believe the vaccine contains microchips, that it alters DNA, or that it goes against God’s laws. I can’t begin to comprehend how to persuade those afraid of what may be in the vaccine…even as they’re washing down their triple bacon cheeseburger with a Mountain Dew.
For some reason, millions of Americans are favorably disposed to believe lies, dezinformatziya, and propaganda over objective scientific truth. Sure, it doesn’t help that Donald Trump spent months politicizing the pandemic to the point where simple things like getting vaccinated and wearing a mask became ideological Rubicons.
When you consider that 72 million people voted for Trump in 2020 and that many- perhaps even most- of those folks believe that Trump WON, it begins to make sense that convincing people to get vaccinated is proving to be a slog. These folks specialize in creating their own reality and, once in it, aren’t about to be dislodged from it.
Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it's tuna, but it says ‘Chicken by the Sea.’
Jessica Simpson
Sadly, our future lies in the hands of those too arrogant and intellectually crippled to understand that their decision to refuse vaccination isn’t merely a personal health choice. It’s a decision that also impacts those around them, particularly those under age 12, who are currently too young to be vaccinated. As a result, the unvaccinated are imperiling the sick, the infirm, and young children. Never mind that something like 99.2% of those currently being treated in COVID-19 wards across the country are unvaccinated.
It takes a tremendous amount of selfishness and flat-out stupidity to be so wrapped up in your own self-ascribed brilliance that you can refuse to acknowledge scientific reality. The past 18 months have made the 2006 movie Idiocracy look like a documentary. Some of the “logic” employed by anti-vaxxers could be straight out of the movie. It makes no sense, defies logic and rational understanding, and is tremendously selfish and self-absorbed.
There’s a straightforward solution available that would allow us to beat, or at least tamp down, the threat of COVID-19. If everyone got vaccinated, there would be no place for the virus to go, and it would eventually substantially die out. That’s what the term “herd immunity” refers to, but it requires all of us to do our part.
Not quite 80 years ago, America pulled together to defeat the scourge that was Nazism. The “Greatest Generation” made tremendous sacrifices to defeat Germany and Japan. Those sacrifices made it possible for those of us living today to enjoy the freedoms we do.
People didn’t whine and scream about “MY FREEDOM!!” They didn’t bleat about government tyranny or conspiracy theories. Instead, they rolled up their sleeves and went about the business of kicking ass and saving the world. Thousands lost their lives or returned from the war forever altered. But millions of Americans did what needed to be done.
No one’s asking today’s Americans to storm the beach at Normandy. Or face withering machine-gun fire from hardened Japanese positions on Iwo Jima. All that’s being asked of anyone is to get a couple of vaccine shots…and even that’s proving to be a bridge too far for too many.
By all means, though, keep taking that sheep de-wormer if it helps you feel as if you’re defending your freedom to make your own healthcare decisions….
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