"The Problem With You Libs Is That You're Addicted to 'Facts' and 'Truth.'"

Because you've "done your research," right??

While watching MSNBC, I listened to Katy Tur interview a doctor in Houston who’s worked 642 days in a row since the pandemic’s beginning. The only time he’s been away from work was to bury his father. Granted, this doctor may be an extreme example, but this is what’s happening to our healthcare system.

The doctor relayed that, of those who’d died from COVID-19 in his hospital recently (I forget the time frame), EVERY SINGLE ONE HAD BEEN UNVACCINATED. That’s heartbreaking, but I’m long past feeling sympathy for those who’d been offered vaccines on numerous occasions but couldn’t be bothered to take even minimal action to save their lives.

The death of any person is a tragedy, but when a person takes an active role by refusing to do the right, sound, and decent thing and get vaccinated…well, sympathy isn’t on my plate. That’s natural selection at work. If you’re too ignorant and arrogant to avail yourself of an easy and free opportunity to save your life, you deserve whatever fate happens to come your way.

At this point, 22 months into the pandemic, there’s enough reliable information available about the vaccines to make it clear that they’re safe. But are they 110% guaranteed risk-free? Of course not; what in this life is? That said, the reactions to the vaccines available in the U.S. have been far less numerous and virulent than might have been expected.

And the reactions beat dying from COVID-19.

Despite this, some refuse to get vaccinated- even with the onset of the latest variant, Omicron, which may prove more deadly to the unvaccinated.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m as sick and tired of the pandemic as anyone. I want my life back. I’m sick of having to take a mask with me (and wear it) everywhere I go. I’m tired of listening to stupid, selfish people who refuse to do the right thing for the right reason. I’m furious with those same mental and moral lightweights who believe the world revolves around them and that they have no responsibility to anyone but themselves.

I’m sick of being told I need to respect the decisions of others and to “meet them where they are.” If we were talking about someone who refuses to stop at red lights, how silly would that expectation be? Some people refuse to accept a fundamental responsibility to protect themselves and others…and I’m supposed to respect their decision? I’m supposed to “meet them where they are?” Nah, I don’t give out free passes for stupid, self-centered, and irresponsible behavior.

I draw the line at selfish and poorly-informed. I can’t respect someone so self-absorbed and cocksure that they either can’t or refuse to recognize that the world doesn’t revolve around them. If you can’t understand and accept that there are times in life when one must admit that there are things more significant than the individual, I have no use for you.

BUT…MUH RIGHTS!!!??!!

One of the intensely depressing facts to emerge from this pandemic is the realization of just how many profoundly awful people there are in this country. I’m talking about people who demand that society should hold their rights to be primary but who refuse to recognize, much less meet, any corresponding responsibility.

Rights don’t exist in a vacuum. In a democracy that grants and protects our rights, we have a responsibility to help protect the system that makes those rights possible. It means recognizing that sometimes it’s not just about “MUH RIGHTS!!!” Sometimes it’s about acknowledging that collective needs are more significant than the prerogatives of the individual.

If a global pandemic isn’t one of those times, I don’t know what would be.

At this point, I’m tired of the unvaccinated being the ones setting the agenda. I believe it’s time that those who refuse to do what President Biden called our “patriotic duty” (trite, but true) feel the pain of their selfishness.

This means that Americans should be required to show proof of vaccination to do just about everything in the public sphere. The unvaccinated should not be allowed on planes, trains, buses, or other forms of public conveyance. They shouldn’t be allowed in grocery stores, gas stations, or other public gathering places. If this seems the equivalent of making the unvaccinated wear a scarlet “U” on their chests, that’s precisely what I’m referring to. At this point, I’m not above shaming the unvaccinated into compliance if it will save lives.

The only way we’re going to have any hope of ending this pandemic is to limit the access of the unvaccinated to the rest of the population. As horrific and un-American as that may seem, it’s an extraordinary solution for a remarkably deadly time.

Mask mandates should come from the federal level and apply uniformly across the board to any public gathering space. I have no idea how anyone could enforce such a plan in red states, most of whom will resist any attempt to save lives. That said, if the states won’t do it themselves, then perhaps it’s time for the federal government to step in.

No, I’m not a fascist. I don’t advocate for government action lightly, but when you consider that more than 820,000 Americans have died (and more than 5 MILLION worldwide) from COVID-19, it’s time for radical action. We can’t simply do the same thing while somehow expecting different results.

I want people to live, and if some of my fellow Americans aren’t willing to take simple actions that will result in more people surviving COVID-19, then it’s time to do things we wouldn’t normally consider.

Some Americans are too selfish and ignorant to see beyond their own self-interest. So it’s up to the rest of us to set them straight because lives are at stake. If we have to implement rules that force the reluctant to take actions they may be uncomfortable with, I’m here for that all day long.

Because sometimes personal responsibilities are more important and meaningful than individual rights.

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