I suppose it remains to be seen how far, but there is now little question that we are being dragged back down into the pit of the COVID-19 pandemic after making it most of the way out. The Delta variant should have been a fleeting sidebar. Instead, it’s the main bad guy in the sequel.
There is also little question that this was avoidable. By choosing not to be vaccinated, millions of people, including many more of my own personal acquaintance than I care to consider, have put us here.
I am disappointed and angry. And I’m getting scared, mostly for my children. I had a first-year college student last fall who very badly needed a first-year college experience. Instead, she went to Tuscaloosa and did nearly nothing she couldn’t have done here because of pandemic protocols. That she may have to endure a repeat infuriates me. I had a high school junior last fall who sat out marching band. Now he’s really excited about his senior year and a show he’s vested in. I certainly hope he gets to do it.
David French wrote a great piece several months ago about the difficult work of reaching people with truly cultish devotion to Donald Trump, anti-COVID vaccination rhetoric, and associated conspiracy theories. (This is on the pay site The Dispatch, but it appears this piece is outside the paywall.) You really should read the whole thing, but one primary takeaway is that for too many people, riding in and burning down their conspiracy theories can also be burning down their community. If you want to try to get them back, but you don’t tune your approach for that reality, you will not only fail, but quite possibly alienate them further.
It may seem superficially ham-fisted to lump Trump zealots and anti-COVID vaxxers together. However, in my personal experience, the impenetrability they each exhibit is remarkably similar. There is no contrary information to be cited. Anything conflicting you offer is immediately evidence that you have been taken in by the U.S. government, the media, other governments, big corporations, or whatever other players are part of the conspiracy.
You’ve swallowed the lie. They have the truth.
I shudder to think that Donald Trump’s ultimate legacy may be the exploitation of angry people whose respective abilities to think critically are compromised to completely stunted. From the continuous effort to discredit the press to the not-so-subtle “shout-outs” to fringe groups, in my view, there is little doubt that the Trump machine primed the pump for what we’re experiencing now.
And I certainly wish it were easier for me to see the way out.
You might also like:
- Donald Trump: Be nice to me, or I’ll sue you #Trump2016 #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #yuge
It seems Donald Trump isn’t too happy with an ad Club for Growth is running about him. In fact, he’s… - Judy Mikovits is not a credible source on COVID-19
Ostensibly well-adjusted adults, including some of my long acquaintance, are losing their damned min… - The interminable Trump interregnum
I’ve mostly stayed out of Trump’s post-election nonsense. But I also mostly expected it to be over b… - Considering 2020 on Festivus Eve
I think this is about day nine of the worst insomnia I’ve ever experienced. I’m hoping this is the b… - Donald vs. Hillary
I voted for Ben Carson in Alabama’s Republican primary last week. Today, he endorsed Donald Trump. P…
Second act? I count 5 at this point. And still people deny and refuse to take responsibility.
Duly noted. For someone who says they care so much about fighting human trafficking, I would have thought you would have more understanding about a person’s right over their own body. Their own medical choices.
I’m going to trust in the antibodies given to me by our Creator and the immune system He designed. I trust Him much more than “The Science.”
Your opinion is duly noted.
Conni, who made the brains with which we are so blessed to understand viruses and vaccines as well as we do? Do you know the old joke about the guy stuck in the rising floodwaters turning away a pickup truck, a boat, and a helicopter?
I’m disappointed in your decision to unfriend me on Facebook, but I will respect it.
Trusting Fauci who lied to the entire world about AIDS is like trusting a thief who’s stolen from you once before to not steal from you again when you invite him over for dinner.
Irrelevant. I don’t need anything to come out or not come out of Fauci’s mouth for me to know that for the vast majority of us, there is no good reason not to be vaccinated.
It’s been a long time since I read the blog, Bo. Not out of lack of interest but lack of time. I think you’d know empirically that I’d agree with everything in this post but that not why I’m commenting.
Coming back and trying to catch up on nearly TWO YEARS of posts has reminded me of specific things about you… Courage and eloquence of thought. Both traits I envy.
You’re a courageous person to broach this topic (and many others). The vitriol fired at you is why I would never continue a blog or frankly post anything on any other form of social media.
“If you want to try to get them back, but you don’t tune your approach for that reality, you will not only fail, but quite possibly alienate them further.” – I wish I had the eloquence or even simply the mastery of language to have been able to make that statement.
Continue you the good fight, dear Sir. Especially when you say things that may challenge me or I might be in 180 degree opposition to.
Carey, it’s good to “see” you, and thanks so much for your kind words.
You can see in comments above that my “courage” in this post actually did cost me a relationship. (I thought it was a friendship but in hindsight, I won’t use that word for something that was apparently so fragile.) There have been others. The echo chamber is the way of the world for far too many people now, and you knock on the outside of it at your peril. Sigh.