I’m about to be spicy. If that’s not your jam, move along. I’m not here to play today.
It’s utterly mindboggling to me that we are almost eighteen months into a global pandemic, and the same asinine rhetoric is still being spewed, with new asinine rhetoric added to the mix practically every damn day.
It isn’t just a matter of personal choice. It’s a fucking public health crisis in which PEOPLE ARE FUCKING DYING. How the hell hard is that to figure out? And don’t come at me with the conspiracy theory hoax bullshit. They’ve been disproved over and over again. But sure. I’ll listen to these people with their University of Social Media medical degrees because they just HAVE to know more than the actually trained medical people and actual scientists.
It makes me so viscerally angry sometimes, the way some people act. I’ve been mocked for wearing a mask by more than one Karen and Brad (my name for the male counterpart). I’ve had a Brad try to take it off my face. I’ve seen people just be flagrantly awful to other people trying to do their personal and civic duty in trying to be careful… mocking them, physically getting in their space, trying to lick them, cough on them, assault them. Why? Why the fuck is that necessary?
Honestly, I don’t really give a fuck if you think masks don’t work. Isn’t it better to be safe than sorry when it comes to saving your fellow man. Unless you have an actual, LEGITIMATE medical reason not to, wear the damn thing when you’re supposed to. Nobody’s taking away your fucking liberty. We’re just trying to keep us all alive and as healthy as possible so we can all have some fucking liberty. The irony is that this is still going on, this pandemic, because of these people who refuse to look beyond themselves. Don’t tell me about how patriotic you are. There’s nothing patriotic about refusing to care for those around you. That’s just selfish bullshit.
It’s fucking hysterical in a non-funny way… “my body, my choice” when it comes to vaccines and masks. Those same people who tend to also want to control women’s reproductive rights.
My brother and his wife are RNs who’ve worked with COVID patients since day one. And they are hardly alone in that. All of these people are putting themselves, and their families, at risk every damn day. They are putting themselves at risk while there are people out their deliberately doing whatever they can to make sure this never ends. The day-to-day stress and emotional angst of working with these patients has been unreal. Then the sheer amount of shit and harrassment they have had to put up with on top of it? Yeah, no.
Oh, you weren’t nearly as “spicy” as the situation calls for! I commented on the local news channel’s website about how Walmart was closing two stores for a couple of days to “clean.” Not all the stores. So, I assume that would mean the stores involved must have had COVID positive cases in the employees. Otherwise they would be cleaning ALL my local stores (three). I mentioned how I had been returning an item and the employee tried to talk me out of getting the vaccine (this was the day before I got my first dose and was very happy about finally being eligible) with false information and verifiable conspiracy theories (I even checked online when I got home so I would know more if it happened with someone else). He was wearing a button from the pharmacy stating he was a “health ambassador” or something like that. He said he makes sure the other employees know this, and they aren’t getting the vaccines either. This was scary. I called the manager when I got home, and told him the young man was polite, knew his job, seemed “nice,” but… Turns out he wasn’t supposed to be wearing that button at all, he has nothing to do with the pharmacy. The manager was quite concerned, thanked me and said he would talk to the employee. Hey, the guy can believe all the crazy things he wants on his own time, but that was not the place! I’ve been in management, and employees need to keep those rants to themselves on company time. So… I got torn apart and called all sorts of things in the comment section. I would have “turned in Anne Frank,” I was not a “normal human,” I was a “nerd,” and worse. Here I was happy to be scheduled for the vaccine, and this young man, who said as a former soldier he knew about these things (?), was actively attempting to stop me. I’m sorry, now I’m on a rant!
Anyway, it’s enough to make me bang my head against the wall. Sure, the unmasked and un-vaccinated will probably NOT get sick. And my dog is highly unlikely to get rabies, but by law he still needs the vaccine. Oregon law requires kids to have their vaccines to attend school, even the universities check vaccine status on measles and all. When the TB “sugar cube” came out I remember lining up with all the neighbors at the local school to get a little paper cup with the sugar cube. Everyone was in it together.
I think the younger generation has forgotten. Mine remembers getting childhood diseases. My children’s got their vaccines because we didn’t have them and of course we would get them for our kids. Now, this younger bunch is spoiled. They have never seen contagious diseases and think they are no biggie.
Of course, I meant polio, not TB.