The Dangers of Timidity
Yesterday, some readers were very passionate about vaccine mandates in the wake of the news that Pfizer has had some successful tests of children between the ages of five and eleven. We obviously aren’t there yet, but hopefully we will have a vaccine for all school aged children before the end of the year. This of course begged the question: why aren’t all elementary schools and daycare centers mandating that every adult in the building take the vaccine? Forcing everyone else around them to be fully vaccinated just seems to make the most sense.
That conversation morphed into a conversation as to why we aren’t mandating every abled body adult get the vaccine. The FDA has give full approval to at least one vaccine. We have plenty of it to go around and the vaccine has been free for quite some time.
The Democratic party should be working from a position of strength, but they can’t seem to get out of their own way. Heavy majorities want vaccine mandates. They want a higher minimum wage. They want stiffer environmental protections. They want voting rights protected and expanded. We know all of this. Yet, little seems to happen because some within the party are worried about the fallout.
See, we know a loud minority will protest any of these things. We know this because we’ve seen it before. When President Obama was negotiating the Affordable Care Act, he took very popular planks like a public option off the table. There was no way the Republicans could support it. Except, they didn’t support any of it. They’ve been spending the past ten years trying to get rid of all of it. So, why are we worried about what planks Republicans find objectionable? They find everything objectionable.
Conservatives are up in arms about mandates. It’s antithetical to freedom they say. Except it’s the exact same thing we’ve been doing with other vaccines for decades. In order to attend public school you have to have certain vaccinations or documentation from a doctor of why you cannot comply. There’s none of this “I don’t know what’s in it” or “it’s a way for them to track you.” Sure, there are those that have always believed that, but they had to suffer the consequences of their decision.
The end result this time around is that one of the wealthiest countries in the world has one of the lowest vaccine rates in the developed world. Sure, developing countries lag behind, but they also have institutional barriers to consider. A country without those barriers can’t seem to get to 70 percent in full vaccinations. Sadly, giving people the freedom to choose means too many make the wrong choice.
Whether you mandate it or not, the Tucker Carlson’s and Sean Hannity’s of the world will spew their garbage comparing a government to fascism when doing something we’ve done dozens of times before. You can tiptoe around it or you can simply shove it down their throat. If people are going to complain let’s give them something to complain about. In the meantime, maybe then we can properly protect our children and anyone else that is vulnerable instead of hoping only the idiots weed themselves out of the population.
Nick, i feel your pain. The only real way to get past the anti vaxxers is to show them how much money they would have to pay beyond their own medical insurance for any kind of a stay in an ICU fighting the virus. Add to that whatever other medical costs would ensue post-release.You can’t get through to them any other way. Money talks and it can even scream.
1Another way: the FCC should rigorously enforce the rule that to obtain and keep a broadcast license you “Promise that you are fit and proper, that you fit at minimum the basic tenets of getting a license to broadcast.” So tell talk radio hosts to “be careful what you say”–i.e., “don’t spread disinformation about a public health emergency or we will pull your broadcast license.”
Why talk radio? MASSIVE reach of ~60 million or more people per day spewing anti-vax and anti-mask rhetoric. (Mostly reaching an older population, as youngsters are generally not much radio listeners).
“Dangerous transmissions: anti-vax radio shows reach millions in US while stars die of Covid.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/21/anti-vax-radio-hosts-dying-covid
2I think it’s ludicrous for people to worry about being “tracked” through a vaccination. If they have a cell phone they’re already being tracked. And Facebook knows more about them than they could possibly imagine, I’ll wager.
There was, yet again, another story today about a nurse in Idaho who died of Covid after refusing to be vaccinated, even while her own mother was in the hospital in a coma with the disease. The mother survived and the nurse’s brother, having seen the light, went out and got vaccinated.
3My favorite was a post my friend put up (clearly in jest) on Facebook telling you the security code on the back of your credit card was how much your lottery winnings would be, the expiration date was when you would get your money, and the credit card number was your lucky numbers that won. Obviously, the idea was stupid people to post all of that crap. It makes you wonder how many people actually did it not catching on to the obvious phishing scam.
4Qcumbers and the QOP Caucus members for whom they voted are like the crazies in a bad science fiction novel. Reasoning? They’re all butt hurt that the ***king moron** is not given “proper credit” for developing the vaccines. But they refuse to be vaccinated. Go figure …
5University of California requires vaccination, except for medical and limited religious exemptions, for faculty AND staff. We (UC Davis campus) are now at 96% completely vaccinated, with classes starting tomorrow. Even those who are vaccinated must get tested every 2 weeks, and unvaccinated people every 4 days (our own free, home-grown, fully validated saliva test, processed on campus in the Genome Center with 24-hour turnaround or less.)
6As for local public schools, they require vaccination for teachers (over 99% last I heard) and staff (about 95%). We are not quite there with students – about 80% in the 12-17-year-old group. They are using the same tests, that are also available to the whole community, free.
I am still appalled at the failure to do anything comparable by Texas A&M, which has similar access to high-level biology and plant genomics resources (where we got the high-capacity testing machines) and public health / epidemiology expertise.
@Lauren in California–Texas A&M had their first announced student death from Covid recently. My granddaughter is a freshman there and got her initial dose of the vaccine about 2 weeks ago. I am not ashamed to say a heaping helping of guilt from Memaw (me) was responsible for tipping her to that decision. I am fully vaccinated but I told her I probably will have to forgo holiday celebrations again this year because I’m in the high risk category (74 years old) and can’t take the chance of being around unvaccinated people. In reality, I was more worried about her being unprotected, which I cited also, but sometimes it doesn’t hurt to play the age card when so much is at stake.
7My wife and I are in a DAMN tight “pod” and intend to keep it that way. I’d settle for a 0.1% infection rate in California…
8I, dyed-in-the-wool Democrat that I am, will never understand why Democrats in Congress are so terribly polite. Republicans spit fire in public against all things Democratic, and Democrats try to understand and make nice. It never works.
Democrats seem very reluctant to upset their brethren across the aisle. They compromise away their advantages, apparently afraid to set off the loud minority that is the Republican party. A minority is still a minority, and the Democrats want what a majority of Americans want. We need to fight for them, in public and OUT LOUD. Let the public know, repeatedly, that we’re the ones trying to give them what they need. We might have more success.
9RE: 9 “For eight months we tried the carrot, now we’re onto the stick. Quite frankly, most of us are good and ready for the change.”
https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/1440364526650626057
10FFS, I am so tired of this “I don’t know what’s in it” BS. I know what’s in it. It took my 90 seconds to find the Pfizer ingredients and read the list. If you don’t know what’s in it, you’re stupid. If you don’t have your vax by now, you’re stupid.
11Jane and I are so lucky to live out here in nowhere northwestern NV with our two boys. Our nearest neighbors are my parents and grandparents. Everyone in our contact circle except the boys (too young yet and eagerly awaiting the under 12 vaccine approval) are vaccinated. Jane and I both work from home and are equipped to home school the boys. With the excellent support of the school district we’ve enjoyed the special time working on assignments with the boys. And there are acres of area to play far from the nearest maskhole covidiot, so the boys are not cooped up. We seriously appreciate our luxuries and have tremendous empathy for parents trapped in city apartments with young children and no respite, few if any resources. It’s beyond imagination what strains they are suffering as families.
But despite all of our advantages we are beyond tired of the maskhole covidiots. Because of them Jane has quarantined 3 times, five for me because of necessary travel all done while fully vaccinated. One of those times was together and we are so lucky my parents were nearby and capable of caring for the boys until we received our 2nd negative tests after that trip. Imagine the strain placed on families without those sorts of resources all due to a passel of maskhole covidiots too stupid and/or selfish to be vaccinated, wear masks and social distance.
At this point who cares what that passel of morons want? My granddad was telling me about the 50’s when homes infected with measles were openly marked “quarantined.” Personally I’d be good with nailing the maskholes doors shut, until they communicate that their arms are available for the jab. Things were looking so good in April/May after the Biden administration fast tracked vaccine distribution. But no. Between anti-vaxxers and super spreader events covid is winning again. It didn’t have to be this way. Their obstinacy and willful ignorance have paved the way to whatever measures necessary to club them into compliance.
12TexasTrailerPark – good for you for leveraging any influence you have to get your granddaughter vaccinated! I saw the photos of the football stadium, jammed with unmasked people, and cringed. Surprising they only have one death so far. Sigh. She still should try to be careful – about 25% of the cases we pick up in our community-wide testing are breakthrough cases.
13We are lucky that our daughter’s family, including both grandkids, were up on the science and eager to be vaccinated. I actually took the 17-year-old for his first shot. Had to convince the staff that I could provide “parental” consent but luckily we were at my own med center’s big community site, and my faculty ID eventually carried the day, plus kid’s insistence that his mom couldn’t come and had asked me to do this. They were sweet and offered him the Big Cozy Armchair to sit in if he was nervous about shots (he was not.) Dan and I both got ours very early because the med center was eager to use extra shots at end of the day in January, and we were on the call-list if there were any left over. Now waiting for when I can get my 3rd shot – so far they are only doing immunosuppressed and front-line clinical staff, who of course got their first shot back in Dec.
I just learned today that my unvaccinated 74 YO sister in the Boise area is very ill at home but won’t get tested. Her unvaccinated grandson lives with her. His girlfriend and her mother have both been tested positive for covid and he spends much of his time there, so I’m just leaping to the conclusion that they both have covid. But besides being unvaccinated, my sister and grandson refuse to get tested. I’m getting this information from my niece, daughter of my other sibling and unvaccinated brother in Idaho. Denial and ignorance kills and there’s a lot of that in Idaho. Here’s the topper to me- they, my unvaccinated sister and brother, spoke in the last day or so saying that the blame for covid and her situation lie with Biden, Democrats and immigrants. You can guess where they get their news. I’m starting to wonder if I’m adopted. I’ll probably comment more on this.
14I’m glad to see those numbers in California. At least that is in the education world. I got my second round in early February. As a diabetic I wasn’t taking any chances. I just can’t fathom how nonchalant people are here in this state.
15Nick, focus on the furious. As your article clearly states “timidity” has to go. Lordy as anyone at the WMDBS can testify, when I type out three very long paragraphs, know there is SMOKE, literal smoke coming out of my ears. And, Jane and our family have it good as pandemics go. Can we extrapolate on the anger those who are vaccinated, wear masks, social distance and are trapped in city apartments because of maskhole covidiots? May of 2021 NV was down to almost under 100 cases per day; we’re back to 1000-2000 a day.
That is not the fault of the Delta variant. That is the pure unadulterated willful ignorance and selfishness of the freedumb maskhole covidiots. C’mon, Nick, you can do this: raise awareness and replace that complacent timidity of Congress with some righteous fury. Sic ’em!
16Steve from Beaverton – I’m so sorry this has invaded your family, blameworthy or not. I have no idea whether the pandimwits in my family are vaxxed – I know they don’t mask (they aren’t speaking to me either, so there’s that…), but this story is being repeated in families everywhere and I will never understand it.
As for TexasTrailerParkTrash…I absolutely believe in using guilt in certain circumstances, and your use of it was brilliant. Good for you!
17Nick I think it’s time to ” shove it down their throat.” This twitter video is very reassuring. We have too many good people in this world and it’s time, once again, to understand and explain the difference between right and wrong.
“WATCH: Madison Cawthorn challenger accuses him of being ‘radicalized’ in devastating ad that’s going viral ”
18https://www.rawstory.com/watch-madison-cawthorn-challenger-accuses-him-of-being-radicalized-in-devastating-ad-thats-going-viral/
Here’s a perspective that’s probably not a surprise to many here. I’ve talked about the comparison of high school cliques to today’s populace that get their worldview and reality from the consensus of the people they choose to identify with.
“Well that’s what I heard.” Boom. Accepted truth.
And about how cliques now are worldwide, and just as close as the phone in their hand, simultaneously.
No need for critical thinking when everybody whose opinion you value or acceptance you crave tell you what’s accepted truth. With proof. From gazillions of other likes and tweets.
Ferdamnsure can’t trust the deep state lamestream media.
Pffth. As if.
But most if not all of us have known the people who thrive on dominating everyone they possibly can through intimidation, implied or outright threats, and especially gaslighting.
It’s the ultimate empowerment for them. Controlling other people.
And the gaslighting is their favorite part.
And these folks form their own little cliques when they can.
Alpha male (female too I’m sure) support groups.
Reinforcing each other’s crap.
And comparing notes.
Bragging about how they got somebody to believe something ridiculous.
But even more so, getting somebody WHO KNOWS IT’S BULLSHIT to spend time actually talking about it.
Sound familiar?
Owning the Libs anyone?
That’s part of the empowerment the right is selling.
And even though lot’s of folks wouldn’t put it in those terms, it’s working with lotsa folks IMHO.
Just think of it from a logistical standpoint.
19How much time, do actual journalists spend calling out outrageous horseshit, spending time ticking off the facts that are abundantly clear to anybody WHO’S ALREADY WATCHING THEM.
Don’t get me wrong, calling out the bullshit is massively important, and I’m thankful to every actual journalist doing it.
But the Niagara Falls level deluge of sheer intentionally outrageous lies that have to be responded to, in ADDITION to the normal amount of douchebag repugnantcan everyday crap we all know and loathe, makes it impossible to keep up.
Which is the point.
I know I’ve said much of this before, but it keeps increasingly being repugnantly true.
But here’s something.
The lies they’re pushing now (anti-vax, etc.) are killing people by the thousands. In real time in front of God and everybody.
And far from saying “whoa, maybe we need to rethink this stategy before we kill all our voters”, they’re wallowing in it.
Doubling down.
Because the really empowering part is the lie that they’re PROUD OF.
Cause that’s power.
Why isn’t that enough to open people’s eyes?
Going back to the local alpha support group cliques analogy, they can never admit anything.
Anything.
Because to do so would expose them as liars.
And they can’t be seen admitting to lies they’re so proud of telling.
I wonder how many will brag to each other how in the service of their ideology entire populations put themselves and their families at risk.
But that’s just my opinion and I’m just as full of shit as anybody else.
Look. I’ve been talking about it.
They sure owned my dumbass.
No P.P., I definitely think you are onto something. There are any multitude of reasons why urban areas tend to be Democratic while smaller towns tend to be Republican. I know the suburb I live in is a mixed bag. My 30 year reunion is coming in a year or two and there are people I graduated with that I run into on an almost weekly basis. I definitely see that kind of dynamic where the popularity from high school (or the worrying about it) has transferred to the present time. Ironically enough, moving to the city creates more isolation. When you’re isolated in that way you have to find your own way to get information and can’t rely on “Uncle Sal” or whoever is down the street feeding bullshit at the water cooler.
20That should have read:
I wonder how many will brag to each other how in the service of their ideology they got entire populations to put themselves and their families at risk.
That’s all they’ve got left. Being as malevalently sadistic as they can. All in the name of righteous patriotism. Because everything and everyone not them isn’t/aren’t? just weak. But are savagely attacking them for being strong, righteous patriots.
21They’re just so damn aggrieved.
F**king trump didn’t invent this crap. It’s been around forever, just not as much in the open. He just showed the repugnantcan party how to mainstream it.
To celebrate it.
To wallow in it like a pool of Epinephrine, bile, and rotgut whiskey.
It’s not a dirty little secret anymore.
It’s their entire platform.
It’s a plan.
I could say for lack of a better one.
If they weren’t having so much fun, splashin it under armpits and crotches.