A Covid Question
Unvaccinated people are about six times more likely to test positive than vaccinated people, nine times more likely to be hospitalized, and 14 times more likely to die from COVID-related complications.
Forty-seven million eligible American adults and more than twelve million teens are still not fully vaccinated and remain at highest risk of disease.
The seven-day average of daily covid-related deaths is 1,000 per day.
—-WebMd
Some 163,000 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented by vaccination since June this year and the virus is one of the leading causes of death in all age groups, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, as cases soar amid concerns the new omicron variant will trigger another wave of infections. Some 163,000 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. could have been prevented by vaccination since June this year and the virus is one of the leading causes of death in all age groups, according to research by the Kaiser Family Foundation, as cases soar amid concerns the new omicron variant will trigger another wave of infections.
—–Forbes
14 December 2021
Three-quarters of unvaccinated Americans who voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 say they’ll never get any dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, a recent poll from The Economist and YouGov suggests.
The survey of about 1,500 adults showed 75% of Trump voters — despite the former president’s recent public support for vaccinations and the booster shot — say they “do not plan on ever getting any shots of any COVID-19 vaccine.”
Trump cultists believe that they are demonstrating their fealty to Trump and his MAGA movement by refusing to get vaccinated and wear masks.
They are being emboldened, enabled, goaded, and egged on by an array of political leaders, media celebrities, and online demagogues who are spreading misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories, and lies with such alacrity and speed that it is dizzying to contemplate the consequences.
Many of these anti-vax and anti- mandate spokespeople know better. In typical hypocritical fashion, some have even gotten vaccinated despite their anti-vax rhetoric
The question:
Are Trump zealots and fanatics subjecting themselves to human sacrifice in the name of Trumpism?
01/27/2022 @ 1:34 pm
Yes.
01/27/2022 @ 3:16 pm
Art, it sure looks that way. Doesn’t it..
01/27/2022 @ 5:28 pm
No.
They are anti-vax because they are convinced vaccines are more dangerous than helpful. And they don’t trust public statistics on deaths and cases because the big thing the Trump Presidency accomplished was to delegitimize mainstream news in the eyes of a whole lot of Americans. They think the phenomenon is phony. They think they’re safe.
01/27/2022 @ 6:15 pm
“They think they’re safe.”
Too many Republican leaders know that these folks are not safe and yet push the anti-vax line re individual or personal freedom v the greater good of public health policy.
In my view, the ignorance of these folks is being exploited and they are unwittingly being treated as sacrificial lambs by people who have something to gain from the ‘human sacrifice’ in the cause of the ‘big lie’.
01/27/2022 @ 9:08 pm
But they are not subjecting themselves to sacrifice. They are subjecting their followers. Which is, of course, morally far worse.
01/27/2022 @ 10:40 pm
Words begin to fail us when we have to parse statements and positions of fundamentally dishonest people. Ron’s question is a good one. Are the zealots and fanatics subjecting themselves…? Clearly the answer is yes. It is absolutely yes. They are subjecting themselves to sacrifice, their followers to sacrifice, and those who think, speak, and act differently to sacrifice. While the vaccine is profoundly significant in protecting an individual from hospitalization and/or death, it is not absolute. Prolonging the contagion threatens everyone. And the stress on hospitals is a threat to those not suffering from exploitation by the political manipulation of the unscrupulous right. An over-taxed intensive care ward can cause a victim of a traffic accident, or a falling ladder to be sacrificed without anyone getting Covid. A delayed organ transplant or cancer surgery, and other such things. Yes, lying about this long linked process of controlling contagion puts everyone at risk in a variety of ways.
Also, what they believe can’t be known. They say that they believe certain things as justifications for not cooperating with others. Is that belief? Not necessarily. Some do believe, over the advice of doctors that they are not safe getting vaccines, but that is not reasonable. It is far less reasonable now than it was a year ago before anyone could watch 60+ percent of the population of the country get the vaccine without issues. I believe that I am sitting in a leather chair as I type this. There is no good reason to believe otherwise. I do not believe that my house’s mailbox is running around town to various piano bars getting drunk on schnapps. Inanimate objects do not do that. To call that a belief stretches the meaning of the word beyond all reason. At some point, those “beliefs” must more accurately be called lies or psychosis.
01/28/2022 @ 12:28 am
Well, yes, but they’re not deliberate self-sacrifice, which is the question on the table.
01/28/2022 @ 1:32 am
The question in the body of the post is given as follows:
“Are Trump zealots and fanatics subjecting themselves to human sacrifice in the name of Trumpism?”.
I tried to recast the thrust of the question as follows:
“…they are unwittingly being treated as sacrificial lambs…”
The syntax is correct but the semantic is wrong.
The recast should read:
“…they are being treated as unwitting sacrificial lambs…”
Thus the question in the body of the post should be:
“Are Trump zealots and fanatics unwittingly subjecting themselves to human sacrifice in the name of Trumpism?”
01/28/2022 @ 10:04 am
In that case I would have to say “yes” again.
Language is meant for communication. Your questions have been clear, and I think the answer is as well.
If there are some among them who are taking action as lambs on purpose, the question and answer doesn’t change. There are many, now blinded by the relentless lies of a former president who lost an election, and the spooky Q-Anon sort of followers who do not have any accurate assessment of what damage they are doing to themselves and the citizenry. Those actions are being performed unwittingly.
01/29/2022 @ 2:03 am
I’m in full agreement.
Thanks Art…