Tuesday, January 07, 2025

Vaccines and Politics

Recently, when I was editing my book "Covid Time," for the last time before publishing, I couldn't help but notice all of the crazy things that we as a people have been through--especially since the pandemic. So I was kind of lost in thought, when a co-worker was talking about having covid during a virtual meeting. I offhandedly said "at least it's not killing people the way it was originally--I think due to the vaccine." The supervisor, who referred to COVID-19 as "The Big C," (which is a reference to cancer in my world) expertly moved away from the issue, and I couldn't help but think I had made a stupid political faux pas. Lost in thought about everything we've been through, and all the people we have lost, and all of the stupid political decisions that had been made on both sides, it slipped my mind how politically charged the whole idea of vaccination has become. Science cannot be talked about any longer, because of a faction on the political right, just as realistic discussion about race is impossible with a certain faction on the political left, because of cancel culture. We no longer have the freedom of speech that has long been part of our society. Perhaps you won't go to jail for it just yet. But as we become more fascist and money and power keep going into fewer and fewer hands, who knows? What I do know, is this abandonment of the science that has been proven for two centuries now, is a scary and destructive trend.

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