Hi there. I want to speak to all my good friends in the Red States. I have solved your pandemic problems!
Instead of getting free vaccination shots that protect you against all current COVID variants and allow you to rejoin the world and reclaim all the freedom you've lost over the last year-and-a-half, you could always wear this. The good news is it's not one of those flimsy masks. Those are so annoying. And look how great it goes with a suit and tie! You'd be rocking the next QAnon meeting with one of these beauties on your skull.
The truth is you still get more protection from the vaccines but hey, these are soooo attractive. They might be a tad warm if you're in the deep south, but I expect most customers for these handsome helmets will come from the south. Eating might be a problem, you can't apparently hear anything, glasses might be unwieldy, and you might be a tad easier to identify in a police lineup, but you won't have that annoying 24 hours of discomfort that you might (no guarantees) get with one of those vaccines. Aren't you the smart one?
Oh, I wouldn't go swimming with one of these on either.
The choice is yours.
FOLLOW UP BASED ON SOME COMMENTS.
It has been well documented that states with high vaccination totals mirror blue states that voted for Biden. States with low vaccination totals voted for Trump. I'm not just making it up. I agree that this shouldn't be about politics. The virus is as bi-partisan as they come. You would think intelligent caring people of all parties would take advantage of this remarkable opportunity. But apparently not.
Some readers claim it's not politics, it's "misinformation." When people believe obvious nonsense -- like the "Big Lie" or there was no insurrection, despite all the tangible evidence I have no empathy. And when this "misinformation" threatens the very core of Democracy, the emotion I feel is anger. And when over 99% of the people getting COVID now are not vaccinated, and deaths have plummeted since vaccination, my heart doesn't go out to them either. Sorry.
One reader says anti-vaxers don't affect me. If they want to get sick and die it's their business. Actually, it's not. Because there are people with compromised immune systems and children who can't get vaccinated and they're put at risk because of these "misinformed" people.
And finally, I'm very sorry if you're offended by my posting a political viewpoint. My point is not to convince you to become a Democrat, it's to get vaccinated and save your life, regain your way of life, and prevent others from getting sick.
26 comments :
Red states? Less than a quarter of African-Americans have had a Covid vaccine. You want to preach? Preach to the blue states, too.
This is a Friday question. The Emmy nominations are soon to be announced and different critics are already posting their choices, pretty much all of them being shows that stream. They are more adult, more daring, and more the kind of shows that Emmy voters prefer because they're able to do things network TV cannot. My question: Is it really fair two pit regulated content against shows that can do anything they want? Would it be a good idea to add two new categories to the Emmys? Streaming dramas and streaming comedies? If not, why?
A son supervises a large group of young employees. Huge company. I thought he was making this up - after word spread that he was fully vaccinated, a sizable number of his charges surreptitiously held keys to his arm or forehead to see if they stuck.
He’d had it by the time a young woman tried it with scissors. I asked him to glue a paper clip to his ear but he declined because HIS supervisor, not a kid, actually believes these shots magnetize us.
He wants to make a spoof pro-vax poster featuring your Metal Man scene. I’d fund that.
A wild assertion on the entire population, because of the actions of certain Republican politicians.
This is a low for you Ken - up to now, I had expected much better than that sort of thing from you.
Is Tomorrow's blog about evil Demonic Fess Parker -
because he starred in a TV show set in ... gasp splutter .. Kentucky... a "R-e-d- state" (music crescendo) ????
I remember that episode! The bad guy explained, with a triumphant snark, that Superman couldn't possibly remove the helmet because "It's locked on!"
@CarolMIR Do you think there aren't any African-Americans in Red states? Is that wishful thinking on your part?
A devoutly religious family member is refusing the current vaccinations because they were developed from stem cells from aborted fetuses. They will only receive a vaccination that is not developed from stem cells.
With the intractable positions the abortion debate engenders, all I can say is that I hope someone develops a non-stem cell vaccine so this large chunk of people who take that stand will get a vaccine, so we can get overall vaccination rates up. It scares me to think that a lot of people would rather die of COVID-19 than get a vaccine made from stem cells from aborted fetuses, but it looks like a lot of them will die on that hill. Quite literally.
For the record, I received the two doses of Moderna in April and May, and ate my first restaurant meal without a mask a week ago. Whew.
Ken
So, you're suppose to "preach" to the blue states because "Less than a quarter of African-Americans have had a Covid vaccine"?!
Apparently, the assumption being that African-Americans only live in blue states.
Who knew?
Ken,
You are underselling these masks. They not only do what you said, they protect the privacy of the wearer from that ultimate illegal alien Superman.
Wearers can walk the street assured that “strange visitor from another planet” can’t see their faces. They can do what they want to do without having to worry that Superman can identify them. Everyone knows “truth and justice” have a liberal bias.
> A devoutly religious family member is refusing the current vaccinations because they were developed from stem cells from aborted fetuses.
Some facts:
- The fetus of the cell line in question has been aborted in 1970 and its cells are kept alive and are reproduced since then.
- In order to produce/test a vaccine for a virus that needs human cells you often need human cells because it doesn't work with ones coming from an animal.
- The vaccine itself doesn't contain any human cells
> all I can say is that I hope someone develops a non-stem cell vaccine
Already happened. Biontec's (Pfitzer) vaccine used a different cell line for said purposes, so it's "embryo-free".
Just can't figure out why all these people refuse to accept the knowledge that God gave us. Well, regardless of that, the phrase "survival of the fittest" comes to mind.
It is, however, unfortunate that so many are dying because they're listening to politicians who, for decades, have taken away funding for their education and coerce them to vote against their own needs.
"Red states? Less than a quarter of African-Americans have had a Covid vaccine. You want to preach? Preach to the blue states, too."
This is a popular right-wing talking point, but it's inaccurate. Nothing, including race, correlates as highly with vaccine refusal as political affiliation.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/06/third-white-conservatives-refuse-get-vaccine-refusal-shown-both-polling-real-world/
@CarolMR and others: There is a longstanding mistrust of the medical establishment by Blacks, partly because of egregious ethical actions like the Tuskegee experiments, partly because they have had terrible experiences getting proper medical treatment from hospitals and clinics.
Article from WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210202/black-vaccine-hesitancy-rooted-in-mistrust-doubts
The same sort of mistrust happens in the Latino community as well. So it's not misinformation, it's that they feel they have no reason to believe anything the medical establishment says based on their past experiences. What can you say when even a basic "trust me" doesn't work?
I'm sure I don't really need to say this to anyone, but please don't take the right-wing troll bait. This isn't a red-state blue-state thing. It's an ignorance and disinformation thing.
And by the way, everyone on Fox News live in New York City and have been vaccinated.
Again, please don't play these propagandists' game.
Ken, I've loved coming to your blog because it's not political. In fact, you've discouraged people getting political in comments. Yet, there's this post, and few other subtly vax-political comments in other posts.
As a non-American living overseas, I've found it disturbing how people in your country are using the vaccine and mask issues to sort "good Democrats" from "bad Republicans."
While we might think people are idiots for not getting vaccinated, there is a fundamental principle that everyone has the right to choose their own medical treatment without being shamed for their choices. People who opt not to get life-saving blood transfusions or chemotherapy might be wacko, or they might have religious reasons for it. Either way, they don't deserve public shame.
I have gay friends who won't take life-saving HIV medications (either preventatively or for treatment). I've just had to tell myself that it's an issue between them and their doctors. I also have friends -- some of them pretty left-wing -- who won't take the vaccines for various reasons I sympathize with. People do their own research, pick the information they want to believe, weigh the odds and make their own choices.
We have the vaccines. We can feel protected in the presence of the non-vaccinated because the vaccines work -- even with "breakthrough" cases, the symptoms are greatly reduced.
But we shouldn't feel smug about it, or use it as a reason to bash "Red states." You can have your opinion on COVID vaccines, but don't politicize it, and don't be openly judgmental. Such lectures won't persuade anybody. It does more harm than good.
Pete, it's Ken's blog. He can post whatever he likes.
Getting vaccinated is not about politics but being intelligent enough to get vaccinated and protect my family and my neighbors. After my second shot and as my son, his wife and my granddaughter are fully vaccinated I was able for the first time in more that a year get a hug from my granddaughter. Well worth a sore arm for a day or two.
There are geographic variants even within counties. One place in Albany County, NY has 82% vax rate, and another (more rural) has 28%!
— Pete Starkey - You posted, “ While we might think people are idiots for not getting vaccinated, there is a fundamental principle that everyone has the right to choose their own medical treatment without being shamed for their choices. People who opt not to get life-saving blood transfusions or chemotherapy might be wacko, or they might have religious reasons for it. Either way, they don't deserve public shame.
I have gay friends who won't take life-saving HIV medications (either preventatively or for treatment). I've just had to tell myself that it's an issue between them and their doctors. I also have friends -- some of them pretty left-wing -- who won't take the vaccines for various reasons I sympathize with. People do their own research, pick the information they want to believe, weigh the odds and make their own choices.
We have the vaccines. We can feel protected in the presence of the non-vaccinated because the vaccines work -- even with "breakthrough" cases, the symptoms are greatly reduced.”
In your cases the people who do not get blood transfusions for there own reasons as well as gay people who refuse to take HIV drugs — they’re only hurting themselves for whatever reason. But people who are refusing to take a vaccine for a virus that spreads unchecked through no physical contact, to anyone near them, that’s an entirely different choice. That choice alone can make some total stranger who just happens to pass within a few feet of the infected person sick / very sick / dead!
No, I totally disagree with your post. You’re right about one thing; this is largely politicized in the US but until you live here and experience some of the trumpeters who refused to wear masks; deliberately coughed in masked people faces and touted the GOP lies, well I see no value in that opinion — but the Constitution guarantees you the right of free speech so you can post it. But I see no value in it.
Comparing the refusal of chemotherapy or blood transfusions to the refusal to get vaccinated because it’s “my choice” is a spurious argument, because they aren’t comparable. A person’s refusal to continue chemo doesn’t affect society as a whole; no one is going to catch cancer from that person if he refuses cancer treatment. For those people making the “my choice” argument regarding the vaccine, you’re making the choice that the world can continue to suffer waves of this virus every year for the forseeable future; that’s exactly what’s happening now throughout the southern and western part of the country with the Delta variant in areas where vaccination rates are abysmally low. It very much is a political issue; the current incarnation of conservatism in the US has made anti-vaccination and Coronavirus denial a foundation of their belief system, and that goes all the way to the top of the party.
We’re at around 33 million cases of COVID-19 in the US alone. Consider what that has cost us in medical treatment over the past 18 months. Consider what it will continue to cost us in the next ten years in infrastructure costs when we fail to get this under control because of the “my choice” argument, when some states haven’t achieved even 50% immunization. How many local hospitals are going to eventually collapse under the strain, when they can look forward to year after year of maxed out bed capacity to treat COVID-19 patients?
Screw you and “your choice”, because it isn’t your choice; you’re making the choice that the entire country can continue to suffer continuous waves of this virus. That most definitely affects more than just you. There’s a workable safe vaccine that can prevent it, and a huge portion of the “my choice” crowd who identify themselves as conservative are making a non-scientific, politically based argument not to take it. If this virus wasn’t transmissable, then I couldn’t care less if the “my choicers” got the vaccine. Making the choice to drown in your own fluids while you’re intubated wouldn’t affect me at all. But that’s not the reality; your choice affects me, and that’s not “my choice”.
I live in a blue state, I'm happily vaccinated, and I'm not a Republican. With that said.....
If you think condescending, exceptionally mean-spirited snark is the way to convince others to get the vaccine, then you're not as smart as I thought you were.
I know this can never be verified but I would wager just about anything that the vast majority of anitivaxxers are alive today because somewhere in their family history an ancestor was vaccinated. Been around a long time you know.
Ken,
I don't understand exactly who you are aiming your critique at. This is of course your blog, and I can say from reading this commentary that I don't feel that anyone is challenging your right to your opinion. But keep in mind Georgia was the reddest of red states--but it went for Biden and elected two Democratic senators. Texas is a battleground, as is Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, and there are many others.
I think the blue state/red state dichotomy is misguided in our current political climate, and it is a good idea to see political subtleties rather than abject differences based on geography. Saying this as a lifelong Democrat and Biden voter.
GOD, I am so sick of the idiocy surrounding this. GET the GD vaccine. Jesus wants you to.
This is utterly insane. My 90 year-old father doesn't understand. "WHY are people not taking it?" (He did, WHEN he was going through prostate cancer treatment, and AFTER he got COVID.) He survived both, and the vaccine.
Oh, and he's a GD retired minister. He JUMPED to get the vaccine. He lost half of his 1949 military HS class to polio. I lost all of my fellow 1980s, gay college friends to AIDS, and there still isn't an #@*& vaccine for THAT, and we PRAYED for it.
So, listen to science, pray to Jesus...whatever...just get the GD vaccine. This is a no-brainer - but hell, look at what's happening.
I live in a blue state -- Illinois -- and in the bluest area of said blue state -- Chicago -- and I am fully vaccinated. Got it as soon as I possibly could.
But a lot of my neighbors have not. Only 51.1% of Chicago residents have been fully vaccinated as of July 17 according to the City's own COVID-19 dashboard. Only 57.1% of Chicago residents have received at least one dose.
This compares unfavorably to the statewide totals. As of July 16, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports that 73% of Illinois adults have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination and 57% of all Illinois adults are fully vaccinated.
In other words, Chicago is dragging down the statewide totals. According to the Biden/Trump voting analogy to which you refer in your post -- blue voters vaccinated, red voters not -- Chicago must be crawling with Fox News-viewing, MAGA-hat-wearing Neanderthals. I'm sure you realize that this is simply not the case.
Yes, some evangelicals and habitual anti-vaxxers and Trumpsters have resisted all appeals to logic and emotion and everything else (even a lottery). I can name some. Some are in my own extended family. Not particularly close family, especially at this point, as I'm sure you understand. But none of these live in Chicago.
But it's not just Trumpsters. Many in communities of color have also balked at getting the vaccine and not because of their Republican leanings! There are other reasons. The Tuskegee Experiment is just one of these.
I see by the news that L.A. County has recently reimposed an indoor mask mandate on account of soaring COVID numbers there. From the election returns, I imagine you have even fewer Trumpsters in L.A. than in Chicago. But since blue voters get vaccinated and red voters do not, herd immunity should long ago have been reached in L.A.
But it's not that simple. I only wish it were.
Also... I wish you'd moved that still from the Superman episode up higher in the post when you edited.
Is there a way to get vaccinated from the virus of "all things politics"? And it's not even politics anymore, is it? It's some sort of weird social sport. The cable "news" channels are the ESPN of whichever side you come down on. With social media, everyone is shoving their "political opinions" down your throat. You can't get away from it. And it's sad. Red Staters hate the Blue Staters, Blue Staters hate the Red Staters, yet everyone bitches about how divided we are. Doesn't it start with us to knock off the crap and just live our lives and *attempt* to be kind to one another, no matter who voted for who and who lives where?
It's all so tiresome.
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