“Forget About Politics…”
Except It Is All About Politics
I was taking part in an interesting discussion not too long ago and the talk turned to the COVID global pandemic and all its various variants.
I need to prologue this by saying that I live in a part of the state and country that is very pro-Trump. I often compare my existence here as a libertarian to being like a gypsy in Germany during the 1930’s and 40’s. The group I was having this conversation with is dominated by people who hate former President Obama with a flaming passion and are not too happy with the guy in the White House right now.
So the person dominating the group was someone who didn’t really care for things like what is in the media or what the Center for Disease Control has to say when it comes to COVID, but he’s also someone who survived COVID; and, because of that, he’s got personal experience with the virus and what it can do. He is now someone who pushes hard for people to get vaccinated and to take precautions because of what he went through.
As he’s giving his plea for people to treat this pandemic seriously and to get vaccinated, he says “Put the politics aside on this issue.”
“Put politics aside.”
Think about that.
That’s pretty much an admission that everything you’re hearing about the anti-vax and anti-mask crowd is about politics. That the resistance to vaccination and to wearing masks and to social distance and even to these horse-brained “alternatives” to vaccinations – and heavy on the “horse” part – has nothing to do with science or reason or logic or medicine. It has to do with politics.
Because once the group took “politics” out of the discussion, then there was no opposition to doing what is right. Liberal, conservative, independent, everyone was in agreement. Everyone agreed that people needed to be vaccinated and to wear masks and social distance when needed. There was no “muh free-duuums” talk. There was no “mark of the beast” discussions or “heavy-handed overreach” proclamations. Everyone knew this was serious. It wasn’t a joke or a hoax.
It wasn’t the first time that we saw this, either.
A certain narcissist – and you know who I’m referring to – reportedly told famed reporter Bob Woodward that he knew how bad the COVID-19 virus was while he was first telling people that it was a hoax, that it was over-inflated, that it’s going to go away quickly, and it wouldn’t even make it to America… even though it already did. And he kept on spreading that lie over and over again, even after the economy collapsed and the world shut down for a few weeks, and masks were mandated and people were panicking for a vaccine, or just any kind of cure. Even after he was infected with COVID and was rushed to the hospital, he kept on spreading the lie about how it really wasn’t that bad. And then, when he finally told people to get vaccinated, his own adoring base actually booed him!
Let’s get brutally honest here… of all the crimes, both potential and real, that were committed by this certain narcissist and his enablers and followers, this is one of the worst. That they would politicize a global pandemic that has inflicted and killed millions and still affect us today. That they would turn people away from doing the right thing and getting vaccinated and wearing masks and social distance when needed. That they would turn people to take livestock de-wormer and iodine and sanitizers instead of the vaccine. And for no other reason that politics and to “own the libs”.
Think about how things could have been if this pandemic wasn’t politicized. Think of the thousands of lives that did not have to be infected and hospitalized. Men, women, children. Think of the hospital resources that did not have to be overwhelmed as much as they are now. All of these variants wouldn’t even exist if we could have masked up and maintained social distance instead of throwing tantrums and crying about “muh free-duuums”. Never mind about mask or vaccine mandates from the government, if people, groups, and businesses took it upon themselves to do the right thing a year ago and not make this political, this pandemic would be over by now! We’d all be out and about, mask free, not having to worry about variants or surges like we do now.
But we’re not. And all because a group of opportunists and media personalities and enablers decided to make this all political, like they do with everything else in the world.
As for the “my freedoms” argument… libertarians have a saying: the freedom of your fist ends right before it reaches my nose. In that light, your freedom to carry a virus of any variant ends right before it reaches me or anyone else. Anyone who thinks otherwise has no business calling themselves or be referred to as a “libertarian”.
Yes, we need to put aside politics, for once in our miserable existence, and actually do the right thing when it comes to dealing with this global pandemic. It should not be about parties or political leanings or who has a “D” or an “R” next to their name or what propaganda network you watch or listen to. The fact that it is being politicized serves as an indictment on the depravity of that faction of our society. The same faction that still makes this commentator feel like he’s in 1930’s Germany.
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