My SIL(*) recently said she will have to leave Europe because sooner or later she will be coerced to take the vaccine. She does not want to put any potentially harmful chemicals into her body. She’s a smoker.
She also said she will have to break up with my BIL because he intends to get vaccinated because otherwise he can’t keep working in his job. It is unacceptable to her that he does not hold his anti-vax convictions as strongly as she does.
( *) gf’s brother’s partner (not married, but have a kid together)
Because people are redeemable and can go on to do good even if they do bad?
I admitted a man with alcohol withdrawal last week. He came in absolutely fucking sauced and was found on the street. His alcohol level was 0.460. He started withdrawing about two hours after that level was drawn, so his etoh level was probably around 0.30-0.35. He wanted to leave, but he didn’t have medical capacity because he was drunk and hallucinating. Should I have let him leave? Hell he didn’t even have insurance, the hospital and my group probably won’t get paid for it. Maybe he’ll qualify for retroactive medicaid.
Should I have done that, or should I have not given a shit because he was a drunk who had made his own bad decisions?
I don’t think it’s valid to compare people drunk out of their mind with sober people who constantly make decisions to not do anything to protect themselves.
I once had 4 young adults come in with stab wounds to the chest that they got when they tried to fuck with two homeless men. They all ended up fine, but two needed chest tubes. Should I have let those two die? They were sober. The fucked around and found out as the kids say.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t treat someone like that, but we shouldn’t be banning alcohol to protect people such as him. We should not give a shit about people like him when deciding what alcohol regulations should be. Once everyone who wants it has been vaccinated, we shouldn’t base public health policy on protecting the lives of people who decline vaccination. On some level, they’ve consented to die of COVID.
Public health is explicitly a behavioral field. The fact that some people refuse to get vaccines absolutely must be factored into public health policy.
Beyond the abstract side of the argument, what should the line towards anti-vax anti-mask people be?
The actions that seem clear and beneficial to me are: (1) continuing to mask up in public places with vulnerable populations, voluntarily, (2) pressuring businesses to maintain mask policies that will protect vulnerable populations, such as airlines and grocery stores, (3) encouraging messaging and incentives to vaccinate on many levels of society.
The things I’m probably not willing to do, once case loads are suitably low (<10k 7DMA, say), are: (1) avoid dine-in restaurants or gyms in order to protect the other people within the restaurants or gyms who refuse to get vaccinated, (2) limit private gatherings whatsoever.
I can be a better person. There’s a conscious choice that it has to be this way when talking about politics. Excessive humanity is why Democrats lose more than they should to Republicans.
I’m torn on this whole thing. I agree with you in principle. Especially about people making mistakes, fucking up, I can easily humanize those people.
But the anti masking Trump people… it’s not just a mistake. It’s an ideology. Their entire ideology is to hurt others, hurt THE others. They don’t wear masks because they don’t give a fuck about anyone else. But it’s not just the anti masking, they actively want to harm minorities. trans people. It’s an entire ideology of hate wrapped into anti masks. These people make the world SIGNIFICANTLY worse for the majority of others in this country, and on this planet.
I don’t want them to die, but I also struggle to find empathy for them. I’m sure if I saw them in the hospital with their family crying I would have a ton of empathy because human suffering sucks. This is why I struggle with it.
It’s not like these people just made mistakes because of circumstance, had hard lives, got drunk, were going through a lot, were poor etc. Their entire lives are based off an ideology of hate and selfishness.
I think that Democrats are divided on the death penalty and that Republicans in general favor the death penalty. The percentage of Americans who support the death penalty is greater than the percentage of Americans who think the death penalty is enforced fairly. The percentage of Americans who think the death penalty is not used often enough is greater than the percentage of Americans who think it is used too often.
You are using extreme examples. Me not wearing a mask is not the same as not treating someone who needs chest tubes. Not donating to save African children from starving is a worse act than not wearing a mask to save non-mask wearing anti-vaxxers.
It’s already unlikely they are getting Covid from me when I’m vaccinated. What fraction of a life does wearing a mask even save under those cirumstances?
And then when they recover they go on encouraging others to no wear masks and to engage in risky behavior so others have to suffer despite knowing how awful it is.
I don’t want them to suffer, and if I saw it person I would have a ton of empathy for them and their families, but god damn these fucking people.