Facebook is a menace. COVID-19 is a menace. Conservatism is a cesspool. Together, those three ingredients have created a toxic stew of malevolent death and devastation. We can talk about all those things in the abstract, look at the numbers and statistics, and catch the occasional whiff of seditionist right-wing rhetoric. But I hadn’t really fully understood just how horrifying that combination of right-wing extremism, Facebook, and a killer virus was until I became a regular at the Herman Cain Awards subreddit. This series will document some of those stories, so we are aware of what the other side is doing to our country.
Today’s cautionary tale is a true Trump supporter. Er, was.
Not gonna lie. This meme is exactly the reason I picked this story. Isn’t that the funniest shit you’ve ever seen? They are so deep up Trump’s behind, that they have to invent an entire look for him that has never been reality.
Nevermind Trump lying himself out of the Vietnam War draft. Could you imagine Trump in jeans? There’s a reason he’s almost never worn them in public:
It’s quite amazing how this asshole fat-shames women when he himself is literally obese. So yeah, he's not going to be wearing jeans that would further highlight his lack of physique.
Yet his supporters refuse to accurately portray their idol because of some bizarre toxic masculinity reason. Hence they create that weird fantasy muscle-man version.
And oh, he’s going to wrestle alligators, is he? Look at him literally cower in fear of a bald eagle.
The conservative pathology runs so deep, they can’t even properly idolize their God King for who he actually is. They have to embellish him into a more worthy subject of worship.
Liberal men actually worry about their families. And so do liberal women. Heck, all liberals. And, here’s the kicker: so do most people. Weird, that they think the notion of protecting their family is a joke.
Except when it comes to guns. Then they use that as their handy excuse.
These snowflakes wouldn’t have lasted a week during WWII.
Hahaha, it’s funny to behave recklessly during a deadly global pandemic!
I don’t hate this one!
If we had a plague of murder hornets swarming through the country, killing hundreds of thousands, these assholes would be like “MY FREEDOM!” and happily give the hornets new attack targets.
Me, I’d be inside, thank you very much.
This picture is unbearably cute.
This meme is unbearably stupid.
Two years in, I haven’t had to “confront this thing” because I’ve taken myriad precautions. Neither have most of my friends and family. Several got COVID because of reasons out of their control like my daughter, who picked it up at a hospital early during the pandemic, but she didn’t transmit it to anyone else because, again, we were careful and followed all quarantine protocols the second we knew she had been potentially exposed.
Fact is, vaccine skeptics are now in the minority. In the deep minority. 71% of everyone in this country has at least one vaccine shot as of yesterday. Yet the country can’t fully open as long as the holdouts threaten everyone around them with their stupidity. Businesses are better off catering to the vaccinated than to the shrinking ranks of the dead-enders.
So yeah, fuck Ted Nugent and his ilk for wanting to put everyone at risk because “there’s no way around” getting exposed to the virus. There is, and most people have managed to do it. That’s why we need vaccine passports. Because the least responsible people in our communities can’t be trusted to do the right thing without them.
There are 50 states in the country.
Florida ranks 9th in per capita deaths, with nearly 62,000 dead.
Is that really something to brag about?
This thing has popped up before, and upon rereading it still makes little sense.
“I won’t mask and protect myself and my community because you made more money than me.”
Also, why would he get $600 less per week? Obviously, this is a made-up story.
Well, all the evidence really does point to Trump.
These are the same people who talk about taking Vitamins C, D, and Zinc to “boost” their immune system. With this logic, why wash hands, ever? Don’t they have an immune system to handle any pathogens that might be picked up (including after using the bathroom)?
The immune system isn’t a perfect system. There’s a reason death rates have plummeted as medicine and scientific knowledge (like the discovery of handwashing) has advanced.
No masking, no vaccine, no precautions against the vaccine, and a steady stream of mis- and disinformation promoting more of that reckless behavior. How’d that work out for him?
Is that what “freedom” looks like? Not to me.
Right now I’m drinking a chai latte, typing this out. Later I’ll film this week’s episode of The Brief, then do some admin work. Afterward, I’ll do some quick cleanup in the garden, make plans to see a law school buddy visiting town this weekend, and plan dinner. Then this evening I’ll go to my son’s varsity soccer game with my daughter. I’m excited about the Bulls game tomorrow, so looking forward to seeing that. This weekend, going to see my girl at a debate tournament, and my son play more varsity games. If I have time, I’ll finish my holiday gift shopping, work on some music on my piano, and get in some good workouts.
See? That’s freedom. It’s amazing the things you can do if you aren’t plugged into a half dozen machines, all struggling to keep you alive.
Also, the oxygen isn’t “good” if you can’t move or talk. That means it’s, uh, bad. Really bad.
Turns out, immune systems do not offer perfect protection against deadly invasive pathogens. I guess laughing off masks, refusing that vaccination, and acting like precautions weren’t necessary didn’t work out so well.
For him? He made his choice and suffered the consequences. Unfortunately, he left behind two young kids and a wife undoubtedly burdened with the twin-whammies of medical debt and the loss of his income.