Please Get Your Goddamn Shot

[svensson]

I found out yesterday morning that my father lost his battle with COVID and passed away.

He was unvaccinated by choice. He thought that his wife's earlier mild case could provide sufficient antibodies and, being an evangelical Christian, he felt that his faith would keep him safe. He then compounded his error by refusing to be intubated with O2 while undergoing hospital care. At one point, his pulse-O2 level was down to 55%, which is more than half dead.

I do not share all this to elicit sympathy or 'thoughts and prayers'. I'm sharing this to encourage every one of you to get vaccinated as soon as you reasonably can. In the United States, they're advising booster shots of certain brands of the vaccine. I personally plan on availing myself of the booster as soon as it's medically advisable and available to me.

Some important points for you all to remember:

- Viruses mutate. This is normal. It's why you need a new flu shot every year. COVID-Delta is a not a screw up on the part of science, nor is it a government conspiracy. It is a mutation of the COVID virus and this is a normal process.

- Most of the newly infected have been people, like my father, who refused to be vaccinated or were operating on bad advice. Don't listen to the news, don't listen to some political gasbag, don't listen to your preacher. Listen to your doctor.

- For those of you who are Christian believers, I am too, so let me put this in terms that ought to ring true to you. The Lord our God has heard our prayers. He provided us not only with educated and motivated people able to bring multiple vaccines to market in a year [which is un-freaking-heard of], but He also instilled in our political leaders the will to not only fund the vaccines but also get those vaccines to patients and damn the cost. God the Father has provided you with a vaccine, but you have to go get it.

- For those of you not of the Christian faith, your faith has provided you with the vaccine too. Now is not the time [AFAIC it's NEVER the time] to quibble and argue over who or what we call the divine. This vaccine was a worldwide effort from people as diverse as hardcore atheists to evangelical Christians to moon-worshiping Wiccans to adherents  of the Old Gods of Ashatrur. Whatever or however you name your faith, GET THE FREAKING SHOT.

- Lastly, a lot of people on this 20th anniversary of 9/11 are in mourning for a lot of reasons. We all have so many things that cannot be helped that cause the death of those we love. Not being vaccinated is a choice you make. It is utterly preventable. Don't be the person who chooses to abandon those you love.

For all those in mourning, I can only offer a prayer from my Episcopal priest. It's helping me a little and I sincerely hope it helps you.

"May He that abides in Heaven hold you and keep you in the palm of His hand,

May the souls of our loved ones be forgiven of all their faults and raised up for all they did well,

And may the pain of your grief be mercifully short and the warmth of your memories be blessedly long."

Edited October 1, 2021 by svensson

[Lloyd Dupont]

On a tangent topic walk-in Covid shots are finally available in Brisbane, Australia, so finally got my first shot Saturday, yoohoo!
Phew, about time! 😮 🙂

That said I was not too concerned, at worst we had like 10 cases at the same time in the whole state, and more often than not, 0 cases for months! 😄 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Lloyd Dupont

[Qizilbashwoman]

1 hour ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

On a tangent topic walk-in Covid shots are finally available in Brisbane, Australia, so finally got my first shot Saturday, yoohoo!
Phew, about time! 😮 🙂

That said I was not too concerned, at worst we had like 10 cases at the same time in the whole state, and more often than not, 0 cases for months! 😄 

1 out of 500 Americans has died from COVID and we cannot get people to get their shots, which have been freely available since May of this year. It's a political belief now and no matter of reasoning can convince people to mask or get a shot. It's no longer a matter of discussion, hospitals have security issues because people come in real sick and get COVID diagnoses and then try to beat up the doctors because they don't think it's real. They die denying COVID is real. To their last breath.

And everyone else has to suffer because they won't get their shots and we're nowhere near immunity saturation levels.

It's like a madness.

[Lloyd Dupont]

I can imagine. My sister is one of those... 😞 
Worst I think there is evil propaganda at work. From people who are not particularly crazy....

Edited September 28, 2021 by Lloyd Dupont

[Qizilbashwoman]

15 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

I can imagine. My sister is one of those... 😞 
Worst I think there is evil propaganda at work. From people who are not particularly crazy....

yeah like it's a madness of crowds

[Bill the barbarian]

On 9/11/2021 at 5:31 AM, svensson said:

I found out yesterday morning that my father lost his battle with COVID and passed away.

 

Sorry to hear, this is terrible.

On 9/11/2021 at 5:31 AM, svensson said:

He was unvaccinated by choice.

Gads

On 9/11/2021 at 5:31 AM, svensson said:

- For those of you who are Christian believers, I am too, so let me put this in terms that ought to ring true to you.

For those of you who are not christians, no worries, most faiths realize the danger and advise their followers to vaccinate.

On 9/11/2021 at 5:31 AM, svensson said:

his vaccine was a worldwide effort from people as diverse as hardcore atheists to evangelical Christians to moon-worshiping Wiccans to adherents  of the Old Gods of Ashatrur. Whatever or however you name your faith, GET THE FREAKING SHOT.

And please write your local politician and get him or her on board with shipping as much vaccine as can be spared to the poor countries that can not afford the vaccine! An injury to one is an injury to all!

16 hours ago, Qizilbashwoman said:

1 out of 500 Americans has died from COVID and we cannot get people to get their shots, which have been freely available since May of this year. 

I am sure hoping criminal charges against those who disseminated bad advice are forthcoming. And ya know Qizilbashwoman, this is not the worst of it. How many have died as a result of not being able to access doctors, wards, ICU beds, and O2 because they were occupied by anti-vaccers and anti maskers (I call them pro virus) occupying those doctors, wards, ICU beds... etc. I lost a friend and I am not sure it was not because of this. Maybe he would have died anyway but, maybe not. 

This is all so sad, and a lot of it is unnecessary!

 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Bill the barbarian

[svensson]

Here's some statistics for you.

The day my father passed, the United States exceeded the number of direct-cause deaths [that is to say, it's on the death certificate as the proximate cause] due to COVID than we lost during the Spanish Flu of 1918-20.

The day after that was the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Because 'fuck y'all', that's why.

I understand that many people in the G8 are feeling intruded upon by their governments. I can commiserate about the lack of privacy, the 'gotcha' journalism, the deepfakes, the surveillance, all of that. But let me offer anyone with doubts a very simple bit of advice:

A FUCKING PLAGUE IS THE WRONG THING TO PUSH BACK ON.

You want to push back against government interference in your life, here's a few things you can do [this is American, but I'm aware that Great Britain, Germany, and France have similar laws and issues; translate freely to your circumstances]

- How about you push back on the nastier aspects of the Patriot Act? I mean, does the NSA REALLY need to be going through your mail without a warrant?

- How about you insist your jurisdiction get rid of surveillance cameras with face recognition profiling in public areas?

- Ooh! Here's one: doesn't it piss you off even a little bit that cities and counties have now automated speed traps, red lights, and stop signs? Now you just get your ticket in the mail without having to even bother a cop! And make absolutely no mistake: this has NOTHING to do with safety. It's a revenue stream, an additional tax levied on you for having the unmitigated gall to buy those roads to begin with.

THESE are the kinds of intrusions you should be worried about, not a freaking vaccine.

Edited September 29, 2021 by svensson

[Alex]

18 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Worst I think there is evil propaganda at work. From people who are not particularly crazy....

It's very hard to unpick.  I find myself getting drawn into arguments with some of these about how they can possibly believe -- or simply say they believe -- what they do.  OK, I get they think -- or say they think (OK, I'll start skipping this caveat, though it's what terrifies me the most) -- that Big Pharma is corrupt and conning them.  Though who do they think makes ivermectin?  Is the largest manufacturer of vitamin C?  That Alex Jones and Andrew Wakefield craft them with their own hands in a mom-and-pop-pharma outfit?  I get that they don't trust Big Government and the Deep State, etc.  But it seems to go way beyond those, though it requires and subsumes them.  The narrative -- or predominant trend of the roiling mass of multifarious narratives -- seems to be that every government, and essentially every medical scientist, doctor and hospital administration is in on the Fix.  And yet another part of the narrative is that if they get sick (OK, this is just the segment of the market that believes it even exists) and if they need significant treatment (... this will just be the segment that don't think "it's just the common cold") then modern medicine will help treat them?  How does you compartmentalise that tightly and not spend all day just winding and upwinding mental bulkheads?

Covid-19 doesn't seem likely to be a species-killer, but this sort of deeply paranoid Flat-Earther thinking might very well be some day.

[Lloyd Dupont]

At the risk of being political (we shall see if my post get deleted I reckon, haha)(but hey, behold, this whole thread would already qualify as political in some circle, how strange), I think many ill informed people are falling victim to evil propaganda here...

But who will waste money on such senseless propaganda I was wondering for a long time....

Recently I started to suspect, I reckon our small government loving elites are sponsoring this chaos causing propaganda. the more chaos the more ineffective the government, the better for them... A classic case of divide and conquer.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Lloyd Dupont

[Alex]

16 hours ago, Lloyd Dupont said:

Recently I started to suspect, I reckon our small government loving elites are sponsoring this chaos causing propaganda. the more chaos the more ineffective the government, the better for them...

Yeah, the whole thread is political, in the strange world we live in these days.  What a time to alive!  ... or not, for the 4,550,000 people who ain't as a result.  (I find myself quoting that number semi-regularly on different parts of the interwebz...  And another chilling thing is that, amid the yells of "it's just a little flu", "only seasonal", "covid's over now", etc, it's not actually that number -- it's significantly different every time.)

But you may actually have just successfully dragged it back on-forumate!  Obviously these people are a secret(?) cult of Malia and/or Cthulhu worshippers!  HP, POW, and SAN losses all round.

[Lloyd Dupont]

3 hours ago, Alex said:

But you may actually have just successfully dragged it back on-forumate!  Obviously these people are a secret(?) cult of Malia and/or Cthulhu worshippers!  HP, POW, and SAN losses all round.

Thanks! 🙂
Oh, and don't forget Ragnalar! 😄

[Kloster]

On 9/29/2021 at 2:04 AM, svensson said:

The day my father passed, the United States exceeded the number of direct-cause deaths [that is to say, it's on the death certificate as the proximate cause] due to COVID than we lost during the Spanish Flu of 1918-20.

And I thought France's situation was bad!! We're still at half the spanish flu (but it hit more severely France than the US).

[svensson]

5 hours ago, Kloster said:

And I thought France's situation was bad!! We're still at half the spanish flu (but it hit more severely France than the US).

And, of course, the per capita deaths are MUCH lower. But it's still a landmark nobody wanted.

[svensson]

On 9/28/2021 at 9:18 PM, Lloyd Dupont said:

At the risk of being political (we shall see if my post get deleted I reckon, haha)(but hey, behold, this whole thread would already qualify as political in some circle, how strange), I think many ill informed people are falling victim to evil propaganda here...

But who will waste money on such senseless propaganda I was wondering for a long time....

Recently I started to suspect, I reckon our small government loving elites are sponsoring this chaos causing propaganda. the more chaos the more ineffective the government, the better for them... A classic case of divide and conquer.

I would be a fool if I didn't say that someone was profiting from the divisiveness in the G8 generally. In the US, I would start with the Republicrat and Democlican National Committees and work down. In other countries, your mileage will vary. Apply labels as you like.

But as a historian it's incumbent on me to note that absolutely none of that is new. There has been push-back from the wealthy and entitled against 'mob-ocracy' since Pericles of Athens and that isn't going to change anytime soon. What I think makes the modern era different from the previous ones is, of course, the internet and social media generally. Memetic warfare, also called 'molding public opinion' and 'spin doctoring', isn't anything like new either, but access to the net has allowed each and every interest, party, conspiracy theory, think tank, and dumbass with an opinion a huge bullhorn to scream their nonsense to the world without any consequences whatsoever.

Add to this that there are indeed foreign powers that seek to divide public opinion in democracies around the world to their benefit. China and Russia are the big two, but international jihadism is steadily becoming more sophisticated and slick in their deepfake production and propaganda skills. I refer you to Mike McMaster's book 'Battlegrounds' and '15 Minutes of Shame' by [of all people, but someone who knows something about it] Monica Lewinsky for more information on the development and monetizing of public opinion.

[Kloster]

1 hour ago, svensson said:

But it's still a landmark nobody wanted.

Fully agreed.

[Kloster]

On 9/29/2021 at 5:26 AM, Alex said:

Covid-19 doesn't seem likely to be a species-killer, but this sort of deeply paranoid Flat-Earther thinking might very well be some day.

It is (still) not, but don't forget that in 1918, in 1 month, H1N1 went to 'a bit more contagious than usual' common flu to a monster that, according to Pasteur's Institute, killed 50 millions people worldwide (for the record, whole WW1 is estimated to 18.6 millions) and then, disappeared in 1957, becoming the father of all seasonal flu viruses. I know, what I just wrote is vastly simplified, but it shows us what can become an uncontrolled pandemic.

[Alex]

2 hours ago, Kloster said:

It is (still) not, but don't forget that in 1918, in 1 month, H1N1 went to 'a bit more contagious than usual' common flu to a monster that, according to Pasteur's Institute, killed 50 millions people worldwide (for the record, whole WW1 is estimated to 18.6 millions) and then, disappeared in 1957, becoming the father of all seasonal flu viruses. I know, what I just wrote is vastly simplified, but it shows us what can become an uncontrolled pandemic.

Sure, and I should have added "touch wood" (and the accompanying gesture of the coffee table and the head) when I said that -- I'll fix that omission now!  But actual virologist academics have gone on record as saying that it doesn't appear to be likely to mutate so much as to be vastly more lethal (though it is a SARS-species strain, to don't take that to the bank!) or considerably still-more infectious.  But no guarantees on that, and no reassurance at all when it comes to next uncontrolled pandemic.  If that's a highly novel influenza, or an especially nasty enterovirus, adenovirus, or even "only" a rhinovirus, subsequent RTI outbreaks might not 'stabilise' in the way this one hopefully is starting to.

But human stupidity isn't limited to viral vectors.  That's what really pokes at my fatalism.

[svensson]

12 minutes ago, Alex said:

But human stupidity isn't limited to viral vectors.  That's what really pokes at my fatalism.

I'm the first person I know to come up with this, but I DON'T fancy myself to be all that clever. SOMEBODY had to have some up with it first, and I just don't know who that somebody is.

"If ignorance is bliss, how come there are so many pissed off stupid people out there?"

[Alex]

13 minutes ago, svensson said:

I'm the first person I know to come up with this, but I DON'T fancy myself to be all that clever. SOMEBODY had to have some up with it first, and I just don't know who that somebody is.

"If ignorance is bliss, how come there are so many pissed off stupid people out there?"

I dunno who was first -- especially as the following is a book of quotes, originally marketed in the UK under the QI quiz show brand name -- but here's some prior art...  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/102949/if-ignorance-is-bliss-why-arent-there-more-happy-people-by-john-lloyd-and-john-mitchinson/

[svensson]

That's probably where I got the inspiration for it.

As to the question itself, that's rather easy. The ill-informed are easy to piss off. It's the 'believe the big lie over the uncomfortable truth' dichotomy that fuels so much propaganda.

[Alex]

4 hours ago, svensson said:

As to the question itself, that's rather easy.

To which add, reduced credit for answering your own question!

[HierophantX]

My daughter got covid from her teacher last week. I guess wearing a mask to protect the twins she's pregnant with as well as all of our kids made her freedom hurt too much. And now my wife is upstairs in bed with the shakes, test results pending (and we're both double-shotted). So far the other daughter and I are symptom-free and the first daughter's symptoms seem to have faded (mashallah ayni ma'drha). But at least my wife was able to see a doctor today, as opposed to the last 2 years in the UK where we couldn't

Fack.

 

[Lloyd Dupont]

Nurse Carefully Weighs Whether She Better Off Getting Vaccine Or Losing Job And Dying (theonion.com)

[svensson]

11 hours ago, Alex said:

To which add, reduced credit for answering your own question!

You know, the internet has been around for almost 40 years and by now you'd expect that all the smart web wonks out there would have developed IRSF... the Internationally Recognized Sarcasm Font....

🤣😆😁

[svensson]

8 hours ago, HierophantX said:

My daughter got covid from her teacher last week. I guess wearing a mask to protect the twins she's pregnant with as well as all of our kids made her freedom hurt too much. And now my wife is upstairs in bed with the shakes, test results pending (and we're both double-shotted). So far the other daughter and I are symptom-free and the first daughter's symptoms seem to have faded (mashallah ayni ma'drha). But at least my wife was able to see a doctor today, as opposed to the last 2 years in the UK where we couldn't

Fack.

 

I really don't know how to politely say how concerned I am for your family, but I am. I won't feed you the trite and pithy 'thoughts and prayers' line, but I am concerned and I sincerely hope you all pass through this difficulty healthy and well. My respects.