mykc14 wrote:When we think of the people who have been discriminated against around the world we typically don't call them 'villainized' although many certainly were. There are many levels of discrimination and villainization and if want to stand by your analogy that is fine, but I'm not buying into it. When I hear of somebody, or any group being villainized, I don't automatically jump to comparing them to people who have faced extreme discrimination. Fox news villainizes Democrats, CNN villainizes Republicans, etc. To me those groups don't go with your analogy and neither do the unvaxxed.
OK, if you don't like that analogy, here's a different way to look at your premise regarding the villainization of the unvaccinated.
One of the major things I didn't like about Donald Trump was that he
"villainized" illegal immigrants as nothing but a bunch of drug running thugs out to rape our children, numbering in the millions, that crashed the border and that we need to spend billions of taxpayer dollars to erect a wall to keep them out. The fact is that the vast majority of illegals are undocumented because they overstayed their visa, meaning that they entered the country not by swimming the river or on a burro through the desert, but legally through a port of entry. However, my personal sympathy for the plight of an illegal alien, although they have been grossly mischaracterized by the POTUS, is very limited because they have a choice: They could either get themselves legal by applying for an extension of their visa/citizenship, or they could leave the country. They by no means have to accept how society has painted them if it is that disturbing for them to bear.
My point is that if you don't like how the government or others have villainized you, you have a choice: Go get vaccinated. Obviously, it's not that big of an issue for you personally or else you would have done exactly that.
mykc14 wrote:In my reply to Hawktalk I stated that I agree that hundred's of thousands of American deaths could have been avoided had they decided to get the vaccine. I understand that I could still be one. To use your war analogy we're probably talking about the amount of US Soldiers who died in WW1 or maybe WW2. I am not anti-vaccine, like I stated before, when people ask me if they should get the vaccine I tell them to talk to their doctor.
I used Vietnam because 2X was about 110k, or a very conservative estimate of how many preventable deaths we've suffered due to a low vaccination rate. The total deaths from covid are well over what both sides lost in the Civil War, the most devasting war in our country's history, and we're still counting.
mykc14 wrote:I don't know about there being no major side affects as there are people who have died from the vaccine, I would classify that as a major side effect- but in general it seems safe for a vast majority of those who have taken it and I really have no interest in debating the safety of the vaccine right now.
I should have chosen my words more carefully. When one considers the number of vaccinations that have been administered worldwide, there have been very, very few incidents of major side effects compared to that of other generally accepted drugs and treatments that we take for granted, such as oral contraceptives. Just listen to the disclaimers they read on the scores of drug commercials we have to listen to. The vaccines are incredibly safe and there is no logical argument not to get the jab based on safety unless you are some type of Christian Scientist that rejects ALL drugs and treatments.
mykc14 wrote:My whole point remains the same- we need to get past vaxxed vs. unvaxxed and learn to live with this virus. Hopefully it doesn't mutate into a stronger form than it is now, unfortunately it doesn't seem like our government is ready to do that as can be seen by Biden's plan to vaccinate the world.
For me, the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated debate is water under the bridge, at least for now. There is so much virus floating around that it doesn't make a lot of sense to insist on vaccinations that are not likely to prevent infection anyway, and for me personally, I don't mind wearing my KN95 mask during the few times I spend indoors. From what I am reading, some of the experts think that the Omicron variant will represent a transition to where the virus is relegated to an endemic and that by mid March the pandemic could be over, at least for this country. But I still remain fully committed to vaccine mandates as a tool to fight future pandemics or this one should it rebound.
As far as Biden's plan to vaccinate the world, I'm four square behind him and was even critical of him last spring when he refused to release a stockpile of vaccines not even approved here. Get needles into as many arms as we can wherever they live and we'll have a better chance of beating this thing. People in other countries are generally more accepting of vaccines than we are here in the US. And that's coming from a conservative that votes Republican about 80% of the time.