How to talk to about the vaccine
Why calling people dumb fucking idiots may not help them make the choice you would like.
I wasn’t going to get the vaccine. My reasoning was solid.
I didn’t want to get the vaccine…so I’m not gonna get the vaccine.
Science baby.
In reality, I was just straight up scared to get it.
You don’t see a lot of anti-vaccine people tweeting that.
You will far more likely see something like, “If yOu gET the VAX, Bill Gatze are Spyin iN UR DiCk.”
You also don’t see a lot of pro vaccine people saying they understand why people wouldn’t trust big pharma or the government.
You will far more likely see something like, “If you do not obey my husband Joe Biden you are the reason that Covid happened and you killed my grandma and I’m glad your small business shut down. Also, you are a nazi who doesn’t know how to read.”
You are either an anti-vax-flat earth-nazi or a pro-vax-ANTIFA- nazi.
Science baby.
The truth is, many people have complicated feelings about complicated issues. The problem is, they are afraid to share those feelings because they don’t want to get kicked out of their tribe.
Left wandering the desert of the tribe-less alongside Jordan Peterson and Bill Maher.
I have been attacking big pharma for as long as I knew what it was. Profiting off the sick, marking up life saving medicines, doing shady shit with shady shit people in Washington. It was my job as a dutiful lefty to hate on them. And hate on them I did.
As an athlete I also shit on them for making disgusting pills that enable our shitty addictions while getting us addicted to even more garbage.
There is so much to hate!
In my head they were all little weasel faced Martin Shkreli types. (No offense Weasel from Suicide Squad.)
I also don’t trust the government. I know liberals are supposed to. We are the party of government over corporate power. The problem is, the government is supposed to be less evil and greedy than corporations. But after decades of peer reviewed daily life, turns out that politicians are evil and greedy as well! Who would have thunk it?
CUT TO:
COVID happens. Lockdown. Most of us go insane. Many of us start podcasts. A literal nightmare.
CUT TO:
Vaccine happens. You are happy because you have spent a year making podcasts you never posted and tiny puppets out of paper plates. On top of that, you are pretty sure your wife now hates you.
You are happy there is a vaccine and maybe an end in sight.
But a lot is happening and fast.
Suddenly everyone you don’t trust (see above) is telling you if you don’t put this thing they made in your body you’re a piece of shit. You want to ask questions. You are told to shut up. And if you publicly ask questions god have mercy on your soul.
So you ask those questions a little quieter. To a smaller circle. A circle of other misinformed scared people. You get the answers you are looking for.
Does having the evil government “forcing” you to inject something that evil pharma made sound cool? No. IT SOUNDS HORRIBLE! It’s every science fiction movie! Your new friends are making some valid points that line up with you not wanting to get a shot at CVS you don’t trust.
You like these new friends! Your old friends who you talk to about climate change are turning into buzzkills. They keep asking you when you are going to get the shot. They don’t listen to your rants about healthy lifestyle and avoiding old people. They don’t answer your questions.
You haven’t been red pilled enough to call them sheep. But you certainly are becoming more liberal with the mute button.
Many on the left pretended like all this is totally normal sounding. Like a vaccine passport is totally fucking normal sounding! Like “Oh, I’ve always loved big pharma! I called them soul sucking pirates who murder for a living IRONICALLY!”
Suddenly it was conservatives that were talking about eating healthy, working out, and getting sun. THAT IS THE PARTY OF DICK CHENEY WHO LIVED IN A CAVE WHERE HE COULD BOMB PEOPLE FROM THE SHADOWS!
A lot of the spiritual and wellness communities that were liberal two years ago are going full Q! “First we do breathwork followed by hunting down pedophiles that work for the Clintons. Namaste.”
If you are scared to do anything you find everything that solidifies your choice to not do the scary thing. Conformation bias runs its rotten little ship on our fear.
Any side effect story I saw about the vaccine made me more scared. And my feeds were filled with them. So then I would read more of the people saying what I wanted to hear. The more I read, the less I wanted the vaccine, the less I wanted the vaccine the more I read. And so on.
I didn’t care that these cases of horrible side effects were rare. I didn’t care that they were affecting people far less healthy than me. I didn’t care that COVID was running rampant and killing way more fucking people than the vaccine was. I hadn’t gotten COVID. I certainly didn’t make an appointment at WALGREENS to get Covid. Why risk it?!
By this point the liberals I followed had lost their patience. Tweets laughing at anti-vax people who died from COVID, blindly defending government mandated shots, none of this was exactly putting me at ease.
Saying anyone who is scared is a selfish fucking idiot seemed just as ignorant as the anti-vaxxers calling the other side sheep. All this rhetoric did was drive uncertain people away and back to their weird meme based science of distorted truth. Back to their own personal Cheney Caves.
I was quietly becoming anti-vax. Something I have made fun of for years. I didn’t post anti-vax stuff but I talked about it in my circles. I didn’t say I was anti-vax but said, “I am anti-THIS-vax for ME right NOW.”
Diplomatic as fuck.
So that was my plan. Not get it. I only hung out with people who didn’t get it. I didn’t think I could get anyone vaccinated sick and my only old friends are my parents who wouldn’t see me until I get vaccinated.
Oh you mean I don’t have to see my family if I don’t get the vaccine? One more win for the anti-vaxxers!
When the delta variant dropped my entire instagram was laughing at it. There was so much bullshit we were already fed that this seemed like another overblown case of fake news.
Then my brother texted me. “Hey man, you are going to make your own choice and that’s ok but this new variant is really bad and I’m looking out for you. Here is an article if you want to read it.”
Woah. What the fuck Nick? That wasn’t calling me dumb. It was a brother looking out for someone he loved.
God fucking damnit.
I realized just like I used to be in left wing bubbles I did the exact same fucking thing but on the other side. I asked him if I could ask him questions and made him promise not to make fun of me.
He said yup. As did my whole family.
That’s ALL IT FUCKING TOOK. Being able to ask questions. I wanted to know how I was making people less safe by not getting it, if it’s riskier for my health to not get the vaccine with talk of side effects etc. All pretty reasonable questions. I wasn’t asking if Jeffery Epstein was still alive and making the vaccine from his island. Just, “hey man, am I gonna be ok?”.
That’s all it took. Appointment made the next day.
I was….terrified. I literally went so deep into anti-vax land that I just straight up assumed I was gonna die.
I am covered in tattoos so the doctor was incredibly confused when I was shaking. He was like, “You know this doesn’t hurt right?” I asked him a lot of questions. He was nice and not like, “please stop asking me questions like I have been sent here to kill you. I am trying to help and tired of this shit.”
After the shot he told me to walk around for 15 minutes in case I have a bad reaction. I asked him what I should be looking for. He said, elevated heart rate and sweating. I told him, bad news, I had that right now, from being nervous.
After both shots I was fine and working out the next day. I feel good. I’m proud I’m doing something to help but I’m even more proud that I broke out of my circle. That I asked questions. That I didn’t let being scared or feeling dumb stop me from doing the right thing.
This isn’t a pro vaccine piece. It’s A ask questions piece. It’s a fuck tribalism piece. It’s a be compassionate to people who disagree with you and maybe, just maybe, you can help someone change their mind piece.
Also, you should probably get the vaccine.
Now, excuse me, I have to go meet the Clintons at an undisclosed location for some reason.