Dumb Is Dumb

 Yeah, some mornings I get up and ... find stupid in the world.

Like This sort of thing.  It's an article from CNN stating how one certain "Evangelical Pastor" is encouraging his flock to not be vaccinated against COVID-19.  

Now, I am not going to parade myself here as an intelligent man in opposition to stupidity.  God knows I have done enough dumb stuff, and I've also made mistakes.  But there have been times when I have been asked to be a leader.  And I have been responsible for others.  And when I have been responsible for the safety of other people for any reason whatsoever, I bow to the experts.  And in fact, I rely on their advice.

And in this situation, the leader of a group based on faith, and I believe this fellow, who goes by the name of "Tony Spell" and is out of Louisiana, and his message to his flock is to avoid a vaccine which will save their lives.  Now, I am no religious scholar, but I did have some benefit of attending faith-based schooling for a little over sixteen years.  In other words, after kindergarten, I attended a Roman Catholic grade school, High School, and College.  And after all that, I did learn a little bit about the bible, and I learned that Jesus trusted his Apostles to lead by example, and to help others.

Which is why, today, Jesus would be telling all to keep their faith in His Father, but to take advantage of every opportunity to avoid suffering.  No matter how it came about, this COVID disease is horrible.  And while it does remain any individual's choice to obtain that vaccine, it also remains the responsibility of every single individual, whether they're responsible for themselves, their family, their followers, or any sort of organization, they must present the truth.

For a leader who lies is, at the base of it all, a liar.  And there are no greater sins, or personally irresponsible behaviors, to lie to someone - especially to someone who believes you.  And so, I would also suggest, that if any of the people who follow this fool come down with, and later die, of COVID, this individual should probably be charged with accessory to murder.  Why?  I mean, he didn't bring the disease to their home and infect them with it, so there's no murder charges, he was simply an accessory to spreading misinformation.  And that misinformation will kill people.

People will die not because of a failure of faith, but rather because they listened and believed a liar.  And that lie killed them.  Because the opportunity to increase your potential survival chances was ignored by people who shouldn't ignore it.

And while some might joke that we're better off without them, I would bet that every single one of his followers has a mother and father or husband or wife or offspring who love them, and will miss them desperately.

During the surge late last year, a "Facebook Friend" of my wife lost her new husband.  This friend was the daughter of another "Facebook Friend" who she knew, and this young lady, and her son, lost the man she had married and planned to spend many years growing old with and instead she has been forced to tell her young kindergarten-aged son who opened his heart to a new father that the son did not bring this deadly disease home from school, and he could not say Goodbye to his father because they were not allowed in the hospital when he took his last breath.

And this all took place one state over, where the Governor, a fawning acolyte of that recently-removed orange buffoon of a former President who now resides in Florida with his cherished delusions and lies and dwindling fortunes.  And while serving as the prime example of why reality TV hosts are utterly unqualified and unable to serve as good leaders, he also has the blood of several hundred thousand on his hands.  While this does not make him a mass murderer like some leaders of history, it makes him as culpable due to his willingness to also lie to those who follow him. 

And that, I guess, is likely to be the big battle of the 21st Century.  The internet, social media, and the fragmentation of reliable and trustworthy news sources has created the rather obvious field of war against lies.  This Pastor "Tony Spell" is just the latest example of the sort of fool who will kill with lies, and survives and prospers on the backs and pocketbooks of those gullible people whom he misleads.  I've long believed that you can evaluate the sort of leader someone is by how and where they are leading their followers.  And this man is seeking to lead his to an early death, undoubtedly to profit from their belief.  He'll tell his flock that those who die from a preventable disease lacked the faith in him, his leadership, and his direction, and because their "faith was weak" they deserved to die.

The only person in this sad story who deserves to die quickly is this false prophet, because his departure from this mortal coil will save others.  Undoubtedly the true believers will drift to another false profit, but let me tell you, folks, the battle lines and the true direction of a leader will be easy to see.  The very worst sort of leader is the one who will tell you that they are the only true and credible source of knowledge you can believe, and when that starts, they have made abundantly clear they are the problem.  And all it requires is a mind that is open to the possibility that no matter how devout and credible someone might seem, their veracity, reliability, and long term prospects should be evaluated on one thing only - are they looking for their best interests, and will those best interests of theirs coincide with yours?

And clearly, Mr. Spell is attempting to cast one over the people who currently follow him.  Little I can say or do will sway them, and their deaths will not be on my conscience, but rather, on his.  And so, when he stands before his final judgement, and he has to justify what he has done, I fully expect that he will find himself yet another false prophet who sought rather to profit, and lead his flock into death, rather than a new life.  

And all we can do, in the end, is evaluate someone based on their actions.  And this fellow is leading his flock to death.  I am glad I am not one of them.  I know I will die some day, but so will everyone else.  And I'll be judged on my actions, my belief, and my heart.  And if it happens that I simply cease to exist, rather than as I expect transit to some other sort of existence, I'll be happy in the memories I leave behind, and I will live each and every day to avoid being a jerk.  

So I got that going for me, which I hope is good enough in the end.