Pathetic Lies

 I do understand not liking being told what to do.  As a child, my mother and father often told me to do things I wasn't fond of.  I mean, eat my veggies, go to bed, stop doing that, do your homework, etc.

And when nutjobs like Robert Kennedy Jr. climb out of their wee hidey holes and bitch and moan about having to get a shot that might save their lives, and help end a pandemic, then yeah, I suppose I understand that too.  I mean, God forbid they're required to do something that might help themselves AND others.

But let us not forget that this particular variant of Kennedy is about as far over the moon as one can get and still be considered marginally sane.  I do understand, and frankly expected his pissy little squeal about having to get a shot.  But what it really does come down to is whether or not it's a species-prolonging and overall good decision.

As we've all seen over the past two years, this pandemic is nothing to ignore.  Early on it killed people who had no options for treatment or relief.  My circle of friends is much more limited than my wife, me being a curmudgeonly old introverted male, my personal policy on Facebook is that I restrict my circle of friends to those whom I know, personally, outside and off the internet, with the rare exception being some small few whom I knew prior to joining Facebook through the internet.

So yeah, I don't have a large bunch of people as "friends" but there's the issue.  My block list is far longer than my friends list in part because I learned not so recently that there are some subjects, situations, and topics which I can't leave well enough alone.  After engaging in utterly inappropriate discussions that degenerated into pissing matches, I chose to use technology to ignore the irritating folks so I don't make myself unwelcome to others.

And I've matured to the point where I know that I will be much better off if I'm not continually confronted with stupidity.  

My wife's circle of friends is much larger, she's a more forgiving, loving, decent person.  But in the early days of this pandemic, which I define as any time prior to a fairly reasonable treatment protocol that generated some number of survivors, and prior to the vaccine being widely available, one of her friends had a newly-married daughter who lost her new husband of less than 3 years to this dreadful pandemic.  And while that's a long way to go to claim a personal connection, it doesn't make much difference to me for that.  What does make a difference is that this is an example where a vaccine might well have made the difference between life and death, and a small boy might not have lost his father.  

Which is where I pretty well draw the line.  Idiots who champion alternative medical therapies that are even routinely disposed of by veterinarians, much less human doctors, fools who will not abide by basic public health rules (I don't like wearing a mask, but I will, because it's the right thing to do), and will not do the bare minimum to protect themselves and their families by getting a vaccine, well, I think it's about time we just let them die.  They don't deserve to use the expensive and limited health care resources we have in this country if they choose not to take care of themselves.

And yeah, I'm 100% aware that as an old fat man who got that way by not following direction/instruction on what and how to eat, etc., I am putting myself in pretty much the same boat.  I get it.  I did this to myself.  But I'm also willing to follow the directions I do receive from the health care professionals I have chosen to try to keep me alive.

Maybe we need to let this Kennedy do what he wants - which is to kill himself.  Because clearly, having lost the whole anti-vaccine argument, he's done.  He can wander off into whatever wilderness he feels is appropriate and drop off somewhere.  I mean, invoking a man who deliberately killed millions for no other reason than their religion to make the point that a wee needle is something he is truly terrified of and will not tolerate, well, drop off the map, nutjob.  Beat it.