My first encounter with a rabid anti-vaxxer

[msdogi]

I was having lunch by myself, and a couple sat at a nearby table. He was in a state, seems he was just fired from his job because he wouldn't vaccinated. Loudly saying he was going to sue, the supreme court would soon rule that requiring vaccinations for Covid was unconstitutional and that his company could not get away with this. Had a lot to say about the stupidity of masks too.
I admit to living in a bubble of the fully vaccinated, and always wear a mask in public, (required in my county). He also claimed that the vaccinations are causing the variants.
This was my first encounter with one of these people, and it was ugly. I know there is a lot of this out there, and they continue to make life miserable for others, especially medical workers. I did consider calling him out, but decided that wouldn't end well, and left quickly.
Not sure what it's going to take to get this crisis handled, but damn, this guy was scary.

[Botany]

1. That guy like many Trump supporters might be deeply mentally ill to begin with and have been fed..

.... disinformation for many years. His sources of news are made to make him angry @ people like you or me. In some
cases only death alone will stop the screaming in their skulls.

There us nothing you can say to them to make them understand science, that Dr. Fauci is a good man, that it gets dark at night, snow is cold, and or water is wet so don't try.

"I did consider calling him out, but decided that wouldn't end well, and left quickly. "

[marble falls]

2. I cashier at a local health food restaurant: had Covid in Nov 2019, had both shots and ...

... my booster by last August, wear a mask and use hand sanitizer about every other customer.

I am surprised how many RWs care about healthy eating. And are militant about it and weird Covid "facts".

I've been hearing recently from a non-Q, anti-45, anti-Biden, anti Republican and anti-British RWer movement. These ones are crazier than ever. There has to a lefty comedian fooling these yoiks.

[leftieNanner]

4. A Woman I know casually

Is like that.

She is 99% vegetarian, only eats certified organic food, and believes her daughter caught a cold because she ate a piece of candy.

She is 100% anti all vaccines, especially the Covid one. She announced last year that she had "studied this virus" and that she would never get the shot. That's right. She put her GED on the line and did her research.

SMDH

[marble falls]

7. Just crazy. She'd never open the back of her washing machine, but she'll take on ...

... epidemiology after reading about Covid gawd knows where on line. And drag her child down with her when her ignorance will not pull her through a case of Covid.

[leftieNanner]

9. Our County Gets the Double Whammy

We have a lot of Red Hatters here who believe Covid is a hoax (and who are clogging up our hospitals) along with the woo-woo naturopath type folks who don't believe in modern medicine. Our vaccination rate hovers just above 50%.

We are thinking of moving.

[marble falls]

11. Do not come to Texas!!!!!!!!

[leftieNanner]

12. Never!

We are considering the Seattle area.

My daughter will be looking for a University job next year after she finishes her post-doc. We are hoping it won't be in Texas - even though they have some fine schools down there.

I also hate hot weather, so that would be a deal-breaker too.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

62. My son is working on his PhD, and will be looking for employment

when he gets the degree. He's in astronomy, doing exo-planet research, which is currently a very hot field, and apparently there are a good number of jobs out there. I have spoken with him about where he might wind up, and he does not want to live and work in the deep South. In his case, a job in some other country might well be a possibility.

[leftieNanner]

68. That's very cool!

Will he go the academia route or business?

Sounds like an exciting field. I wish him well.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

70. I think the business route.

A while back he expressed interest in remaining in academia, but unless he can stay there only doing research and not needing to teach, he'd be better off going elsewhere. He just doesn't really have strong teaching skills, although perhaps I misjudge him.

There are companies out there that do exo-planet research, and for all I know NASA or some such would be possible. He's told me there's a company in Baltimore that operates the Hubble and would like to work for them. He's attending George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, just south of Washington DC.


He's also a bit older than most new PhDs in his field, as he'll be turning 39 in a week or so. There were various mis-steps and set backs in getting through school, but he's now exactly where he should be.

I constantly call him up to ask him astronomy questions, and he's always very informative.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

46. That's good advice at any time.

The world is huge, and there are lots of places to live which have a much better standard of life than Texas. And they're a lot more affordable, too. My wife and I are looking at our options for retiring, both in and out of the U.S. My remaining life is too short to put up with this shit. I spent too many years protecting and defending the Constitution while in the military to watch it being ripped up by an organized effort to destroy it, lead by a sociopathic con man. It's time for someone younger to pick up the banner of democracy. We've even got people in our own party (Manchin) who are committed to destroying the voting rights for tens of thousands of people.

What I know is that right now the only thing President Biden, the Senate Democrats, and the entire Democratic Party must be doing is focusing on restoring voting rights. All voting rights. That should be the only topic Democrats talk about if they go on talk shows. That is what the articles and op-eds should be written about. That's what a rally at the Capitol to match the size of Obama's inauguration most be about. I don't know how to organize it, but there are people who do. Hell, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart put on a huge rally for democracy that was non-partisan. If two entertainers can do it, why can't the Democrats and others who care about our country do the same?

The is a way to get around the filibuster. Hell, they just suspended the filibuster so the Senate could pass the appropriations bill with only a simple majority.

That is a crack in the filibuster dam. Now the only thing to do is find a way to widen it big enough for the voting rights bills to slip through.

[marble falls]

47. I got to Austin too late. The great times were over. And I waited twenty years too long to escape ..

... I'm considering squatting a room in a deserted factory in a legal hemp state and wait for everything to come down on our heads.

[Texin]

60. I wish we could leave (Texas). I'd like us to be able to relocate abroad.

But were to go? It seems that's there a global movement toward authoritarianism and fascism. If it doesn't already exist within countries, there is a growing movement into that direction. I can't understand what's happening to the human race. Meanwhile, the planet is on fire, blowing away on dry winds, glaciers melting, oceans deepening and animals becoming extinct. I had pooh-poohed the biblical notions last days, but I'm actually starting to think that's where we're all headed.

[70sEraVet]

27. Our county in rural TN will NEVER see a 50% vaccination rate

If JESUS came down and told them to get vaccinated, they'd say he was really Fauci in a robe and run him out of town.

[leftieNanner]

28. Sorry to hear that.

[marble falls]

40. crazy.

[ForgedCrank]

41. I dunno man,

I took apart the washing machine once to try to fix a leak and it wound up getting hauled off for scrap after that.
There are some real bastard springs in those things, and they are hefty. Epidemiology might actually be easier.

[marble falls]

44. Working on a washer can be just plain dangerous! I leave it to my ex-con GED neighbor ...

... I think he swears at it and threatens it with a mash hammer. But it'll be good for another year.

[C Moon]

32. I've been vegan for years, and know a lot of other vegans.

We've run into so many long time vegans who are anti-vaxxers. I'm guessing they are the types who do anything that is against the norm.
I have disconnected with all of them, because they are completely nuts now.

[zaj]

31. They see purity as a moral issue

Sex, religion and food it all comes from the same place.

https://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_the_moral_roots_of_liberals_and_conservatives/

[Backseat Driver]

38. I now suspect the "cheerleaders" of natural medicine, the naturopaths,

bio-nutritionist PhDs, and Functional Medicine people who are also widely read authors of "health" books and speakers in video media have turned to the far right as a means of making just as much money off the crazies, unto death, as the bigPharma folks siphon off the rest of us! That said, a bit of common sense about what is known seems useful because most folks leave "medical learning" about their own bodies to their artful doctors and articles/advertisements in magazines and on TV. They then avoid the critical thinking skills necessary to make informed decisions. One thing for sure, we do live in a toxic environment, physically and mentally.

I've been so disappointed in the likes of Mark Hyman, MD; Sayre Ji, Andrew Saul, and others during the pandemic that now I listen to their recommendations and protestations against censorship with a much more left-leaning political ear that supports prevention of getting it and then spreading it. There's a lot to be said for helping our bodies be more resistant to disease, but The CoVid just doesn't care about anything except a new host, so where two or three are gathered together, there's always politics and an opportunity for some to make lots of money as well.

[marble falls]

43. Especially true when we lived in Az, all the Chiropactors, naturopaths, neuropaths etc ...

... all RW as hell, all about "natural" diets that come from pyramid selling schemes in bottles and powders in cans and boxes. I thought "processing" food was bad.

[davsand]

3. I've come to a point I think I'll just wait for them all to die off.

As long as they aren't anywhere close enough to potentially infect me, I'm just gonna wait for their stupidity to kill them off. I've realized I can't fix stupid and that even if I could, I think those assholes all need to go the way of the dinosaurs.

Sorry, I guess I've finally descended to that level too.




Laura

[calimary]

15. You're not alone.

I’ve reached the point where all I have left for them is “FINE, then. Don’t get vaccinated. Get sick and die (and do us all a favor).”

I hate it that this has become my go-to, with these idiots. They can’t be helped. And worse, they WON’T be helped. Willfully do. New age refuseniks, I guess.

At this point, unfortunately, we’re better off without ‘em. But that’s also one less Pox Noise viewer and one less vote for trump, so maybe it IS better for the rest of us.

I HATE IT that it’s come to this point. We’re all supposed to be in this together and help each other and believe in each other and all those good things. But the constant and seemingly never-ending deterioration triggered by the ascendancy of the Orange Plague has had an impact on my thinking. A negative and pessimistic impact. I’ve lost faith in many of my fellow Americans. And I’m not sure how to get that back.

[msdogi]

25. that's what I considered saying

just wish hospitals didn't have to deal with them, and insurance didn't have to pay the costs. I recently heard a doctor say it's not if the unvaxxed get it, it's when.

[IronLionZion]

21. We're seeing the holiday increase in cases already

which is likely to peak early next year. So we should have fewer of these people by election time.

[SharonAnn]

30. Me too.

[Captain Zero]

35. Yes our consolation prize is that they are dying,

In disproportionate numbers.

Although they will also dispute that, until they die.

I remain puzzled though, how do authoritarians think it will work out to impose authoritarianism over such clinically oppositionally defiant morons ?

[Demsrule86]

5. I had one that did the sheep noises to me and she just rubbed me the wrong way...hubs was

getting a test to see if he caught Covid at work...we didn't think he had it, but I wore a mask everywhere...I pretty much always do...so I walked over removed my mask and said...' hey, I am boostered and all, I was just wearing the mask to protect you as my husband was tested for Covid and we don't have the results '(surprisingly he did have it, but I didn't and still don't.) She literally ran to the other end of the store.

[marble falls]

8. I'm going to that! when they question my mask, I'll whip it off and say, "I got Covid, want some?"

[Traildogbob]

26. When they

Make a sheep sound, just say, I think it’s past sheep rutting season, but maybe try your mating calls out in a pasture. Does you Christian family values accept unmarried sex with animals? Can the sheep get an abortion after rape, or does the 3 trump SC judges demand they carry that fetus till birth?

[soldierant]

34. Someone here came up with

"What kind of men do you attract with that mating call?" which of course could also work the other way. That had me in stitches.

[Traildogbob]

39. I would say

They are extremely well versed in animal mating calls. My College Wildlife Management students were very good at wild game calls for hunting. Actually had competition with multi school conclaves. But the trumpers are way too good at mating calls for domestic animals. That skill is NOT for hunting wild game. Deadly pandemic type diseases originate from swapping bodily fluids from separate species. Just saying…..Covid came from somewhere???? MAGATs/sheep?

[soldierant]

54. Oh my.

[packman]

58. Too long and complex for them - Just say

Rather be a live sheep than a dead jackass

[Traildogbob]

59. Great one.

[Walleye]

37. I put on my mask to go into the medical marijuana dispensary

Some guy coming out, looked like about Vietnam era age, told me, you don’t have to do that. First I have heard of any anti-masking in this area. I simply looked at him and said, well it’s better to be safe than sorry. It was such a mom thing to say he didn’t know how to answer it.

[marble falls]

45. "As long as you don't, I do have to wear this mask.

[Stuart G]

6. Listening to Trump, instead of outstanding medical advice to take the vaccine is totally NUTS!!

I have had pneumonia, in the hospital more than once, and never want it again..

.........NEVER, NEVER AND NEVER!!!!! ..

[marble falls]

10. Pneumonia three times, finally stopped once I got out of Nebraska. I had Covid ...

in November 2019. When I coughed while standing I passed out. Spent one week very sick, and longer than a week in the hospital after.

They told me I had an unidentified retrovirus.

When we left, I noticed all the doors on my side of the ward had "no visitors" signs in front of them.

[PatrickforB]

16. That is early, but you know, I was also really, really sick in November 2019,

and then again for another couple weeks in December that year.

I still get tired really easy and have edema and shortness of breath.

I got well, except for the above, and needless to say, I got the first, second and booster vaccine as soon as available. AND, I sure as hell wear a mask.

Fucking COVID. And these kooks who won't get vaxxed or wear masks make me sick (figuratively, because I try and be really safe).

My daughter was real sick late in '19 as well, and she is the first one who said that we may have had it early. Anyway, I can't prove it - that I had it - but I have definitely not been the same after the November-December 2019 illness.

[marble falls]

20. We're not the only ones and they all happened in November.

[jaxexpat]

61. Have any medical professional type you've seen since then linked your illness with Covid?

Is so little factual information available that it's slipped into the realm of shrugging it off and muttering "I dunno, could be, we could run tests but I don't know which ones"? Like doctors do for about nearly anything outside their specialty wheelhouse.

As you get older you see doctors more often. Yea Medicare. It's when you get into the pain/symptom management stage of "serious terminal accumulation of poor lifestyle choices syndrome", STAPLCS. Pretty common in Florida and Phoenix.

[Evolve Dammit]

63. I had a cough so bad I pulled a muscle and ended up with pneumonia January 2020 before C-19 was

"out". It was there, but 45 kept it a secret. Except to Bob Woodward. Not 100% sure as they told me it was a "virus" and flu test was neg. I still can't taste normally but slowly getting better. We've been extremely careful, triple vaxxed, masks when out, but now the teens are back in school, masked but still...
Glad we're still here

[Quixote1818]

29. Funny thing is Trump has actually told his supporters to get vaccinated. The booed him for saying it

nt

[ProfessorGAC]

42. And, Don't Forget...

...TFG did get vaccinated, and told people on that Faux interview that they should get vaxxed.
They've gone so crazy that even TFG is not nuts enough for them anymore.

[marble falls]

64. 45 is becoming less of a danger daily. He just isn't crazy enough for the whackoids anymore.

[wnylib]

13. I have an idea that I haven't tried yet.

I'm thinking of writing short messages on post-its and sticking them to the backs of anti vaxxers and anti maskers. It would be tricky to stick them on without getting caught, though.

The notes would say things like "murderer" or "covid spreader."

[ShazzieB]

23. I suggest "plague rat."

Sounds good if you can figure out how to do it without them noticing.

In the interest of full dislosure, they should all be made to wear a sign saying, "I don't care if I have covid and give it to you, your 90 year old grandmother, your cancer patient mom, your diabetic uncle, or your newborn nephew. I don't care if you and they all die. Have a nice day."

[LittleGirl]

14. My mouth probably could not help saying

Well, don’t go to the hospital when you get sick because they practice science there!

[Jon King]

17. Exactly, their selective acceptance of science is hilarious.

Heart attack, car accident, they are all in. But climate change and this particular vaccine...scientists are nothing but liars.

[murielm99]

18. I just read in article in our regional newspaper

about a guy who had a double lung transplant. He was an anti-vaxxer. Now he wants everyone to be vaxxed.

I am sorry, but I am out of compassion. Someone else deserved those lungs. I know doctors do not think that way, but I am tired of these morons.

[Ziggysmom]

19. Had someone tell me that my mask doesn't prevent anything. I said it keeps me from having

to smell your slack jaw yokel breath and the dingleberries on your dirty repube ass.

I have no patience for ignorant, brainwashed fux news peeps.

[GoCubsGo]

33. Another response:

Great! The next time you have surgery, go ahead and tell your surgeon, and all of the OR nurses and technicians that they don't need to bother with masks, since they don't prevent anything, right?

Granted, they're likely to be too fucking stupid to understand what you're getting at in bringing that up. It's the goddamed Idiocracy.

[Ziggysmom]

52. So true. Why are doctors and nurses so careful to gown and mask for surgery! They stop

the transmission of germs. Period.

[barbtries]

22. thoroughly brainwashed.

propaganda is taking us down.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. They practice being scary 'cause they believe in violence & "Might makes right". Bullies & thugs. nt

[Orrex]

36. This crop of antivax assholes is very much like the Trump cult

They will proudly persist in their stubborn, dangerous ignorance until the last of them is dead.

[Stainless]

48. My Cousin passed away from Covid complications early this morning.....

He was 70 years old and in good health when he retired as a District Judge a couple of years ago. He had his first and second vaccinations but didn't receive a booster because he was scheduled for surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. He developed many complications after his surgery and eventually Covid caught up with him. He finally tested negative and was recovering but Covid had destroyed his heart. He was in the ICU for more than two months.

I am absolutely disgusted with the utter stupidity and ignorance of the anti-vaxxer morons. They should be denied medical care for Covid if they choose to remain unvaccinated. The stress that these bastards are putting on our health care workers is criminal in my mind.

[MustLoveBeagles]

51. I'm sorry for your loss

[Johonny]

49. They probably support right to work too

[Philosophizing Fool]

50. One third

You likely, depending on region, deal with at least 30% of Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters every day. Judging all Republicans by the actions of a very few outliers has robbed us of our decency it seems to me. The same when Republicans judge us by the actions of our more regrettable members.

None of us are literally dealing with 3 out of 10 people being these examples we provide as to why we can hate. With a population over 300 million, a one in a million chance happens only about 300 times a day, one in a billion, every 3 days or so.

Most people regardless of race, creed, politics, or religion are not all that much different than you or I. Let us be better, each day is a chance to set an example and be a leader. Bless us all, we are the party of hope and peace, let us not forget it.

[druidity33]

55. 100 percent of Republicans

are not like me. One hundred percent of Republican politicians are soulless greedy MFers. I just turned 50 this year. I have never, and i mean NEVER, met a Republican i wanted to be friends with. It's never just about policy with a Republican...

[A HERETIC I AM]

53. Hell hath no fury.....

Like a mildly inconvenienced white person.


Nothing like having your privilege checked to bring out that inner spoiled brat.

[The Jungle 1]

56. Freedom freedom freedom

Except for abortions. You will do what we say on that issue.

[Glaisne]

57. He will likely catch COVID

and die. Or if lucky (or unlucky) get very sick, recover, and live with long COVID issues. Another victim of right-wing hate propaganda. The MAGA power elites could care less. They have total disregard for life. Sad.

[Caliman73]

66. Compassion?

I saw nothing in the post that showed a lack of compassion. It was a matter of fact accounting of an encounter with a person who is resisting vaccination and masking as health solutions to the pandemic. It was followed by the OP's reaction to the event.

Can you define what compassion would look like in this scenario?

Excuse the person's ill informed point of views because he lost his job? Put yourself in the shoes of a person who believes in right wing talking points and puts other people's health at risk as a result? I suppose if I had lost my job because I supported a viewpoint that is held by a small minority of people with way outsized influence over the conversation about public health, I might be upset.

Tolerance and open mindedness are an excuse that right wingers often use to be allowed to push their toxic views. They want liberals to be tolerant of White Supremacist views, which would literally seek to push out, or kill people of color. There are certain viewpoints that deserve no tolerance.

We can feel bad for him that he lost his job while also understanding that he lost the job because he would not follow guidelines that were founded in science and public health, to protect his fellow workers.

[hadEnuf]

67. This is Fox News / right wing media induced hatred.

If it isn't vaccines it will be something or someone else. And if there isn't a crisis, they will invent one just to keep up their unhinged hatred.

These people are simply thugs and they are programmed to terrorize and create a shit show out of anything and everything for their fuhrer Trump.

[tclambert]

69. Mark Twain said, "Never wrestle with a pig. You will both get filthy, but the pig will enjoy it."