Live free and die: Inside the bizarre political philosophy of America's unvaccinated

[Nevilledog]

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💫 Margaret Sullivan
@Sulliview
Excellent, well reported column from ⁦@Will_Bunch⁩ … Inside the bizarre political philosophy of America’s unvaccinated, in ⁦@PhillyInquirer⁩

Live free and die: Inside the bizarre political philosophy of America’s unvaccinated | Will Bunch
A warped sense of freedom, distrust of elites cause millions in 'Trump country' to shun vaccines. Here's why they needlessly risk death.
inquirer.com
10:14 AM · Jul 8, 2021

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/why-americans-wont-get-vaccinated-trump-states-20210708.html

A couple of weeks ago, I drove two hours north to the hillside town of Olyphant, Pa., just outside Scranton, to meet with a Donald Trump superfan for a book project I’ve been working on. For 90 minutes, I listened to this 54-year-old laid-off factory worker and former Democrat who now says the more that liberal politicians and other elites voice their contempt for the ex-president, the more strongly he supports Trump. He was also candid about his recent health woes — including a heart attack and a stroke — so I asked if he’d received a COVID-19 shot.

“Absolutely not,” he responded quickly, “and I will not get it. Let me clarify ... not at this time, because it’s all pretty new.” He blamed not only the speed with which the vaccines gained federal approval but shifts in coronavirus guidance from top officials — but he was basically distrustful of anything around COVID-19, because he felt it has been politicized. “I just felt that the left was using it as an excuse to fire along their agenda, get rid of Trump,” he said.

Elsewhere across the U.S., some folks have not been as lucky with rolling the dice on COVID-19, during what should be the waning days of the pandemic but which — most frustratingly — are not. In and around Springfield, Mo., on the edge of the Ozarks and in the heart of Trump country in a deep red state, case counts have been surging in recent days. Some 17 people — none of them fully vaccinated, like more than 60% for their fellow Missourians — died there from the virus from June 21 through July 4, and one of the city’s hospitals ran out of ventilators for a time. “Many people talk about this as if it’s a personal decision, but it’s a decision that absolutely affects the entire community, so we need more people to get vaccinated,” Aaron Schekorra, a county public health official, told the Kansas City Star. “The pandemic’s not over.”

No, it’s not. Increasingly, we are moving toward two Americas — one mostly vaccinated and one mostly not, separate and at unequal risk of disease and death. And more and more, that divide is political. A striking map shows that almost all of the U.S. states that have vaccinated more than 70% of adults voted for the Democrat for president in 2016 and 2020 (the exception is here in Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016). Meanwhile, almost all of the states with the lowest vaccination rates (except for Nevada) went for Trump in at least one of the last two elections.

*snip*

[XanaDUer2]

1. strange people nt

[Girard442]

2. I sometimes think that Germany and Japan have had peace for so long because...

...many of the warrior types died in WWII. Maybe enough anti-intellectuals will die in the pandemic that we can have some respite from the culture wars for a while.