this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2024
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[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 57 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

All of it is driven by the for profit healthcare industry, in the end.

Why do MAGA chucklefucks not trust the healthcare industry and think vaccines are poison? Because they're aware of the reality of the healthcare industry mostly existing to turn a profit, and not existing to help patients. Honestly, most MAGA chucklefucks are upset about the same shit we are but they lack the education to know and understand the sources of their troubles, and instead resort to idiocy like racism. They're smart enough to pinpoint the medical/pharmaceutical industry as a problem, but they're not smart enough to figure out that it is specifically the US's way of doing it that makes it so hard on them and that the pharmaceutical companies may be selfish and greedy, but they tend to not be completely outright evil and looking to kill people (dead people can't pay recurring medical bills). Worse, they're also not smart enough to understand (or not compassionate enough to care, maybe?) how their rejection of vaccines hurts other people in the process.

On top of that is the very real issue that COVID vaccines are no longer paid for by the US government, have inconsistent coverage on where you can get it (my partner was turned away at CVS because her insurance wasn't accepted there, mine was. She had to wait two more weeks to get a jab elsewhere), and for the uninsured, it's completely cost-prohibitive. It's over $200 which is not an amount of money most US citizens have laying around every six months for a current COVID booster on a disease that isn't going away.

The corporate and political class are literally bleeding the workers of the US dry and making them unhealthy, long-term, and they don't care as long as their profits in the short-term are "good enough."

EDIT: Describing behavior is not excusing behavior. There's a reason I included the "or not compassionate enough to care" because god damn, that's a lot of them.

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 37 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Free vaccines for people should be one of the fundamental things a government should do. Time to start putting pressure on our politicians.

"Do you side with us or are on on the side of the viruses? You're either with us or against us."

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Another issue is we have got to stop accepting so many reasons to not vaccinate your kids.

What's the point of having a policy for vaccinations when half the country just keeps going "It's against my religion" when no religion (except maybe Scientology) is new enough to have addressed things like vaccines. It seems clear a majority of them are just people who don't like the idea of vaccinations and are using religion as an easy cudgel to get out of it.

I mean, you know, how religious people always use their religion. As a cudgel. To not have to follow the same rules as everyone else.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 0 points 10 months ago

But, we have free vaccines.

My pharmacy is 80m from my door, and I rolled in and got it for free. Flu too, in the same sitting.

Oh. I'm not in America though.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Sorry. You somehow got "Oh, the MAGAts are actually protesting the health care system" out of this?

Also: Yes, the for profit health care system is massively fucked. The covid vaccination program actually was an example of doing things right. Government subsidized with a lot of resources put toward solving the problem.

And this went on long before the current shitshow where CVS will actively refuse to use any of the government assistance programs because it results in a lower bottom line.

Your heart is (probably) in the right place. But could we not defend selfish dumbfuck science deniers in our quest to talk about the problems with the health care system? They are fucking morons and it is killing not just them but others. End of story.

[–] Soleos@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Understanding and explaining how people may develop a perspective is not a defense of those people or their perspective. Simply saying "They're morons, end of story" is unproductive. Denouncing a nuanced examination of the problem of distrust in healthcare is counterproductive. You can humanize without condoning. And clearly the intention was to address the problem in a meaningful way.

Or maybe I'm mistaken and the solution is "Stop being morons. End of story." /s

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, I am in no way excusing the behavior.

However, I do think it's an interesting contrast with how people would respond if you presented them with a marginalized black or latino community who are vaccine hesitant. Other than MAGAs, those are some of the most represented vaccine-hesitant groups.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8137342/

The major predictors of vaccine hesitancy in AA and Hispanics included: sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., younger age, female gender, lower-income/education, and larger household size); medical mistrust and history of racial discrimination; greater exposure to myths and misinformation; perceived risk of getting infected with COVID-19; past vaccine compliance and beliefs about vaccines; and concerns about the safety, efficacy, and side effects from the COVID-19 vaccines.

Somehow I think the same person might check themselves for a fucking minute before they said "could we not defend selfish dumbfuck science deniers in our quest to talk about the problems with the health care system?" because when it's aimed at marginalized groups, it suddenly sounds as fucked up as it is.

[–] NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Actually, I very much went off on black communities that refused to get vaccinated. If it were "Hey, we are the US Military. Come get free candy and injections from us" I would be a lot more compassionate but it was stupidity coupled with implausible conspiracies.

But, regardless, none of that has any fucking thing to do with the healthcare system. Black communities were not hesitant because... other forms of health care cost a lot of money. They were hesitant because their parents and grandparents were fucking experimented on like lab rats. Similarly, the magats actively argue for our health care systme to remain just as fucked up as it is.

So, again, can we not assign some heroic protest against a fucked up health care system in the face of one of the only times this country has ever gotten health care right to the fuckheads who decided The Bible, as told by Facebook, means they should shove horse pills up their asses and spread a deadly virus to everyone around them?


Regarding the black community and vaccinations. I think the overall video was rather shitty, but Failed Mythbuster Allen Pan did a video about a vaccine gun for some reason. And the person he had been paying as his camera person basically went off on him about how he was being insensitive by wanting people to get vaccinated and the truly heinous shit the US government had done was brought up. He, like any asian raised in the US, listened and refused to disagree and mostly just tried not to get accused of a hate crime. But the outcome was: If you are that afraid that this is a giant conspiracy to fuck over minorities... go ten miles out of your way to the white people Wallgreens and get your vaccination there.

[–] candybrie@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Black communities were not hesitant because... other forms of health care cost a lot of money.

This was not the issue with the health care system being pointed out. It's that the health care system is fine with harming you if it will result in making them money. The opioid epidemic has hit many of these conservative communities hard. It's not assigning some heroic intentions to them. It's simple mistrust of something they know doesn't give a damn about them.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

Simply saying "They're morons, end of story" is unproductive

Yes, but it's not less productive than trying to educate the losers, and it takes less energy so I'm able to get back to other things quicker. Cost/benefit win.

[–] pensivepangolin@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

Thank you very much for the best diagnosis of this country I’ve yet to read on here! I could agree more, and it’s frankly rather heartbreaking to see people exploited by right wing psychopaths simply because they’re too uneducated to know any better.

[–] ExfilBravo@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago

They call it natural selection for a reason.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

2020 - S05E11 - Your Body, My Choice!

The US may be heading to a "dangerous vaccination tipping point," with immunization rates falling so low that population-level immunity is now at risk, and we will likely see thousands of needless deaths this respiratory virus season, two top officials for the Food and Drug Administration warned in a recent JAMA commentary. FDA Commissioner Robert Califf and top FDA vaccine regulator Peter Marks noted the profound benefits of vaccines—which save millions of lives in the US each year—and their established safety, which is monitored both passively and actively through multiple overlapping federal safety monitoring systems. And yet, "an increasing number of people in the US are now declining vaccination for a variety of reasons, ranging from safety concerns to religious beliefs," thanks to the rise of anti-vaccine misinformation spread on social media and elsewhere on the Internet. - TV-MA, 58 mins

SD, SHD, UHD, Dolby Vision; Dolby Stereo, Dolby Surround, Dolby Atmos

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

The gop should start using that slogan