To me it's important that these deaths and how these people acted be recorded for posterity. The segregationist political parties during the civil rights movement didn't die until it became embarrassing to be a neo-nazi, and it took the ugliness being nationally televised for that to happen. COVID is no different and these people who are shown on hermancainawards and other forums, should be shown in all of their miserable glory. It's not just about justice for the innocent people dying from covid (e.g. immunocompromised, people who died in the first wave, etc.) or due to to antivaxxers taking up medical resources (e.g. people who can't get needed surgeries, or people dying in ERs waiting for hospital beds for other non-covid stuff), it's about making sure that the record is set straight and that the people who participated in this atrocity are held to account in the historical record. The only way we move past this is for this to be universal learning moment, where the sheer idiocy and violence inflicted on our healthcare system is so obvious that it can't be denied, and that the culprits living and dead, can't hide from what they did.
One part of the pull is the feeling there are myriad lessons to be found lurking just below the surface. As readers take it in and reflect, it's hard not to wonder if somehow we ourselves are making such egregious errors in some of our own thinking and choices. Part of being human is overcoming our own dysfunctional instincts and biases.
There is a large part of the story you have left out, and that is the overwhelming hostility of anti-vaxxers towards every one else. In my locality, they stormed health board meetings, refusing to wear masks, accusing decent people of crazy conspiracy theories, threatening people, so that the health board meetings had to go to zoom for the members' safety. Ditto school board meetings, as the anti-maskers don't care much about the welfare of other peoples' kids. Look at the things the anti-vax people were posting. Know that many of us are dealing with this kind of vitriol regularly from hostile family members. Many of our families have been fractured by anti-vax family members who refuse to respect others' space and make wild accusations. This is a lot closer to home for many of us than the Exxon Valdez; it's in our homes. There are also the more recent calls for violence against hospital staff, as the antivax crowd accused hospitals of killing those covid victims who don't make it. We've lost scores of doctors and nurses due to the stress these people have caused. Personally, I drect my anger towards those who are spreading the misinformation. They know what they are doing and the fact that they are ruining peoples' lives just doesn't matter to them. I feel compassion as well as frustration towards the victims, I know and love people like them and it infuriates me that they are being manipulated for political points and likes. I think it's probably best to look at the stories without reading the comments. A lot of people are blowing off steam that has been building up for the past 5 years, and, frankly, it's understandable.
To me it's important that these deaths and how these people acted be recorded for posterity. The segregationist political parties during the civil rights movement didn't die until it became embarrassing to be a neo-nazi, and it took the ugliness being nationally televised for that to happen. COVID is no different and these people who are shown on hermancainawards and other forums, should be shown in all of their miserable glory. It's not just about justice for the innocent people dying from covid (e.g. immunocompromised, people who died in the first wave, etc.) or due to to antivaxxers taking up medical resources (e.g. people who can't get needed surgeries, or people dying in ERs waiting for hospital beds for other non-covid stuff), it's about making sure that the record is set straight and that the people who participated in this atrocity are held to account in the historical record. The only way we move past this is for this to be universal learning moment, where the sheer idiocy and violence inflicted on our healthcare system is so obvious that it can't be denied, and that the culprits living and dead, can't hide from what they did.
One part of the pull is the feeling there are myriad lessons to be found lurking just below the surface. As readers take it in and reflect, it's hard not to wonder if somehow we ourselves are making such egregious errors in some of our own thinking and choices. Part of being human is overcoming our own dysfunctional instincts and biases.
There is a large part of the story you have left out, and that is the overwhelming hostility of anti-vaxxers towards every one else. In my locality, they stormed health board meetings, refusing to wear masks, accusing decent people of crazy conspiracy theories, threatening people, so that the health board meetings had to go to zoom for the members' safety. Ditto school board meetings, as the anti-maskers don't care much about the welfare of other peoples' kids. Look at the things the anti-vax people were posting. Know that many of us are dealing with this kind of vitriol regularly from hostile family members. Many of our families have been fractured by anti-vax family members who refuse to respect others' space and make wild accusations. This is a lot closer to home for many of us than the Exxon Valdez; it's in our homes. There are also the more recent calls for violence against hospital staff, as the antivax crowd accused hospitals of killing those covid victims who don't make it. We've lost scores of doctors and nurses due to the stress these people have caused. Personally, I drect my anger towards those who are spreading the misinformation. They know what they are doing and the fact that they are ruining peoples' lives just doesn't matter to them. I feel compassion as well as frustration towards the victims, I know and love people like them and it infuriates me that they are being manipulated for political points and likes. I think it's probably best to look at the stories without reading the comments. A lot of people are blowing off steam that has been building up for the past 5 years, and, frankly, it's understandable.