The Pandemic Reveal Party has opened some eyes

But it's shut far more

Three conservative talk radio hosts, anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers all, have been killed by covid in the past week.

In the Sports world, the WNBA demonstrates it’s more than talk, with 99% of its athletes vaccinated. Professional tennis players are among the worst, with approximately 51% vaccinated.

Now I’m well aware that young people feel invulnerable and few dwell on death. I’m aware that some folks so rarely get sick, they feel like their healthy bodies can handle health threats on their own. I’ve been both of those people. I only got my first flu shot when the pandemic started, in Feb 2020. I’ve never had the flu. But I read an article about how the aging process makes us all more vulnerable to the flu.

I’m glad I can read and am capable of learning still. The survival of any species depends on its capacity to adapt at the approach of danger. It appears conservative talk radio hosts aren’t so adaptable. Listening more and talking less is definitely a key survival skill.

Oregon hit its covid cases peak yesterday, right on schedule. West Virginia’s chart looks awful too. I think it’s the last in line with only 3 or 4 others. Their peaks are another week away. Most states are now in decline for new cases. But their death totals will continue to rise for at least 3 weeks more. Florida’s leading the pack in daily deaths from covid right now, followed by Texas. Though Texas numbers have always been an undercount because its governor finds it politically useful to avoid a centralized mandate to use real math out in the counties.

In Oregon, Multnomah County is the most populous, with 820,000 people. Jackson County, which includes Medford, has 224,000. But Jackson County has more new cases per day. That’s real math. Conservative counties do worse in a pandemic. So yeah, conservatism isn’t a good survival strategy. It knocks big holes in any beliefs in supremacy.

Denialism hastens death. There’s a runaway car coming at you at 100 MPH. If you want to believe you can avoid getting hit by drinking some magic Jonestown cure, go ahead, because your choice is still key to the outcome.

The liberal counties are acing this test. Pretending that 100 MPH car isn’t real hasn’t proven effective. Ingesting different things that have been poorly tested isn’t working either.

It took science and technology to create that car and that car can actually be used to save lives if the right hands are on the wheel. When political beliefs weaken your survival instincts, you at least should do what most conservative politicians do. Get the vaccine while denouncing vaccines. Because conservatism only works well if coupled with hypocrisy.

There’s simply no other conclusion to draw.

My eyes have also been opened by how many people under 50 weren’t so alarmed by the pandemic when it was only killing seniors. It seems they view us as old and in the way. They overlook the fact that it’s a combination of good luck and good survival skills that allowed us to become seniors in the first place. We can’t always make our own luck but we sure can control our survival skills.

For some, freedom to choose stupid ones matters more than life itself.