#148 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday September 20)
Good morning!
There is a common theme in science fiction of parallel universes or alternative timelines that result in unforeseen consequences and often tragic worlds. The premise is that something has caused a shift in history and a “what if” scenario takes place. For instance, what if the allies lost World War II or what if the secret to human longevity were revealed. As I look out over our political landscape today, however, it feels as if we are not the “normal” world but we somehow are the ones inhabiting a parallel world, a world in which logic is thrown to the wind.
Last week there were these headlines in the news:
‘Their Crisis Is ‘Our problem’: Washington Grapples with Idaho Covid Cases. Washington State’s hospitals are being overwhelmed by cases coming across the border from Idaho. Idaho has the lowest vaccination rate among the states and its governor refuses to require masks or vaccinations.
New York Hospital to ‘Pause’ Delivering Babies After Staffers Quit Rather Than Get Vaccinated. This is an astonishing piece of news but apparently meaningful numbers of staff at Lewis County Health Systems refuse vaccinations and the strain on the system necessitates drastic measures and hard choices.
Hospitals in Stanislaus County are Overrun with Covid-19 Patients. Most are Unvaccinated.
SC Mom of 4 Dies of COVID-19 Complications After Giving Birth
Mississippi health officials plea for vaccination after ‘significant’ number of COVID-19 fatalities in women
The list of similar headlines is seemingly endless. People aren’t getting vaccinated. They’re getting sick and dying. They are crowding our hospitals and overburdening our health care system. All the while, many of our leaders refuse to endorse or enforce rules that would reduce the spread of the disease.
TIME FOR DEATH PANELS?
We are now at the point where in low-vaccination-rate states, predominantly Republican led by governors who refuse to mandate masks or distancing and fail to recommend vaccines, will have to ration care. So how will they ration it? COVID patients take precedence—even if unvaccinated? Should transplant patients die because COVID patients are taking up beds? How about the elderly, who obeyed the rules and directions? Should they be shunted aside for younger, stupider, recalcitrant anti-vaxxers? Should elective surgeries that can prolong life or remedy conditions be turned away? At what point do we turn away those who just didn’t listen? For all the complaining about the rationing of end-of-life care and the specter of “death panels” years ago, I think we are close to that eventuality.
All of this sadly is based upon a truculent minority of stubborn anti-vaxxers and who are not being told the truth by the political leaders they elected, the media they choose to consume, pseudo-science on the Internet and/or family members.
IN ORDER TO BELONG TO A SOCIETY SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE
The argument for refusing vaccination or for attending massive rallies and concerts in North Dakota and Idaho is some notion of “personal choice.” Were an individual to adopt the notion that they are free not to be vaccinated and then they exclude themselves from society due to personal beliefs, I suppose that’s understandable. But when they engage with others, they subject themselves to the rules of that society. When they engage in activities that can harm others they should be subject to the proscriptions of the law. But even worse is the bizarre actions of many of those who are entrusted with the health and safety of others—whose presence in certain situations is required and not optional to the people exposed. They are foisting their anti-scientific, selfish views on others, who do not have the ability to choose with whom they interact. A sizeable group of Los Angeles County Sheriffs Deputies have organized around their resistance to the vaccination. Hospital workers like those in the headline above have decided not to vaccinate. Some teachers and others in “public facing” careers are similarly adament. When they do this, they should be dismissed and sacrifice their employment for the duration of their resistance.
There is a libertarian notion, to which I ascribe, that says that one’s personal freedoms should be as broad as the law can allow; provided, that such liberties end at the “tip of the next person’s nose.” We are free to do whatever we want with our own lives; provided, these decisions don’t endanger others. But here, the decision to not participate in society’s effort to keep people safe is a “personal decision” with real societal harms that expose others to illness and death.
An odd thing is that there seems to be no flexibility exhibited by the “go your own way” movement. Those who ascribe to the “I get to decide everything for myself, regardless of the public good” mantra seemingly are unwilling to choose from among undesirable choices. If they really, truly believe that their scientific analysis dictates that vaccines are unacceptable, then just agree to mask and distance. If they’re unwilling to wear masks (through some type of ridiculous formulation that the masks are manifestations of state control), then get vaccinated. But you can’t choose to do nothing, principally on political grounds and/or unproven science.
DIRECT VERSUS INDIRECT MURDER
I’ve tried to think of what the reluctance to being vaccinated means. What is the consequence of their decision? It is not only that they expose themselves, but that they expose others—vaccinated and unvaccinated alike (although the odds of an unvaccinated person being infected are greater). They aren’t actually committing murder through their actions, yet they may be sentencing others to a terrible fate by virtue of their spreading the disease. Is there a helpful analog? How about spreading nails in the street? Not every car will get a flat tire. Some will. Some might even veer off the road and kill people. Or imagine a revolver with 100 empty chambers. If someone sneaks in and adds three rounds of ammunition and people die as a result, is there culpability? At some level and certainly at some point there is.
These people must be excluded from society—not out of vindictiveness but out of concern for public safety. No museums, no arenas, no ball games, no restaurants, no public transit, no airplanes, no stores—nothing indoors and nothing with any size of crowd should be available to them. You are free to make your own choices but society is able to dictate limits on your behaviors. If you choose to carry a knife with you at all times, you cannot board an airplane. You make your choices and we’ll make ours.
I think we also may need a system that does a triage on COVID patients. If there is a shortage of beds and you have a vaccination card, you will be accommodated at your appropriate place in the triage. If not, you can have a bed only after all other patients are accommodated.
SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER
As part of our dystopian alternative universe, we have twisted the adage that one should “speak truth to power.” Now, the people in power know the truth but refuse to speak it to their constituents. In a sham of personal political calculus trumping one’s obligation to the electorate, leaders are telling people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to know.
Happy week!
Glenn
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