CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2020, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“SHARED THEME FOR ANTI-VAXXERS, CORONAVIRUS HOAXSTERS”
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2020, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“SHARED THEME FOR ANTI-VAXXERS, CORONAVIRUS HOAXSTERS”
Many of
the same demonstrators wanting California to end all aspects of its COVID-19
lockdown immediately have also been front-line protesters against recent
California laws making it slightly more difficult for parents to avoid getting
their children vaccinated.
And
some of the new protests are at least partly organized by anti-vaxx groups like
the Freedom Angels Foundation.
This can seem surprising:
after all, what could be more of an affirmation for vaccines than a disease
rampaging precisely because there is no vaccine to stop it? We no longer see once-dreaded
scourges like polio and smallpox today – anywhere in the world – only because
scientists created vaccines to immunize almost every person against them.
If
anything should convince rational minds of the good vaccines do, it should be
an out-of-control plague loosed upon the world chiefly because we lack either a
preventive vaccine or an effective treatment for it, despite President Trump’s
many “helpful” suggestions about consuming unproven drugs and even bleach to
kill it.
The
very small but very loud anti-vaccination community has trouble following this
logic. Some of its folks march on the state Capitol and other sites these days
bearing signs proclaiming “COVID-19 is a Lie,” “Social
Distancing = Communism” and the like.
So far,
the California protestors have not trumpeted some of the more outlandish claims
made about the coronavirus in other parts of the world and nation. One
widely-disseminated contention is that 5G cellphone towers caused the crisis.
It’s easier for such baseless junk theories to go viral and gain acceptance if
they are furthered by celebrities.
That happens when Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. propounds unproven calumnies about vaccinations. And it happened
with the 5G charge about the coronavirus when actor Woody Harrelson posted it
on Instagram, even though he noted the idea wasn’t “fully vetted.”
But the
basic idea behind both the anti-vaccination movement and demonstrations against
the coronavirus-related lockdown is the same: In both cases, protesters insist
their individual rights trump any societal needs for safety and survival.
It’s
part of the longtime American debate over whether there is such a thing as a
“social contract,” an implicit agreement that government and society have some
obligations to aid their people. For many years, this has been a major
difference between Democrats and Republicans, the political pendulum swinging
back and forth between them for generations.
Democrats
created Social Security over Republican opposition in the 1930s and Medicare in
the 1960s, essentially saying society is entitled to take some income from
younger people to help their elders survive. Decades later, Democrats created
the Affordable Care Act, often known as Obamacare, in effect saying society is
entitled to tax its members to provide health care for those who don’t have it.
Most Republican politicians opposed this from the start; they still do.
When
challenged, anti-vaxx activists often say or write things like “I’ll do what I
want with my children and government should have nothing to say about it.”
Never mind the health and lives of millions of other kids their unvaccinated
children could infect. Now the anti-lockdown protesters clamor for complete
freedom of movement, association and assembly even while medical experts say
this would lead to far more infections and deaths from the virus.
Try to
stop them and some label the virus a hoax. Or say it’s no worse than the common
cold. Ask the 80,000-plus Americans whose lives it has already taken about that
one.
As in many earlier arguments
over the social contract, Democratic officials take the lead in plumping for
greater adherence to social distancing while many Republicans are reluctant.
GOP governors were among the last to enforce the anti-virus tactics that now
hold down California’s caseload, while Democrats like California Gov. Gavin
Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were among the first. Republican
governors have been first to reopen their states, while Democrats are doing it
much more slowly.
The
bottom line: Viewed as part of a very long argument over what government should
or should not do for masses of Americans, today’s demonstrations and the
irrational claims they sometimes purvey should be no surprise. Logic has rarely
been central to this very emotional debate.
-30-
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough, The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch It" is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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