The obnoxious, ignorant "louds" must be confronted and hit again and again with the FACTS! I clearly remember getting my oral polio vaccine at Frances Stillman elementary school in Wethersfield CT. Parents then took seriously the threats facing their children and trusted public health officials, they saved many of us!
Swords up and masks up ! Be smart even if it makes you look different. I revel in that. It helps me not to be uncomfortable or self conscious in a crowd of the unmasked.
This is totally subjective on my part but lately when I wear a mask, I frequently interpret the looks I get as that person is thinking “maybe I should have one on as well”.
are being careful either because they, or a family member, are immune compromised. Either way, I give them space.
I think now I may see more who just want to protect due to rising infection rates, especially in more crowded indoor areas. Other than recently, I have to say I have enjoyed being mask-free. I may need to periodically wear a mask depending on the situation and I have no problem doing that. I'm grateful to know it's a good protective option.
I make those same calculations, but then during one of the semi-lulls of the spread, I realized I don't actually who is medically vulnerable. I have been the only person in a room with a mask on and I'm fine with it. Most recently, it was to make sure I didn't spread bronchitis. Y'all are welcome.
Sep 5, 2023·edited Sep 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell
I remember receiving the oral polio vaccine, administered on sugar cubes. Over a couple of summer weekends in 1962, the city of Dallas TX delivered the vaccine free of charge to over 90% of the population. It's sad to think that that could never happen today.
I can't remember getting the vaccines either, but I know I got them as well. I also got the smallpox vaccine. I don't remember getting it, but I remember the scar. So, speaking of smallpox vaccines -that was when we all agreed that vaccination was a good thing so we could eradicate the virus. Thank goodness! What happened to us since then?
I don’t remember getting the vaccine either but I know I did. My uncle had polio before the vaccine. As a 7 yr old I got a fever while vacationing with friends. My mother was pregnant so my friends family kept me til a doctor declared me infection free. Not polio thank God and the baby Jesus.
I remember the suddenly empty desk of the boy in my first grade class who wound up in an iron lung briefly - the empty desk was permanent: he passed away.
Now there are even more parents refusing to provide even the long-established vaccines to their children. The state finally got rid of the "religious exemption" since parents used that to enable their refusals. We'll see if that lasts: the Catholic Church in CT immediately filed suit.
The problem is not new, but the widespread avoidance of remedies that are overwhelmingly safe and lifesaving has clearly increased recently. The rejection of facts, science, expertise - all have been/are being encouraged by those who would use ignorance and fear to achieve authoritarian goals. It's not a benign difference of opinion (arguing over pineapple on a pizza is a difference of opinion; baselessly challenging and/or refusing a vaccine that keeps children from dying from long since contained and almost eradicated horrific diseases is not).
For those of us who are fragile or have a family member in our household who is, this is not a theoretical conversation: our lives depend on it. At this point, many of us are forced to make a lose-lose choice because so many others have turned "personal choice" into code for a Faustian bargain. We can mask and go out for more than medical appointments - and pretty much ensure we'll be infected with COVID and die or lose a loved one, or we can become homebound and lose most of what we valued in life while we wait hopefully for new advancements or the return of sanity among others. The choice isn't life: it's a quick death versus a slower one. Remember when people used to be horrified by cultures who set their elders adrift on ice floes? Now...not so much.
Anecdotally, it does seem like I'm hearing about more cases recently - one in our house and one a few houses away this past week. Another neighbor called to check in on us. She was hospitalized for a couple of months earlier this year due to COVID complications. She knows how bad it can get for some. Yes, it's mild to moderate for most, and life threatening for some others. (my neighbor who was hospitalized was in good shape and not old) Once my husband got sick, we followed CDC guidelines for isolation in our house. We used masks if he had to move from his COVID bedroom to his office. And though I was not sick, I KN95-masked if I had to grocery shop, just in case. We absolutely don't want to spread it further. I have remained healthy. The guidelines and masks work! I plan to get the new vaccine booster once it's available later this month. Given a choice, I'd rather not get sick if I can avoid it. We do have tools to reduce the odds so I choose use them. Freedom from illness tools!
This, and climate change denial, might be the things that piss me off the most these days. These people are absolute ghouls. I can't decide if they are stupid, deranged, or just grifters. Probably some combination of all three. I personally know a media studies professor at NYU who is getting increasingly violent in how he writes about those who advocate for vaccines. I believe strongly in academic freedom but there have to be some limits. I've written to his chair but they seem paralyzed (no pun intended) on how to deal with him. (BTW, it's not just people on the right. The leftists and liberals who are doing this (like Mark Crispin Miller noted above) piss me off the most.)
I couldn't agree more. This isn't just a conservative problem. It crosses all political lines. And I've been watching Prof. Miller, from afar. What the hell?
Yeh, it's a strange case. BTW: I am really looking forward to Naomi Klein's new book about how she gets repeatedly mistaken for conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf. It looks like it's gonna be great. Out next week.
When I saw teasers for the excerpt that emphasized the mistaken identity I wasn't interested.* But then I saw it teased as an exploration of how people go down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole and read the excerpt, which I liked well enough, and will read the book hoping for more.
* Reading anything about Naomi Wolf has always been a happenstance for me, as I knew Wolf when we were undergraduates. She was a Theatrical Personality, and reading about her makes me feel funny.
What is a Theatrical Personality? I think I know a definition but mine may not match yours. (In Journalism College, the Theatrical Personalities usually went into radio, believe it or not.)
What I mean generally, and about Wolf, is that she struck me as presenting a character more than doing things she wanted to do or had to do. Including not so much being dressed as displaying a costume choice.
Sep 5, 2023·edited Sep 5, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell
I’ve known a few people in my life that were lost to anxiety, paranoia, delusions, etc., all their energies invested in rationalizing and defending their current state rather than seeking help and relief. At times seeming like they made a conscious choice to be possessed by their demons. I read Michelle Goldberg’s piece in the NYT this morning about Wolf and it put me in mind of some of these people I’ve known. Maybe not for exactly the same reasons but it made me feel funny as well. A bit like watching a car wreck.
One is that the historical misreading for which Wolf was blamed, in Outrages, came out of research for her doctoral dissertation at Oxford, under advisors-- and neither advisors nor Oxford nor Oxford's dissertation system are mentioned, let alone assigned any responsibility. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/books/review-outrages-naomi-wolf.html
The other is the nice way Goldberg finishes up by talking about our problems with genuine conspiracies and concocted conspiracy stories, and in general the subversion of legitimate concerns and modes of enquiry by the right. Which is very much the matter of Sarah Kendzior's They Knew, which I'm reading now. It's a kind of stressful read in part because Kendzior seems so desperate about this situation/tension, which I definitely feel for.
I remember getting my oral Salk vaccine when I was three. I remember my mother walking me to the local elementary school (where my Very Grand older brother was in fourth grade), telling my on the way about the love story of Jonas Salk and Francoise Gilot*, which I didn't really understand at the time, so I'm surprised I remember it. It was a small orange pill given me in one of those tiny white Dixie cups, and Magic. I would have liked another. I knew it was magic, but also sweets weren't common in our lives then: you didn't see discarded Halloween candy littering sidewalks in those days.
#5 annoys me particularly, as well, but I think I know why. A major part of it is that it's part of the gigantic denial in the US Zeitgeist that individuals ineluctably affect each other and that there is thus a community interest, which is a reason government was invented, which justifies government provision of so many vital public goods and services. (Which the proud libertarians seem to think just grow by themselves if you get government out of the way.) And the other part of it is a sort of cognitive irritation, as opposed to my existential horror about the denial of community: If you have a bunch of principles, and personal freedom is a legit one, they will come into conflict, and choosing how to prioritize is another principle decision, and the List o' Principles Folks don't seem to acknowledge this.
My earliest memory is of our home on base housing in Fort Ord. I don't remember much except the place was green.
I think No. 5 sticks in my craw because it runs counter to what I learned in Sunday school. You look out for your neighbors. You look out for your enemies. I mean, how else do we have a decent society.
Add on-we have all been fully vaccinated from the get go-but we're not allowed to turn away patients who are not. We only made masks optional in the office in June. We have all had Covid… At least one of us infected by a patient.
Susan, great reminder of the importance of vaccines. But I have to speak up on something I know you intended as a joke. There are still misconceptions out there when it comes to chiropractic care. Since my retirement from full-time, stressful grant writing, I've worked part time for my chiropractor of 25 years. He's my most trusted healthcare professional. He's been in practice for over 30 years and I am certain he has never advocated the use of leeches...come on. I'm rolling my eyes here.
A frequent misconception is that chiropractors are "crackers" focusing on spinal manipulation. That is but one arrow in a quiver of pain relieving and core strength building techniques used today. Patients have the option to say no to that technique. Our patients seek his care for a variety of issues not necessarily related to the spine.
Public service announcement over, getting on the train to New York, mask in hand!
Nope. I appreciate it. I wouldn't want to paint all chiropractors as anti-vax. They are not, but I have to say I was surprised at the turn-out of chiropractors in anti-vax events in Connecticut.
In 1954 at the age of 8, I was a Polio Pioneer-aka guinea pig- for Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. The vaccine was not yet licensed but frightened parents like my mom were willing to sign the consent form for their children in grades 1 to 3 to participate in the clinical trials. Any anxiety over the possibility of the vaccine’s causing serious side effects was eclipsed by their fear of our ending up in a wheelchair or iron lung if infected by the virus. A family friend had already in leg braces after contracting polio. The fact that Salk demonstrated his confidence in the safety of the vaccine by his and his family’s taking it themselves helped my mom to give her consent. So along with the majority of my classmates, I lined up for a special afternoon at school. After students were injected with the vaccine we were given a little tin pin identifying us as a Polio Pioneer. (I still have mine.)We were sent to the school cafeteria to watch cartoons as the vaccinations continued. Kids who had brought a dime to donate to the Mothers March against infantile paralysis were given a bag of popcorn to enjoy with a free, small cup of KoolAid. Years later when cult members were described as “drinking the Koolaid”, I was reminded of us guinea pigs enjoying the red treat.
I was not a “pioneer” for the Covid-19 vaccine. I postponed taking it for a few months until thousands of Americans had received it. But I am not anti vaccines. Those who are do so at their own peril, and unfortunately imperil the health of others.
Omg, you guys! The critters referred to are my grandkids!. DeSantis doesn't qualify as a critter. Alligators and spiders serve a purpose. Hi ho! I'll hit a few rallies and make signs and wear offending t-shirts. Going to a school PTO meeting. Should be fun.
Mine was on the side of my chest, where my boob would grow. WTH!
I got the polio vaccine too but don’t remember which one. I remember reading the Encyclopedia that had photos and stories of this with polio. My supervisor for my job had polio and wire braces.
I still use a mask when I am indoors and people look at how smart I am. 😉
The obnoxious, ignorant "louds" must be confronted and hit again and again with the FACTS! I clearly remember getting my oral polio vaccine at Frances Stillman elementary school in Wethersfield CT. Parents then took seriously the threats facing their children and trusted public health officials, they saved many of us!
Swords up and masks up ! Be smart even if it makes you look different. I revel in that. It helps me not to be uncomfortable or self conscious in a crowd of the unmasked.
Hi ho! Swords up!
This is totally subjective on my part but lately when I wear a mask, I frequently interpret the looks I get as that person is thinking “maybe I should have one on as well”.
When I see someone wearing a mask I perhaps incorrectly figure they either are recovering from COVID (CDC guidelines recommend mask wearing in public on days 6-10 if fever free and symptoms were mild https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/isolation.html )
OR
are being careful either because they, or a family member, are immune compromised. Either way, I give them space.
I think now I may see more who just want to protect due to rising infection rates, especially in more crowded indoor areas. Other than recently, I have to say I have enjoyed being mask-free. I may need to periodically wear a mask depending on the situation and I have no problem doing that. I'm grateful to know it's a good protective option.
I make those same calculations, but then during one of the semi-lulls of the spread, I realized I don't actually who is medically vulnerable. I have been the only person in a room with a mask on and I'm fine with it. Most recently, it was to make sure I didn't spread bronchitis. Y'all are welcome.
I remember receiving the oral polio vaccine, administered on sugar cubes. Over a couple of summer weekends in 1962, the city of Dallas TX delivered the vaccine free of charge to over 90% of the population. It's sad to think that that could never happen today.
https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2017/07/30/how-dallas-dealt-polio-a-massive-blow-by-vaccinating-900000-people-in-two-days/
I cannot remember if I got a shot or cube. I just remember hearing that I was protected from polio, so good enough.
I can't remember getting the vaccines either, but I know I got them as well. I also got the smallpox vaccine. I don't remember getting it, but I remember the scar. So, speaking of smallpox vaccines -that was when we all agreed that vaccination was a good thing so we could eradicate the virus. Thank goodness! What happened to us since then?
Some of us got stupider?
And sadly there's no vaccine for that.
I remember a sugar cube stained pink from the drop of vaccine.
Oh, yeah! Mine wasn't a little orange pill, but a small sugar cube! Duh!
I don’t remember getting the vaccine either but I know I did. My uncle had polio before the vaccine. As a 7 yr old I got a fever while vacationing with friends. My mother was pregnant so my friends family kept me til a doctor declared me infection free. Not polio thank God and the baby Jesus.
Wow. That had to have been scary.
It was but more for my part than myself. I was too young to fully grasp the situation.
I remember the suddenly empty desk of the boy in my first grade class who wound up in an iron lung briefly - the empty desk was permanent: he passed away.
Now there are even more parents refusing to provide even the long-established vaccines to their children. The state finally got rid of the "religious exemption" since parents used that to enable their refusals. We'll see if that lasts: the Catholic Church in CT immediately filed suit.
The problem is not new, but the widespread avoidance of remedies that are overwhelmingly safe and lifesaving has clearly increased recently. The rejection of facts, science, expertise - all have been/are being encouraged by those who would use ignorance and fear to achieve authoritarian goals. It's not a benign difference of opinion (arguing over pineapple on a pizza is a difference of opinion; baselessly challenging and/or refusing a vaccine that keeps children from dying from long since contained and almost eradicated horrific diseases is not).
For those of us who are fragile or have a family member in our household who is, this is not a theoretical conversation: our lives depend on it. At this point, many of us are forced to make a lose-lose choice because so many others have turned "personal choice" into code for a Faustian bargain. We can mask and go out for more than medical appointments - and pretty much ensure we'll be infected with COVID and die or lose a loved one, or we can become homebound and lose most of what we valued in life while we wait hopefully for new advancements or the return of sanity among others. The choice isn't life: it's a quick death versus a slower one. Remember when people used to be horrified by cultures who set their elders adrift on ice floes? Now...not so much.
What a sad (and excellent point) about the ice floes. And death panels.
Anecdotally, it does seem like I'm hearing about more cases recently - one in our house and one a few houses away this past week. Another neighbor called to check in on us. She was hospitalized for a couple of months earlier this year due to COVID complications. She knows how bad it can get for some. Yes, it's mild to moderate for most, and life threatening for some others. (my neighbor who was hospitalized was in good shape and not old) Once my husband got sick, we followed CDC guidelines for isolation in our house. We used masks if he had to move from his COVID bedroom to his office. And though I was not sick, I KN95-masked if I had to grocery shop, just in case. We absolutely don't want to spread it further. I have remained healthy. The guidelines and masks work! I plan to get the new vaccine booster once it's available later this month. Given a choice, I'd rather not get sick if I can avoid it. We do have tools to reduce the odds so I choose use them. Freedom from illness tools!
There are a number of epidemiologists who write frequently on substack to keep us informed. This one is usually really readable https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/
And thank you for masking! Those of us who are extremely vulnerable appreciate that enormously.
This, and climate change denial, might be the things that piss me off the most these days. These people are absolute ghouls. I can't decide if they are stupid, deranged, or just grifters. Probably some combination of all three. I personally know a media studies professor at NYU who is getting increasingly violent in how he writes about those who advocate for vaccines. I believe strongly in academic freedom but there have to be some limits. I've written to his chair but they seem paralyzed (no pun intended) on how to deal with him. (BTW, it's not just people on the right. The leftists and liberals who are doing this (like Mark Crispin Miller noted above) piss me off the most.)
I couldn't agree more. This isn't just a conservative problem. It crosses all political lines. And I've been watching Prof. Miller, from afar. What the hell?
Yeh, it's a strange case. BTW: I am really looking forward to Naomi Klein's new book about how she gets repeatedly mistaken for conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf. It looks like it's gonna be great. Out next week.
When I saw teasers for the excerpt that emphasized the mistaken identity I wasn't interested.* But then I saw it teased as an exploration of how people go down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole and read the excerpt, which I liked well enough, and will read the book hoping for more.
* Reading anything about Naomi Wolf has always been a happenstance for me, as I knew Wolf when we were undergraduates. She was a Theatrical Personality, and reading about her makes me feel funny.
What is a Theatrical Personality? I think I know a definition but mine may not match yours. (In Journalism College, the Theatrical Personalities usually went into radio, believe it or not.)
I do believe that about radio people!
What I mean generally, and about Wolf, is that she struck me as presenting a character more than doing things she wanted to do or had to do. Including not so much being dressed as displaying a costume choice.
Ah. That makes sense.
I’ve known a few people in my life that were lost to anxiety, paranoia, delusions, etc., all their energies invested in rationalizing and defending their current state rather than seeking help and relief. At times seeming like they made a conscious choice to be possessed by their demons. I read Michelle Goldberg’s piece in the NYT this morning about Wolf and it put me in mind of some of these people I’ve known. Maybe not for exactly the same reasons but it made me feel funny as well. A bit like watching a car wreck.
Now I've read it-- thanks!
Two things strike me:
One is that the historical misreading for which Wolf was blamed, in Outrages, came out of research for her doctoral dissertation at Oxford, under advisors-- and neither advisors nor Oxford nor Oxford's dissertation system are mentioned, let alone assigned any responsibility. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/books/review-outrages-naomi-wolf.html
The other is the nice way Goldberg finishes up by talking about our problems with genuine conspiracies and concocted conspiracy stories, and in general the subversion of legitimate concerns and modes of enquiry by the right. Which is very much the matter of Sarah Kendzior's They Knew, which I'm reading now. It's a kind of stressful read in part because Kendzior seems so desperate about this situation/tension, which I definitely feel for.
*goes to read it*
That book is one I must read.
I've been reading an essay in the NY Times about it. I look forward to that one, too.
We leave tomorrow for Florida. Wish me luck that I don't get sick or arrested, ugh. Silver lining?. Seeing the critters.
Say hey to the critters.
You mean like alligators and tarantulas?
I thought she meant DeSantistans.
God be with you.
I remember getting my oral Salk vaccine when I was three. I remember my mother walking me to the local elementary school (where my Very Grand older brother was in fourth grade), telling my on the way about the love story of Jonas Salk and Francoise Gilot*, which I didn't really understand at the time, so I'm surprised I remember it. It was a small orange pill given me in one of those tiny white Dixie cups, and Magic. I would have liked another. I knew it was magic, but also sweets weren't common in our lives then: you didn't see discarded Halloween candy littering sidewalks in those days.
#5 annoys me particularly, as well, but I think I know why. A major part of it is that it's part of the gigantic denial in the US Zeitgeist that individuals ineluctably affect each other and that there is thus a community interest, which is a reason government was invented, which justifies government provision of so many vital public goods and services. (Which the proud libertarians seem to think just grow by themselves if you get government out of the way.) And the other part of it is a sort of cognitive irritation, as opposed to my existential horror about the denial of community: If you have a bunch of principles, and personal freedom is a legit one, they will come into conflict, and choosing how to prioritize is another principle decision, and the List o' Principles Folks don't seem to acknowledge this.
* Holy cats, she died only this June!
My earliest memory is of our home on base housing in Fort Ord. I don't remember much except the place was green.
I think No. 5 sticks in my craw because it runs counter to what I learned in Sunday school. You look out for your neighbors. You look out for your enemies. I mean, how else do we have a decent society.
This is, in fact, a way in which good Christianity and good economics sing together. :D Far from the only one.
Whoops, no, a leedle sugar cube.
Add on-we have all been fully vaccinated from the get go-but we're not allowed to turn away patients who are not. We only made masks optional in the office in June. We have all had Covid… At least one of us infected by a patient.
It is more than sad and annoying it is so harmful when people don’t care about anyone but themselves.
Susan, great reminder of the importance of vaccines. But I have to speak up on something I know you intended as a joke. There are still misconceptions out there when it comes to chiropractic care. Since my retirement from full-time, stressful grant writing, I've worked part time for my chiropractor of 25 years. He's my most trusted healthcare professional. He's been in practice for over 30 years and I am certain he has never advocated the use of leeches...come on. I'm rolling my eyes here.
A frequent misconception is that chiropractors are "crackers" focusing on spinal manipulation. That is but one arrow in a quiver of pain relieving and core strength building techniques used today. Patients have the option to say no to that technique. Our patients seek his care for a variety of issues not necessarily related to the spine.
Public service announcement over, getting on the train to New York, mask in hand!
Nope. I appreciate it. I wouldn't want to paint all chiropractors as anti-vax. They are not, but I have to say I was surprised at the turn-out of chiropractors in anti-vax events in Connecticut.
The only one we know who was anti-VAX died of Covid. Ironic?
In 1954 at the age of 8, I was a Polio Pioneer-aka guinea pig- for Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine. The vaccine was not yet licensed but frightened parents like my mom were willing to sign the consent form for their children in grades 1 to 3 to participate in the clinical trials. Any anxiety over the possibility of the vaccine’s causing serious side effects was eclipsed by their fear of our ending up in a wheelchair or iron lung if infected by the virus. A family friend had already in leg braces after contracting polio. The fact that Salk demonstrated his confidence in the safety of the vaccine by his and his family’s taking it themselves helped my mom to give her consent. So along with the majority of my classmates, I lined up for a special afternoon at school. After students were injected with the vaccine we were given a little tin pin identifying us as a Polio Pioneer. (I still have mine.)We were sent to the school cafeteria to watch cartoons as the vaccinations continued. Kids who had brought a dime to donate to the Mothers March against infantile paralysis were given a bag of popcorn to enjoy with a free, small cup of KoolAid. Years later when cult members were described as “drinking the Koolaid”, I was reminded of us guinea pigs enjoying the red treat.
I was not a “pioneer” for the Covid-19 vaccine. I postponed taking it for a few months until thousands of Americans had received it. But I am not anti vaccines. Those who are do so at their own peril, and unfortunately imperil the health of others.
Wow. You played a huge role at that tender age. It feels weird to thank you for your service, but yeah. Thank you.
Omg, you guys! The critters referred to are my grandkids!. DeSantis doesn't qualify as a critter. Alligators and spiders serve a purpose. Hi ho! I'll hit a few rallies and make signs and wear offending t-shirts. Going to a school PTO meeting. Should be fun.
Well done.
I have been asking the "do not comply" people what the basis for their philosophy is. So far, I have been met with silence.
Quite honestly, I want to see how they deal with things when someone passes COVID on to them and how they intend to "cure" it.
These deniers are such babies.
I definitely got the shot because I have the scar on my upper left arm.
That is a smallpox vaccine scar.
I have that, too.
Mine was on the side of my chest, where my boob would grow. WTH!
I got the polio vaccine too but don’t remember which one. I remember reading the Encyclopedia that had photos and stories of this with polio. My supervisor for my job had polio and wire braces.
I still use a mask when I am indoors and people look at how smart I am. 😉