Michael Tae Sweeney: A lot of people look at the implacable and irrational unpersuadability of antivaxxers and kinda conclude "ah there's nothing we can do except let them win" instead of the correct conclusion that we need to force them to get their kids vaccinated against their parents' will

A lot of people look at the implacable and irrational unpersuadability of antivaxxers and kinda conclude "ah there's nothing we can do except let them win" instead of the correct conclusion that we need to force them to get their kids vaccinated against their parents' will

We had a test of this theory during COVID and among the groups that actually were forced to get vaccinated, most "reluctant" people just got the shot with only a few holdouts. Didn't even take a very big stick in a lot of cases!

Democrats control a lot of state legislatures! bsky.app/profile/thew...

I want to achieve that, but I think those victories are going to be hard to get with legislatures

That's true, but it's not unanimous even among Dems, and they don't like doing things that will get people mad at you even if they're good and popular.

I also don't love using police and CPS more

What police and CPS? If your kids aren't jabbed, kick them out of school

That’s a different form of enforcement, because it remains possible to not vaccinate your kids

Cool, now they're forced into homeschooling where their abuse will just become worse

They would not view that as a punishment and the homeschooling ppulation would explode

True. :/ so what’s the solution?

The GOP loves doing things that are wildly unpopular and make people mad.

We now live in a right wing world as far as covid. They won every one of their battles.

Except with COVID itself, which killed them off at a rate significantly higher than their leftier peers.

It killed people in zip codes. Do you think the people in red zip codes are all right wing, or do you think the poor people working for rich whites suffered more in those zip codes. Covid killed non whites.

We tell ourselves things to make ourselves feel okay for the horrors we inflict on other less fortunate people.

While it's by no means the deciding factor, The Journal of the American Medical Association did find a significant difference in COVID mortality by party affiliation once vaccines were available (and not before): jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Voters in Florida and Ohio During the COVID-19 Pandemicjamanetwork.com This cross-sectional study examines the differences in excess death rates between Republican and Democratic voters in Florida and Ohio after the COVID-19

Covid killed many MAGA. Had to step away from my usual job because the demand was so high on the COVID units and saw it first-hand. Most of the deaths after the vaccines came out were from those refusing vaccines. I also volunteered at free vaccine clinics and they were given in every neighborhood.

You really think it was checking voter registration and not income? Bullshit to make you feel better

Not true.. at all We only have 23 Dem Governors to their 27 and on the verge of losing 3 more if people do not step up. Vote Democrat in local elections or lose your Rights. And your childrens rights.

“But that could cause a mean segment on Fox or a whiny letter from a CEO—and I think we can all agree that’s a lot worse than any deadly and disabling pandemic.”

I live in Ann Arbor, MI which is and has long been the most heavily Democratic area in a formerly red turning purple state. The A2 school district has a lower rate of all kids up to date on vaccines than the city of Detroit school system, and has had since at least 2008.

mandates work! the problem is mostly that the handful of people who hold out are *incredibly* loud about it and disproportionately concentrated in the powerful and influential

i work at a government contractor with like 1800 employees and when they said "get the jab or get out" only like three people chose to retire

Still amazes me

this is an amazing graph

Proof the vaccine straight up works

And the gap kept growing. The reddest counties were already disproportionately older as well; their refusal to vax only accelerated the die-off. This may turn out to be the single biggest contributing factor to a proper blue wave in 2024, and one the media barely mentions.

Just imagine this graph if vaccine uptake among seniors (who tend to skew conservative) had not been 95%.

It's not as granular but as shocking. Life expectancy by state in 2020 (the latest year from CDC, 2019 is similar, but naturally different). 9 of the top 10 are blue (UT is 9th), 9 of the bottom 10 are red (NM is 42nd). Top 3 states (HI, WA, MN) outlived the bottom 3 (MS, WV, LA) by 6-7.8 years!

Life Expectancy at Birth by State Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC twenty four seven. Saving Lives, Protecting PeopleMinusSASstatswww.cdc.gov National Center for Health Statistics

Owning the libs by dying early

Exactly 🤣 There are many contributing factors. More car fatalities, mostly DUI related. More gun fatalities. Less vaxination. Poor nutrition. Smoking. The high rate of no seat-belt deaths in red states is fun. This darwin-aproved demise hurts only the freedom-lover who freed us from their presence.

And as I recall, nearly all of the high profile cases of "I lost my job because I wouldn't get the jab! Fascism!" was either: - person was quitting anyway - person was deeply unqualified for their job - person was insane because they worked IN FUCKING HEALTHCARE.

It's a great way to fire people who are problematic in myriad other ways but haven't tripped over any "Just Cause" violations

It would be nice if we didn't have all our institutions believing the Supreme Court can command us to live by the standards of something between an 8th century medieval Christian fiefdom and a 1904 southern racist milltown. Otherwise public health as an institution will simply continue to vanish.

SCOTUS has been consistent on enforcing laws regarding vaccination and masking, is the thing

We were moving this way before COVID. States were removing all but medical exceptions to vaccinations. Public health should be enforced. Don't want to "obey"? Stay home.

I think the only group this tactic didn’t work great on was cops

I liked when the nypd was declaring “police deaths up ten billion percent in the year following George Floyd” but it was all Covid

Wearing the “I can breathe” shirts and everything

It helps when you're proned and on high volume O2

Isn't the big problem the antivaxxers winning political power? We saw turn partisan in real time in California before the pandemic w Dr Pan's bills. It think it was better when antivax was the typical anti-flouride crank left-right alliance. But oh well. Glad I live in a huge blue state.

maximum friction

I seem to recall Drea dimatteo doing an onlyfans just so she can skirt complying with getting vaxxed and yes I'm sure many people paid to see her naked, but very likely also people who are also not vaxxed.

Bingo. When you have a giant gaggle of idiots like this you need to herd them to the correct conclusions/actions. For their own safety and the safety of their children.

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