Yesterday, I wrote about Lisa Boothe at “Fox News” and some of the comments she was making on social media, including her bizarrely wondering why a “healthy person” would benefit from taking the vaccine and also about her support of “Personal Choice” that “it should be up to each individual American to decide what makes the most sense for them.”
After posting that article, I felt something was missing. The idea of “Personal Choice” in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that has so far killed four million people (and “only” that because thankfully vaccines were finally developed) is an underlying argument of the unvaccinated far-right that sounds so touchy-feeling good and pseudo-freedom patriotic, but is really empty, problematic and selfish. So, I want to go a bit further with this. I’ve grown weary of the idea that getting vaccinated is just a “Personal Choice.” Of course it is a “Personal Choice.” But that’s not the end of the sentence. Saying this is “Personal Choice” and stopping there is like saying “I could shoot you right now” – and leaving out, “But it would be horrific, criminal and it’s something I would never do or even consider because the thought sickens me.” Yes, whether to get vaccinated is a personal choice, but it is not only a “Personal Choice,” because it is also a social responsibility since the coronavirus is an infectious disease that spreads to others and brings society to a crushing and crashing halt, destroying businesses, economies and lives. We have the personal choice whether or not to smoke in a small, enclosed room, but others in that room will have to breathe your second-hand smoke which is even more dangerous than what you inhale. So, most reasonable people ask, “Do you mind if I smoke?” We have the personal choice whether or not to call 9-1-1 if we see someone collapse to the ground with a heart attack, but not wanting to get involved and walking away means that person will probably die. So, most reasonable people make the call, immediately. We have a personal choice whether or not to drive at night in sunglasses and accept the consequences. But if crash, you will likely kill others, people who did not make the personal choice to die that day. (“Yes, but that’s not safe,” someone may insist. True, and neither is not getting vaccinated.) So, most reasonable people drive with clear vision. We have all manner of personal choices we can make on pretty much most things we do, especially when they impact only us. We even have personal choices whether or not to do things that negatively impact others or hurt them. And if our personal choice does hurt others, we don’t get a Free Pass or a “Get out of jail” card by saying, “Well, it was my Personal Choice.” And everyone then says, oh, yeah, okay, you’re right, no problem, carry on. No, often, if not usually, you’ll be criticized for hurting others through your selfishness. Unless you express how badly you feel, that it came down to a tough decision, and you wish no one got hurt by it, and you’re so sorry for that, but it was your personal choice and in the end something you felt was what you had to do. People might grumble – or not – but they’d likely understand your reason. But without that, just “Hey, it was my Personal Choice. And if it hurt others, hey, so be it,” will usually get most people to avoid you – as a personal choice, or out of self preservation. For that matter, we even have personal choices whether or not to do things that are illegal and hurt others. Yes, they’re illegal, but they’re still also a “Personal Choice.” If a person is scared of the vaccine or scared of needles, I understand that. And it’s a fair reason -- and a possibly surmountable one. But that’s different from just saying, “It’s everyone’s personal choice,” as if you simply don’t care for rhubarb pie or musicals. That’s not just a decision made of “Personal Choice,” it’s a matter of fear, which can hopefully get addressed in several ways. So, saying that something was a “Personal Choice” as a panacea to salve all our decisions, no matter of hurtful to others just doesn’t ever fly. Because it’s not the end of the sentence. We don’t live in a vacuum. It’s one thing to live by our personal choices and accept the consequences. It’s another to ignore that others often have to live by our personal choices, as well – including those that can kill them. Personal choices are important in life. What also important is understanding that personal choice don’t remove responsibility to others from our actions.
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Well, after an unexpected virtuoso drum solo by Fred Astaire, I figured it would be appreciate for yet another -- this from Johnny Carson. Since Carson tended to eschew doing much performing on his talk show, other than comedy sketches, it was always suggested that he didn't have many talents beyond that -- as if it was needed. But this video shows otherwise. (Plus, it lets me use the word "eschew.") This is him playing drums on The Jack Benny Show, which is all the more notable since Carson made clear throughout his career that Jack Benny was one of his heroes. A fine choice, I might add.
The caption describes this pretty accurately. But I love too that the "doggo" really don't react much at the end and takes it all naturally because -- well, you'll see...
There’s been a lot of articles the last couple of days as “Fox News” icons Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy have told viewers that the coronavirus is real and that getting vaccinated is a Good Thing.
It’s nice – and important -- to see them finally embracing science and reality, it’s hard to separate this from the gut-wrenching hypocrisy that has long been the “Fox News” and their own party line, that the virus is a hoax, and the vaccine not necessary. Despite the fact that they no doubt have been double-vaxxed themselves for months, as has likely most every “Fox News” employee. Of course, after a year-and-a-half and 660,000 American deaths one would like to think that this wouldn’t be news, even to “Fox News” viewers. But then, this isn’t the “Fox News” party line yet, since we still have hosts like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham doing their best to kill off the channel’s viewers. And also Lisa Boothe, the “Fox News” host of The Truth with Lisa Boothe, Only yesterday, she had two tweets there were pretty galling for their seeming even-handed fairness. The problem is that this isn’t an “on the other hand” two-sided issue. What first caught my eye was when I came across her tweet – again, written yesterday -- that said – If vaccinated individuals are still getting infected and spreading COVID, what is the rationale for young and healthy people to get vaccinated? I wrote back – “Wait, you're a reporter for ‘Fox News’ & STILL ask this?? And your show is called The Truth? Do you not watch or read actual news, or only what’s on "Fox News"? The vaccine keeps you from being critically sick or going to the hospital or dying. BTW, everyone is healthy until they get sick. Later, I came across another tweet from her posted yesterday, as well. She wrote – I am not for or against COVID vaccines, I am just for common sense. The virus poses a high risk to some American, [sic] but little to no risk for others. That’s why it should be up to each individual American to decide what makes the most sense for them. I replied with a couple of tweets – “This is not common sense. It is an INFECTIOUS disease that has killed 660,000 Americans alone. Yes, people ‘can’ decide for themselves, that's life, but they risk infecting and KILLING others -- and letting the virus mutate even worse. Not being ‘for’ vaccines is SO ’Fox News.’ “P.S. And you're spreading this ‘indecision’ to ‘Fox News’ viewers that only helps continue the pandemic as it worsens with more variants. ‘Personal choice’ is true but a canard. People got the polio vaccine & it's near-eradicated. And measles & mumps vaccines. Yet COVID kills.” On the surface, Ms. Boothe is surreptitiously trying to be oh-so even-handed. The problem is that being "even-handed" only serves to exacerbate the problem. Further, in her attempt to seeeeeem even-handed, she’s showing her disingenuousness at best and ignorance at worst. For a host on a purported “news” channel to wonder out loud in public what the point is for young and healthy people to get vaccinated is a stunning admission that you don’t pay attention to the actual news you’re supposed to be reporting. To ask why a healthy person should get vaccinated during a worldwide pandemic that has killed over four million previously-healthy people around the world is just mind-numbingly empty-headed. Why give healthy children vaccines for measles, mumps and the chicken pox? Why put on sunscreen if you’re healthy? Why should a healthy person put on a helmet before riding a motorcycle? Or before playing football? It’s hard to imagine telling anyone, but especially an adult, and especially a host supposedly delivering the news on a show called The Truth that healthy people take protective actions so that they Can Remain Healthy. And young people do die from COVID-19. And even if they don’t, they can get infected, and then pass it to a (previously healthy) unvaccinated adult. Who might contract the disease and die. Further, to suggest the coronavirus can be dismissed since it’s only a “high risk to some people” is playing fast and loose with the concept of “some.” At the moment, “some” equates to the 660,000 Americans who have died of it. That’s only .02% of Americans, a very small number and worthy of “some,” but in real-world terms it’s a ghastly high “some total.” And I would suggest too that “some” also equates to every adult American who is unvaccinated. If one wants to play semantics that being merely “at risk” is not the same as being at “high risk,” I would say that with infectious diseases that spread like wildfire and can destroy a person’s health even if they’re not killed by it, and keep mutating into more dangerous variants that keeps undermining society, the line between “at risk” and “high risk” is a borderline difference without much of a distinction. Finally, as for “it should be up to each individual American to decide what makes the most sense for them,” that’s a lovely Kumbaya sensibility, but it only works if the actions of each individual American only affect them alone. This isn’t to say that such things aren’t still a “Personal Choice” – they are. It’s to say that when we make a “Personal Choice” to decide what makes the most sense to us, if that choice affects the actual lives of others, to not take those lives into consideration is reprehensible. All of this is not only pretty common sense, I think, but also generally accepted in society after a year-and-a-half of the pandemic. The point, though, is that for all the lovely words from Sean Hannity and Steve Doocy finally, at long last joining in with that acceptance after 660,000 Americans have died, it’s worth making as clear as possible that as “Fox News” policy goes -- filled with the Carlson, Abraham and Lisa Boothes of the world -- it’s still howling at the moon there. As I wrote the other day, I absolutely love the Olympics, but think it's iditoic that they're going on. Still, they are taking place, so I will vegetate in front of my TV, watching the various Family of NBC Channels.
And with that in mind, although the Olympics officially start on Friday, competition actually began today. Three women's softball games were scheduled -- and in fact, USA v. Italy is on right now (8:45pm PST as I type this) on NBCsn. And this broadcast is followed by men's soccer (on the Olympic Channel) & women's soccer (on USA channel) into the wee hours of the morning in the U.S. Yesterday, we can a wonderfully fun and extremely uncommon music video of Fred Astaire that had no dancing and no singing. So, I figured why not follow it up with another, yet not even with a piano this time. This comes from an episode of the TV show Person to Person hosted by the great Edward R. Murrow -- a light-hearted show that was wildly popular and so helped give him cover on his more controversial news shows, like See It Now. Here, he visits with Fred Astaire and they wind up in Astaire's music room. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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