We all watched in 2020 as politicians and pundits and pill-pushers said that anyone declining to get the Covid shots — “anti-vaxxers”, “refusers”, “covid deniers” — should be denied health care. Almost half of the US population nodded along with the stentorious proclamations that “actions have consequences” and “why should we help people who won’t take one simple action to keep themselves and everyone else safe?”
To people on the sane side of the spectrum, those demands sounded just a tiny bit tyrannical. The people making the demands sounded just a tiny bit unhinged. There was no science backing the “safe and effective” claim. There was no science behind the mask mandates or the six-foot distancing rules. There was almost no data backing the claim about the deadliness of SARS-CoV-2. And, of course, the people screaming the loudest about mandatory “vaccinations” were the same people who screamed about “My body, my choice!”
A few years on, it’s public knowledge that the disease was not as deadly as claimed. The mask mandates were useless. The distancing was useless. The shots failed not only the “effective” claim but the “safe” claim. Many people won’t admit these things, because that would mean admitting that they were wrong, but it’s widely understood.
The unhinged demands to identify “refusers” and to deny them healthcare are even more unhinged in light of the evidence. Not that the lunatics who made the demands will ever admit it. The best we’ll ever get is the tepid “Mistakes were made on all sides. Let’s just forget it and move on.” from late 2022.
How about, No. I remember your face, I remember your name, and I remember your words. I’m not going to forget it and I’m not going to “move on”
One good thing comes from the demands, though: There’s now precedent for demanding that people follow good health practices or be denied healthcare.
The obvious first target: Obesity. Over half of adults in America are overweight, and almost half of the children. Excess weight is linked to any number of health problems, including but not limited to diabetes, joint and back problems, liver problems, and mental disorders. Obesity is tied to an increase in almost all causes of death.
Between government-provided or -subsidized healthcare, the Obamacare mandates that individual health and lifestyle choices not be taken into account when setting private insurance premiums, and hospitals increasing bills to subsidize those who can’t or won’t pay their own bills, everyone pays for the increased healthcare costs of the overweight.
I demand that fatties be denied access to healthcare other than weight-loss clinics. Why should we help people who won’t take one simple action to keep themselves healthy?
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No healthcare if you’re fat and got the shot.
I couldn’t agree more, sir. I would add that one thing that really gets my goat is the issue of safe injection sites, safe supply, and taxpayer-funded needles for addicts.
How is it my problem that someone is addicted to something horrible? Why is the government doing all it can to remove the risk from hard drug use? ‘Safe supply’? You mean ‘government-provided supply’. Really.
Yes, heroin is dangerous. Yep. Sure is. That’s the idea. Shooting heroin is hazardous in many ways; this is why you shouldn’t use it. It’s that very hazard that provides a disincentive to its use. Removing that risk in the pursuance of some kind of ‘justice’ or ‘equity’ is remarkably disingenuous.
You’d think the government wanted as many addicts as possible stinkin’ up the place….why would that be?
I know that rehab services are a growth industry, and have been for some time now. It seems that every person who thought they might like to be a PSW, but couldn’t stand the smell of fresh shit every hour, became an addiction counsellor virtually overnight.
There is no end to the public money available if you want to hang out a shingle and provide such services. As a taxpayer, I find this greatly annoying.
My taxes are being used to fund, treat, and encourage a problem that is nearly entirely voluntary.
Occasionally, someone who was in a medically-induced coma wakes up to find themselves addicted to the painkillers used during their treatment, and that’s one thing. I will gladly pay for their rehab personally.
Getting addicted because you wanted to be a cool kid and used at a party one time? Something else entirely. That’s a ‘you’ issue, not a ‘me’ issue.
Actions do have consequences. Indeed, they do, and it’s about time people were held to account for their shit choices. This is only one example of the shit choices taxpayers are required to finance for those making them, no matter how often or to what degree.
And yet, when something really serious happens, the government cries poverty and creates a new department to look into things….
Sorry for the screed. The implications of the ‘actions have consequences’ thing really pisses me off, because those implications are endless, and the accusers yet again provide an example of what it sounds like when people don’t listen to themselves when they talk.
Mike in Canada