A FRIEND of mine sent me a text message asking if I’d had any adverse reaction to the vaccine.
“I didn’t,” I typed. “But since getting it, I have been able to speak fluent Pirahã, which I’m told is the native language of a near-extinct tribe living in the Amazon basin”.
In reply my friend sent me a “thumbs up”.
He didn’t seem to think it odd that I had become instantly bilingual with an exotic language spoken by only a few hundred rainforest dwelling hunters in Brazil. That, it seems, was plausible.
You see, in this Year of Our Lord 2021, almost anything is believable. Indeed, the bigger the lie, the better, especially if it bedazzles and befuddles us.
Recently I watched an interview with Martin Baron, the outgoing editor of the respected Washington Post (Married at First Sight must not have been on). Asked what had changed in the 20 years he had been in the job, he replied: “When I started, people wanted information; now they just want affirmation.”
People have their own set of views, garnered from social media, their uneducated but loud speaking friends, or the back of a sauce bottle. They won’t budge and only seek information that reinforces their existing beliefs. Many of these people are members of Generation S, which I have coined to represent the man-bunned baristas and young tradies that gather under the clocks at Flinders Street Station protesting against lockdowns while spending their days behaving in a rule-flouting manner that prolong the lockdowns. The S stands for selfish.
The political party Reignite Democracy Australia appears to have united Generation S, providing a platform for their entitled views on individual rights, while ignoring the fact that other people have the right to be protected from those same rule-flouting individuals. But it has been a bad week for RDA. It has been permanently banned from Facebook due to spreading erroneous coronavirus information. It has even resorted to selling off propaganda stickers on eBay for just $7 for a pack of 75. On the plus side the eBay account has 100 per cent positive feedback.
The “truth” about vaccine deaths is a prime example of the narrative being pushed by RDA and Generation S. The Therapeutic Goods Administration produces a weekly report on the vaccine. Last week’s report stated that 447 Australian had died after being vaccinated. This is the point where the man-bunned baristas, young tradies and market gardeners hit Facebook with their outrage and start organising another protest. “This vaccine is killing us!” They fail to read the beginning of the very same sentence that states that the TGA has investigated these cases and found just seven deaths are linked to vaccines. Seven out of the 8,255,473 vaccines administered.
The 447 who died after being vaccinated included those who died from pre-existing illness, old age, being struck by lightning, or from being forced to watch Married At First Sight. Simply, they have died after the vaccine, not because of the vaccine.
“It is a government cover-up!” scream the man-bunned baristas, young tradies, market gardeners and the kebab shop owner with perfectly manicured facial hair as he stands with fellow protestors looking for a police horse to punch.
Surely, in “How to suppress Democracy and subjugate the populace 101” they would teach that you’d be better off just keeping the 447 number quiet rather than providing it and lying about the seven.
I feel a need to get to the point. I have had my two jabs. So has every eligible member of my extended family. So have most of the staff of this esteemed publication. I am damn keen to get this behind us. To do this, we need many more people vaccinated and I encourage you to do it. Don’t delay. Do it this week.
Please, don’t take the word of the man-bunned baristas, young tradies, market gardeners and the kebab shop owner looking for a police horse to punch. Don’t take the word of the family member or friends trying to pressure you to not get vaccinated. Don’t even take my word for it. I’m just a middle-aged guy who often forgets to put the bins out.
Talk to your doctor. Have the talk this week. And trust what you hear. Doctors are, after all, qualified to provide you with the truth.
First published in the Mornington News – 17 August 2021
