(Editor's Note: This Op-Ed was first published in the April 2022 print edition of The Stand. This edition is also found online HERE.)
About a year ago when the COVID “vaccine” shots first became available, one of my extended family members said to another one of my extended family members:
“So have you gotten your ‘vaccine’ shot yet?”
To which the other one responded: “No, I’m still undecided on whether to get it or not because it was rushed through.”
To which the first extended family member said: “So you think you know better than the experts?”
The conversation ended soon afterward. It was a back-and-forth between two people who shared the same Christian beliefs and who were both solid conservatives in their politics. I’m sure many of you have experienced this in your family, or you saw it happen among close friends.
Hopefully, by the time you are reading this, the omicron variant has played out, and there is no new one on the horizon.
I’m 59, and I can’t remember any other subject causing such a divide in our country, often between people who otherwise share the same values and beliefs. I’m talking within communities or between co-workers, friends, families, and fellow church members.
One of the main reasons for the division among people is that the enemy is invisible. It’s a novel virus. And we can’t see a virus, so how do we really know what works or doesn’t work to prevent getting infected or spreading it? Most defer to people in white coats at this point.
But still, I mean, how do we know they know what they’re talking about for certain? Remember early on, Dr. Anthony Fauci said face masks didn’t work against this virus. Then he flip-flopped a few weeks later to say they did work, that he was only saying they didn’t work because he wanted to save the masks for health care workers. Say what?
So one of the first steps Dr. Fauci took was to intentionally mislead the American people?
What about the “vaccine” shots? In the summer of 2021, President Joe Biden said if you get the shots, you could not get the virus. Well, that was not true. Then when it became apparent that the shots did little or nothing to stop one from getting or spreading the virus, the liberal line became, “The shots will keep you from going to the hospital or dying.” How do we know that for certain?
What about all the people who have had negative reactions, some serious, to the shots? Why did that happen? What if I am one of the people who get heart inflammation due to the shots? Why isn’t natural immunity treated the same as being “vaccinated?”
Why are the pharmaceutical companies that rushed the shots to market exempt from any lawsuits? Why do left-wing politicians, pundits, and the mainstream medical community mock and ridicule people who have had success using ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as early treatment for COVID? You think all these people are just making that up? Why didn’t these health officials just say, “Well, good for you, but we are recommending other treatments.”
Some say, “Well, just ‘follow the science.’” OK. But the problem with that is the “science” has changed a lot since all this started in the spring of 2020. I could list many examples of this from even the liberally vaunted Centers for Disease Control. And quite frankly, I think a lot of people like me would be more trusting and forgiving of the scientific leaders on their COVID responses if they had not called laypeople stupid for even questioning their pronouncements, many of which have proven to be wrong along the way. I remember when Dr. Fauci said any attacks on him were an “attack on science.” This is the kind of arrogant attitude that turned a lot of people off. Show some humility for goodness’ sake!
The big political and constitutional question for citizens of America as we look back and go forward is how do we protect and defend our freedom and our way of life from those who want to use this moment in time to take away those precious commodities in the name of public safety? As human history has shown – people are all too willing to give up their liberty if you can falsely promise them security or, in the case of a pandemic, scare them to death.
