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Posted on 09/01/2021 3:44:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
Politicians love force.
The idea of leaving us alone to make our own decisions goes against their nature.
To be sure, civilized society sometimes needs government force: police to punish killers, soldiers to protect us from foreign invaders, environmental police to stop my smoke from flowing to your lungs ...
But the political class always goes too far.
Now some want medical police to force everyone to get vaccinated. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.
"It has!" you say. "I have to get vaccinated to keep my job, for my kids to attend school, to go to the movies, a restaurant, etc."
That's force, absolutely. But it's not mandatory. There's an out – we don't have to work for the government, eat indoors or go to a movie theater. We can home-school our kids. We still have choice.
So far, politicians haven't sent police into homes to force everyone to get vaccinated.
They did do that once.
In Philadelphia 30 years ago, a measles outbreak sickened 1,400 people, mostly children, and killed nine. The outbreak spread because leaders of two fundamentalist churches told congregants to refuse the vaccine; God would do the healing.
Philadelphia's health department got a court order that compelled parents to allow their kids to be vaccinated.
Remarkably, "They complied with the law," says vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit in my new video. "They were law-abiding." The Philadelphia parents didn't fight the order. That ended the epidemic.
Politicians love force.
The idea of leaving us alone to make our own decisions goes against their nature.
To be sure, civilized society sometimes needs government force: police to punish killers, soldiers to protect us from foreign invaders, environmental police to stop my smoke from flowing to your lungs ...
But the political class always goes too far.
Now some want medical police to force everyone to get vaccinated. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.
"It has!" you say. "I have to get vaccinated to keep my job, for my kids to attend school, to go to the movies, a restaurant, etc."
That's force, absolutely. But it's not mandatory. There's an out – we don't have to work for the government, eat indoors or go to a movie theater. We can home-school our kids. We still have choice.
So far, politicians haven't sent police into homes to force everyone to get vaccinated.
They did do that once.
In Philadelphia 30 years ago, a measles outbreak sickened 1,400 people, mostly children, and killed nine. The outbreak spread because leaders of two fundamentalist churches told congregants to refuse the vaccine; God would do the healing.
Philadelphia's health department got a court order that compelled parents to allow their kids to be vaccinated.
Remarkably, "They complied with the law," says vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit in my new video. "They were law-abiding." The Philadelphia parents didn't fight the order. That ended the epidemic.
But I doubt that vaccine-resistant Americans would be similarly compliant today. Now there's an anti-vaccine movement. I'm surprised by the outpouring of hatred for Offit on my YouTube and Facebook channels that follows my video.
Some of it is nonsense from ignorant anti-vaxxers. But I respect commenters expressing versions of the chant, "My body, my choice!"
That slogan makes a good point.
We are not really free if we don't own our own bodies. (It's another reason to oppose the Drug War.) Individuals should get to decide what's put in our own bodies.
But a deadly pandemic is a special case.
COVID-19 continues to kill, partly because some people refuse the vaccine. "This virus has a great many friends," complains Offit. "Science denialists, conspiracy theorists, political pundits. It's hard to watch."
"People have reason to be suspicious!" I say. "The government has experimented on people and lied to people."
(Officials once promised Black syphilis patients treatment but gave them empty pills. The CIA sneaked LSD into people's drinks. More recently, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Americans don't need to wear masks, and then he said we should wear masks.)
"I'm not saying that the government hasn't done things that make one trust them less," Offit responds. "Or that the CDC hasn't made statements that were incorrect, (but) such is the nature of science. You do learn as you go."
What we have learned now is that the vaccine does dramatically reduce hospitalization and death, and we'd all be better off if more people took it.
Vaccine skeptics point to media reports of "breakthrough" cases, vaccinated people who get COVID-19 anyway. Offit's reply? "I'm on CNN and MSNBC a lot ... I think they want to scare people."
They do. It raises ratings, and it makes reporters feel important.
But Offit points out that even after delta, "99.5% of people killed by this virus are unvaccinated! Ninety-seven percent of those hospitalized are unvaccinated! No vaccine works 100%."
Today's COVID-19 vaccines have now been tested on millions of people. It's clear that they are very safe and that they save lives.
It's why Offit would mandate vaccinations.
That's where we disagree.
I consider vaccine refusers foolish and selfish. I got vaccinated, and I wish you would.
But government should never force a treatment on people. That's tyranny.
That said, I shouldn't say "never."
If you are proven a direct threat to others -- if your behavior kills -- then the safety police do have a right to step in to stop you from hurting others.
Short of that, politicians should never force us to put anything into our own bodies.
Japan detects no health risks in withdrawn Moderna vaccine doses from Spain
‘Just like that, covidianism turned Stossel into a cruel, cranky, group-thinker old man.’
and yet his conclusion is the exact same as yours (and mine); that forced vaccinations rises to tyranny, and should not happen...that every word out of his mouth doesn’t make you happy does not devalue his opinion one iota...
that’s the trouble with purists; they never see the forest for the trees...
Because it is not a vaccine.
the problem we have is people are too busy falling for the fear and becoming obedient sheep to care about our country being invaded and destroyed...
‘If the vaccine is so effective, then vaccinated people would not get Covid.’
false; no vaccine makes the claim of 100% protection from the disease being treated...the point is to lessen the length and severity...
but of course you already knew that, and just wish to contribute to the pile on hyperbole...
biden, fauxi, and the cdc recommending vaccines for our citizens to stop the spread of a virus while biden opens the border, invites, welcomes, and freely spreads hundreds of thousands of disease carrying invaders across our country during a “global pandemic” reeks of hypocrisy, proves our government officials don’t care about our health, and anything they preach shouldn’t be trusted...
i refuse to trust hypocrites...
Here is some of what is in it. Anyone think Fauci took this?
He and others are going to face charges of Crimes Against Humanity for this.
I don’t think it is a lie as much as a distortion.
On April 1 2021, the big wave of deaths was over. 561K deaths had already been recorded out of a total 637K. At that point only 17% of the US was vaccinated.
Of course the vast majority of deaths were in the un-vaccinated.
Every other vaccine out there is almost totally effective—like 99% +.
These vaccines are a total joke.
Even if the vaccines worked, I have no obligation to keep you healthy, Johnny. That’s your responsibility. You recall that archaic concept of “personal responsibility”, don’t you, Johnny? Then practice it!
That's unusually squishy for Stossel.
First, it's not just those who work for the government. Businesses large and small are emboldened to issue mandates. Submit to an experimental injection or lose your job. There's an out all right -- out of a job, but not out of your obligations to pay your bills, keep your house and car, feed your family, pay the insurances.
Second, I'm big on homeschooling, but I'm not a blind zealot who doesn't understand that a lot of parents would have to sacrifice one employment in order to stay home and school the children. Yes they "still have choice." To quit the job, and thereby to default on the mortgage, the car loan, the obligation to pay the bills, feed the family and pay the insurances.
A protection racket would tell them, "Not my problem. Submit to my demands or suffer the consequences."
A classical libertarian like Stossel used to be, would know a protection racket when he hears one. He'd know there's no genuine "choice" here.
A friend of mine is attending his sister’s funeral today.
She was middle-aged and had no health conditions.
Three days prior, she received a Covid vaccine.
Coincidence? Who knows? But this story is becoming a familiar one. Healthy people dropping dead out of blue.
One of the first questions in troubleshooting is “what has changed since the problem showed up?”
And the scariest answer to that question is that questions are no longer allowed.
As soon as it was reported the government claimed the vaccine was ok last week, many corporations, including Texas Instruments put a ‘vaccinate or lose your job’ policy. Same time, Governor Abbott put out a “The Texas State Government agencies will not mandate the covid vaccine for its employees”
How would Stossel explain that?
Or would he just act like a prick and sow a lot more emotional not scientific nonsense?
“According to the most recent stats released by the CDC this past Friday, August 27, 2021, their Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) now has recorded more than twice as many deaths following COVID-19 shots during the past 8 and a half months, than deaths recorded following ALL vaccines for the past 30 years.
This has to be the most censored information in the U.S. right now, even though these statistics come directly from official government statistics.
They have now recorded 13,627 deaths, 2,826,646 injuries, and 1,429 fetal deaths from pregnant women who took a COVID shot.
They also report 17,794 permanent disabilities, 74,369 emergency room visits, 55,821 hospitalizations, and 14,104 life threatening events.” (Source.)
Lol. Stossell thinks it’s the job of the police to punish killers.
I am one of the unvaccinated. I’m 75 and live alone. I only leave the house to go grocery shopping and to visit my son down the road from me. His family is also unvaccinated. I was comfortable with my decision until recently. All the stories about taking away my Medicare are making me rethink my position. Then yesterday my grandson was diagnoses with covid. I hadn’t been to his house for 2 weeks so I’m not worried about getting it from him but my bubble of invincibility has burst. I’m scared.
After 2 days my grandson appears to be back to normal.
Are people still getting polio? Where? How many?
Cruel, cranky, group-thinking old men can be great libertarians. But his thinking is dangerous, and has led many others (not all) to want tyranny.
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