Football, Freedom and Flat-Earthers
Hopefully your family was able to peacefully transition through Thanksgiving without Covid-related turmoil or tense political conversation.
Nonetheless, our main stream media continues to feed us a healthy plate full of fear with a side of judgement. Case in point, a recent op-ed by Rich Jackson, general manager of the local Spooner Advocate and Sawyer County Record.
In his November 18th piece titled Your getting vaccinated is not all about yourself, Jackson asserts his viewpoint on the necessity to get the Covid vaccine and subsequent boosters. Fine. Most freedom-loving Americans would agree that we should make health decisions in consultation with our doctor and if that decision is to be vaccinated, so be it. Despite best efforts to force mandates including rewriting our vocabulary and the definition of “Anti-vaxx”, most Americans are not opposed to vaccinations but instead are opposed to government overreach in the form of mandates. Indeed 58% of respondents in the Spooner Advocate’s own poll object to government-mandated vaccines.
It should be noted that despite heavy handed efforts to censor opposing views, there is no consensus among the healthcare industry on how to treat Covid. Most medical professionals agree that vaccines have a positive effect on minimizing hospitalization, but on the other hand those who support alternative therapies are quickly diminished and often demonized with little or no platform for debate.
Mr. Jackson stated his provider ‘wouldn’t be able to see some of her family because of their refusal to get the vaccines for themselves or their children.” Is that logic based in science or emotion? Americans deserve to see the data regarding risks of interactions between healthy vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. And perhaps Mr. Jackson and his provider would like to comment on the 111,156 freedom-loving Americans that attended the recent Michigan vs. Ohio State football game over Thanksgiving weekend, or the Badger game or any other massive gathering that now happen regularly as people begin to reject the fear.
The editor claims he does not get his science from Social Media, therefore we can only assume he spends hours shifting through medical papers at the library between his journalism duties. Fortunately consumers have other options to get facts that our newspapers otherwise suppresses.
These methods of persuasion are in fashion with Jackson’s fellow progressives: They resort to belittling of the common rubes and ‘anti-vaxxers’ as just another group of knuckle-dragging “flat-earthers”. To Mr. Jackson, his version of science is undebatable. Opposing viewpoints must be admonished.
Which gets us back to the topic of football and freedom and the mostly beloved and sometimes controversial quarterback: Aaron Rodgers. If you recall, Rodgers created a buzz a few weeks back when he tested positive for Covid. Despite strict NFL rules requiring vaccination, Rodgers chose not to get the jab.
Did Rodgers fall ill? No. In consultation with his doctors, he made the best decision for his own health. He is an otherwise healthy middle-aged man now more concerned about the effect of a toe injury than contracting a virus. According to his own interview, Rodgers most likely contracted Covid from fellow vaccinated friends or teammates.
Rich Jackson nonetheless blasted the MVP: “Rodgers endangered teammates with his quack research and is the principle cause of the Packers losing to the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Sorry Mr. Jackson. Rodger’s risk to others is minimal at best. We now know that Covid can be spread among both the vaccinated and unvaxxed.
Quack research? It is safe to assume considering all that is on the line that someone of Aaron Rodger’s stature consults with a top-notch board-certified medical team.
Thank goodness he doesn’t take his advice from editors of a small-town newspaper with no medical training or certification. He/they are not ‘quacks’ and Rodgers is not reckless. His opinion is different, and for that opinion he should not be ridiculed by gatekeepers of the press and their version of science.
Perhaps the reason for the Packers loss was because of some contrived one-size-fits-all approach to deal with a virus that effects people differently. To be clear, Covid is a real danger to people with certain pre-existing health risks; namely old-age, obesity and respiratory issues. To otherwise healthy people like Aaron Rodgers and the vast majority of school-aged children, Covid is of little to no risk. Aaron Rodgers was not visiting nursing homes. He plays football hundreds of feet from fans in massive stadiums surrounded by other healthy young men, most all of whom are vaccinated. Should he be forced to sit out a game? Maybe. Should he be ridiculed for his personal health decision? Absolutely not.
Lastly, the writer repeats the mantra of progressive enlightenment by stating ‘It’s not about liberty or principle. It’s about turning science into politics.” Progressives have repeatedly made this issue about politics. Our freedoms, liberties and principles should always be vigorously defended and we must remind liberals that the Constitution must be upheld.
As the founder father Benjamin Franklin once said “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”