#vaccinate your goddamn kids

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Robert Kennedy, Jr. claiming "the man" is keeping the truth about vaccine dangers locked away.

Bobby. Come here.

Come. Here.

YOU'RE A FUCKING KENNEDY. YOU ARE THE MAN.

And like every anti-vaxxer, he's got fucking blood on his hands. The 2019 American Samoa measles outbreak was directly caused by his anti-vaxx work.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

My parents have smallpox vaccine scars. Smallpox is still a vaccine you get, but it doesn't require the puncture method anymore.

It's a two-prong needle now, but my folks got to stare down this bastard:

And I'm glad they did. Anti-vaxxers are some of the most hateful people in the fucking world. Why would you put your kid or yourself in danger of dying when you don't even have to face more than a double-prong needle to protect yourself?

For the anti-vaxxers Fuck you

[crab-people-overlord]

"You're Getting Older/Ass Burgers", the Analysis that nobody asked for:

I’ve seen lots of discourse about the ‘’You’re Getting Older’ x ‘Ass Burgers’ episodes (and for good reason - imo they’re some of the best episodes in all of cartoons and even media in general that shows what depression is actually like). Folks seem really eager to pick sides - either defending Stan's struggle with depression and condemning Kyle's abandonment, or justifying Kyle's decision to distance himself from Stan's overwhelming negativity. But here's the thing: this really isn't a situation where we need to choose teams (and picking a team misses the whole fucking point).  I’ve had this written for a while but might as well share it now since I’m feeling a certain way about TikTok’s potential ban in a couple hours lmao.

Imo, the truth is a combination of both. Stan was wrong to expect Kyle to understand the utter depression and dark thoughts he was having and be able to offer real support based on those extremely dark thoughts. And Kyle was 100% wrong to just give up so easily on such a deep friendship despite the struggles and negativity his friend was projecting onto him. And I hate either Stan apologists defending Kyle being a piece of shit for this, and I similarly hate Kyle apologists for defending Kyle walking away so quickly and giving up so readily to their deep friendship even if it was for something he couldn’t understand. Neither side is right.  

The brilliance of these episodes lies in how they capture the messy reality of friendship during mental health struggles. Stan's experiencing something terrifying and incomprehensible - literally seeing and tasting everything as shit, a perfect metaphor for depression. He's a 10-year-old kid dealing with adult emotions he has no framework to understand or express. Of course he lashed out, especially given that it was the ADULTS he was supposed to trust who got him into alcohol in the first place. Of course he was difficult to be around. But telling your best friend "fuck you" and then trying to backpedal? That's not okay, depression or not.

On the flip side, Kyle's position is equally complex. Watching your best friend spiral into darkness while being completely unable to help or understand what they're going through? That's scary as hell, especially for a kid. But the show makes it crystal clear through the executive's pointed commentary that walking away from someone diagnosed with a serious condition - which depression absolutely is - represents a fundamental failure of friendship.

The episode literally tells us word-for-word what the creators want us to get from it:

Later on, the exec says, "Oh yeah, like any friend would say something that severe and then try to take it back' (at Stan trying to downplay his telling 'fuck you' to kyle's face earlier.)

And then they say when Kyle says that Stan's negativity was poison to him, the exec says sarcastically, "Yeah, like any friend would walk out on somebody who was diagnosed with a serious illness!"

The exec here is telling us what the creators want you to get out of the episode - that Stan, despite his scary and new feelings, never should have verbally treated Kyle that way, mental health issues or not. And that Kyle, despite the scary things his friend was feeling and how confusing it was, never should have just walked away from him. Trying to defend either boy’s behavior does nobody any good. THEY BOTH WERE WRONG.

What makes these episodes so powerful is their refusal to offer easy answers. Stan couldn't help falling into depression, but he could have tried harder to not push Kyle away or verbally be so harsh. Kyle couldn't fix Stan's depression, but he could have shown more patience and understanding instead of just bailing when things got tough. The show is saying something profound here: sometimes in life, everyone can be wrong at the same time, and that's what makes these situations so painfully human.

If there is anyone to be upset with in this situation, it’s the adults in Stan’s life. Their failure is staggering and unfortunately realistic. Randy and Sharon’s response to Stan's crisis is almost a textbook example of how not to handle a child's mental health issues (and this is coming from someone who usually respects Sharon). Instead of focusing on their clearly struggling son, they make it all about their own drama. Randy goes on national TV to call his son a ‘freak’ and the reason for the divorce. I love Sharon,and while it is shown she at least does the bare minimum to take Stan to therapy, she often gets way too involved in her showdowns with Randy over her children’s well-being (just look to the episode where Stan gets shot at school  but Sharon caves to Randy’s nonchalant response on this. I know this was more meant to be funny, but genuinely, what about Stan in this situation? What fear did he have to go through when he got shot at school and realized his parents didn’t fucking care enough to immediately go see him? Again, I love Sharon, but her potential of being a good parent is seriously held back from her hold on Randy’s manipulations.)

Stan also goes to the school-counselor as a cry for help, but Mr. Mackey’s response is both satirical and sadly reflective of real-world issues in mental health diagnoses. Rather than actually listening to Stan's symptoms and concerns, he jumps to an incorrect diagnosis based on trendy medical fears (the vaccine-autism conspiracy theory). This represents a broader criticism of how mental health issues in children are often misdiagnosed or dismissed, especially when adults are more concerned with their own theories than actually listening to the child. I think one of the only times I’ve actually teared up when watching SP or ANY SHOW is when Stan asks while finally crying after being so emotionally numb for so long, so vulnerably, “How do you go on when NOTHING makes you happy?” Stan is genuinely asking this question here. He utterly does not understand how anyone can continue to live life while being so miserable. But of course, Mr. Mackey goes to ruin it by touting conspiracy theories. This context actually makes Kyle's failure even more tragic - he was literally Stan's last hope for support, the only person left who Stan thought might have understood, the person he loved and trusted the most, the only person he trusted enough to open up fully to, and the last thing in Stan's eyes to turn to literal shit. But it also somewhat explains Kyle's inability to handle it - he's just a kid himself, and when all the adults in Stan's life failed so spectacularly, it's too fucking much to expect a 10-year-old to know how to handle his friend's depression. The episodes work as a damning indictment of how society handles childhood mental health issues. While Stan and Kyle's friendship breakdown is the emotional core, the real villains are the adults who should have known better and done better, and I won’t accept any Stan or Kyle ‘apologists’ claiming otherwise. It's especially poignant because South Park usually portrays kids as being more sensible than adults - but here, everyone fails, highlighting just how difficult mental health situations can be to navigate without proper support systems.

[solarbird]

For years now, I have been railing against the Republican Party as a literal – literal – Party of Plague. In these closing days of the campaign, they have quadrupled back down on this in ways that will kill millions of Americans.

Not “might.” Will.

Appointing RFK, Jr. as czar of public health and letting him “go wild” will kill millions. Again, not might: will. Not immediately, no, but over time. Trump himself is utterly refusing to promise he and his party won’t ban vaccines and said on Sunday that RFK Jr.’s pledge to eliminate fluoridation of water on day one “sounds OK to me.”

If they do this and make it stick, millions will die. And an outsized number of them will be children.

Courtesy McNadoMD on Mastodon, here are a few of the diseases mass vaccination eliminated from American life, and which banning vaccination will bring back, along with some of their symptoms and progression paths.Howdy folks! Friendly neighborhood ER doc here. Did you know that Trump’s folks want to take vaccines off of the market? That means you can’t get a shot even if you want one. Did you know that the tetanus shot is a vaccine? If you want your kids to be safe from lockjaw (caused by tetanus), you want vaccines to be available. You know what else is a vaccine? Rabies shots. If a rabid dog or bat bites your kid, do you want your kid to be able to be treated before they die of rabies?

Lockjaw and rabies:

Diphtheria:

Whooping cough:

Polio:

You get the idea, right?

These aren’t the only ones. These are just a few of those less often mentioned in these modern times, because people have forgot they exist.

When I say the Republican Party is a Party of Plague, when I say it is a goddamn death cult, I mean every single one of those words in every way you might think.

They are promising economic ruin and they are promising ethnic purges and now they are promising mass death of children.

All while killing pregnant people for their vile sense of domination, of course. Let us never forget that, since their families certainly won’t.

One of the things their apologists keep saying is that “Trump doesn’t mean it” and “Trump won’t do it,” and “That’s just Trump being Trump,” and they talk about “Trump derangement syndrome,” and say that we’re stupid for believing what their candidate fucking says he’ll do, and meanwhile, they get enraged about shit they completely make up about us and the candidates who are with us.

We react to things their candidates promise. They react to shit they make up wholesale about us. We are not the fucking same.

If only the political press would catch on to that fact.

The very last day of a campaign is a pretty lousy time to bring up another topic, even if it’s not really new. But this is, again, so murderously psychotic that I can’t not bring it back up.

Maybe you can bring it up, too, on this final day of this hellish and evil campaign, this Monday, November 4th, 2024.

Zero days remain.

It is Lastday.

[lesbianwyllravengard]

I'm actually so sick and fucking tired of people who think covid is comparable to the flu. Just bc you or a family member got it and didn't die doesn't mean it's not super fucking serious and life threatening, ESPECIALLY for disabled people/people with health issues/autoimmune disorders. Every time my father sees me wearing a mask he rants about how covid is just like the flu and that everyone is over reacting and [insert shitty conspiracy theory here] and it makes me so upset every goddamn time. I got covid half a year ago, despite doing everything right, thanks to my parents' stupidity. I was sick for 13 days, entirely bedridden and feverish for 9 of those days. I physically couldn't get out of bed, not even to piss, the entire first day my mother had to half carry me everywhere. Same thing the second day, when she dragged me to the doctor where I tested positive. The first five days, I couldn't even look at an electronic device and had to keep the lights off all the time bc I'd actually vomit. I had a migraine that didn't go away no matter what medicine I took, for the entire the first week. My nose was constantly stuffy and my sinuses were so backed up I couldn't breathe through my nose, which made breathing in general so difficult and painful bc my asthma was also exacerbated. So my chest hurt too. All my normal chronic pain was magnified tenfold. I had a 103 fever for three days in a row, then it fluctuated between 98-100 the rest of the time. Thinking about it right now I still remember the pain and how it felt. I've had strep throat, a lot as a kid. I've had chicken pox, and the flu several times, because my parents never fucking vaccinated us. I have never been more sick in my goddamn life than I was with covid. And this is just me. Yes I'm disabled and yes I'm still being tested for possible autoimmune disorders (my mom and her whole side of the family have them) but even still I'm not nearly as at risk as a lot of people, and I was still more affected than anyone in my entire family, who have all also gotten covid because of their own stupidity. My taste and smell were never affected, but I'm still losing hair from it, which is apparently also a symptom I never knew about.

Wear. Your fucking. Masks. Covid is still around, it's still super fucking serious, it is NOT just like the flu, and you had fucking better take it seriously. Even if you don't care about getting it yourself, at least show some goddamn consideration for others whose health and lives are at risk.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Oh, hey, happy birthday to me! (December 9, three years later as a matter of fact).

happy smallpox eradication day to all who celebrate, which is everyone!

[choco-maki-mallows]

The fact that youth can be forced into unwanted medical procedures or denied care because their parents decided for them should make people much, much more outraged than it does.

My own mother tried to force me into getting a mostly cosmetic surgery done (but still "quality of life" assuring, so it wouldn't be considered cosmetic to a board), and the only reason that I was able to get out of it is because I was 17 by the time she was consulting doctors about it, and they felt it immoral to force me into it then.

Of course, if I was younger, they would've still signed off on it, despite the procedure being known to cause heavy distress in individuals with depression (me!) and not being necessary to my survival in any way. And even if it were, it still shouldn't be up to someone else to decide my path for me. How many people does this happen to, being forced into a body-altering procedure for the parent's sake?

And, of course, the many examples of parents denying their children care because they don't understand it, are scared of it, or remain willfully ignorant. You can't even get a vaccine without your mommy's permission until your a legal adult in the US. Parents fighting over what to do for their kid's care without even bothering to consult the person in question who is the one going through a medical event.

Youth have absolutely no bodily autonomy and its fucking disgusting. I was no more of a person at 17 than 16, 15, 12, 10. So why was my body being treated like it wasn't even mine? Why is it that you have to be a certain age just to be able to vouch for your own goddamn skin?

[noihavenosanitythanksforasking]

people who look down on people with irrational fears piss me off sm.

like yes sharron, we know it's irrational. its in the goddamn name. yet somehow its in my medical paperwork?? having an irrational fear doesnt mean like oh i get queasy when i see blood.

if i get a shot my life is over for the next 4 days. and funnily enough it all started when i went in for my yearly checkup when i was 12. i had to get some vaccines and i didnt want to get them bc ik every kid hates shots. so to avoid this i asked to go to the bathroom before they did it and pretty much holed up in there for about half an hour.

now my doctor was a bitch and was not very happy about this situation so she got a yard stick and shoved it through the lil pee door where you put your pee samples for the lab she glared at me and said that if i didnt come out they were going to unlock the door and drag me out of the bathroom.

so yeah i got outta the bathroom and right before they gave me the shots the doctor looked at me and said "its an irrational fear. get over it. its not a big deal" very deadpan very harsh.

anyway i left that pediatrician traumatized and ever since then my fear of medical needles has gotten so bad that i have to take almost the next week off if school and work whenever i get blood drawn. which ofc the doctors always want to do bc they think that will solve all my problems or something.

the last time i got my blood drawn i went non verbal for multiple hours and started twitching and hitting myself in the the face and making squeaking and clicking noises.

recently i went to a psychologist and got diagnosed with autism and when i told her about my thing with needles she diagnosed me with specific phobia as well.

anyways dont fukin tell my fear is irrational i already know if i could get over it i would

[kevinwikse]

Vaccinated Cybernetic Jizz Pig for the Elite: YOU ARE A ROBOT.

Look, let’s get one thing straight—you're not living in blissful ignorance anymore. For the past 30 years, you’ve been a walking cocktail of microplastics. The "Apeel" chemical Bill Gates has his hands on, the one they spray on fruit at Costco and Whole Foods? It’s turning your food into lifeless, mannequin fruit. Welcome to North-fucking-Korea.

The v you took, unwittingly or not, is rewriting your DNA and slipping self-replicating nanotech into your system. This tech is creating new systems inside you, forged from your own body but not for it. You’re on the path to becoming a goddamn robot. A fucking replicant. For some of you, it’s an improvement—finally, a personality. Sure, it’s downloaded from the cloud, but at least you’d be bearable.

Westworld all day long, but let’s be clear: the future for you and your kids is bleak. Beyond being a sewer labor bot or the semen receptacle in some grotesque sex-stravaganza featuring Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Harvey Weinstein, your prospects are limited. Luckily, your new programming will convince you to relish your role as a jizz pig for the elite.

Well done.

[sweaterkittensahoy]

Of note in the CNN article: RFK Jr. is making the worm in his brain claim but not providing any medical records to prove it when asked. A doctor speaking on the subject of brain worms explains that it should be possible to see the dead worm in the scans that RFK Jr. claim he had done to find the problem. So, why he's not sharing the scans is very odd.

I'm not saying he's making it up, but this is a man who is anti-vax and directly connected to American Samoa canceling their measles vaccination program for several months. Which led to a public health crisis that killed 83 people. He's also claimed vaccines caused a "holocaust" because what's wild, left-wing anti-science fuckery without some antisemitism sprinkled in for flavor.

And unlike RFK Jr., I source my shit (that'll get you to an in-depth AP news article about all of his fuckery).

Fucking hate this guy.

“Ate part of his brain”

[somedayonbroadway]

Criminal Minds AU? Just wanted to know if you'll ever actually do it

Criminal Minds AU

Welcome back to another Criminal Minds episode called “Amplification”

TW: deadly desease

Race hissed as he brushed past a rose bush and cut his hand. He shook it a bit as Jack walked on past him. This was no easy case and the young agent refused to slow it down with a minor cut. People were dying. A new strain of Anthrax was being passed around by someone deliberately trying to terrorize the public. And they might just be standing outside that person’s house.

When Jack’s phone rang, he stopped to answer it, not realizing his partner continued walking. “Spottie, we’re here now,” he assured, listening intently to the man on the other end of the phone. The sprinkler turning on behind him made him jump a bit and grab for his gun. He sighed as he made himself continue to listen. “What d’you mean the lab is clean?” he asked. “You’re sure?” He turned back to the house. “Hey, Race, Spot says— Race?” he squinted. “Racer?” Now he was beginning to get concerned. So he rushed inside only to have a sliding door to his left slammed shut. “What the hell are you doing, kid?! Open the damn door!”

But Race was shaking his head. “No! You have to get out of here! Don’t break the glass! Get out!” the genius boy yelled at him.

That’s when Jack saw it. A broken vile of white powder on the ground. “Shit, boy…” he breathed. “Race—“

“Get out of here, Jack,” Race insisted. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

All Jack could do was leave him there and rush out of the house, calling for the rest of his team.

—

“How’s Tony doing?” Denton asked, walking hastily up to Jack.

“He won’t tell me. The air is blasting and there’s white powder all over the floor,” Jack responded, walking back to the house with his boss. “I shoulda been right there with him—“

“I won’t waste time second guessing,” Denton ordered. “What do we know?”

Clenching his jaw a bit, Jack nodded. “Nicols is dead. Blunt first trauma to the head. Race thinks he’s been dead for two or three days. He can’t be our perp. But he took the vaccine. So he’s gonna be okay, right?”

Denton sighed. “We have an ambulance on the way, Kelly. I know you’re worried for Tony, but don’t let that cloud your judgment or ability to solve this case,” he insisted.

“That’s not an answer,” Jack insisted. “Will he be okay?”

Denton looked over at the young man. “I don’t know.”

Jack swallowed hard. He pulled out his phone and called his best friend, putting his phone on sound. “Jack… I really messed up this time,” Race answered.

Looking through the window and spotting the boy, Jack shook his head. “No. We’re gonna get you out and to the hospital, okay? I just need you to listen to me and trust me.”

“I’m staying right here, Jackie,” Race said without any hesitation. “I’m already exposed. The best thing I can do is try to figure out if there’s a cure. All the evidence is in here.”

“No, no, you’re going to the hospital, kid, because that’s what we do when we’re exposed to a major illness that can kill us overnight—“ Jack began as though he was speaking to a child.

Denton cut him off before he could finish. “Kelly, he’s right,” he argued. “If he’s already exposed, there isn’t much we can do for him. His best bet is to stay there and try to figure out who killed our doctor.”

Jack’s eyebrows raised in shock. “Are you actually serious right now?” he demanded. “That kid is small and he hasn’t eaten in a day, he’ll get sick too fast—“

“I can hear you, Jack…” Race sighed into the phone. “I messed up. But I’ll find a cure, okay?”

Jack held the phone close to his lips. “You better find a goddamn cure.”

Race smiled sadly before hanging up the phone and waving at Jack, trying to tell him in silence that he’d be alright. Jack did not appreciate that at all. But he bit his lip and waved back, not about to leave his partner behind.

—

Walking around the room wasn’t all that exciting, but it kept Race distracted. That’s what he needed. A distraction. He saw a dead body, some bleeding out of its head, two desks, one tidy and one a bit messier. Notebooks that had two sets of handwriting in them were scattered around the room. The dead animals locked in cages nearly broke Race’s heart.

Maybe if he ever got out of this room, he’d go vegan. Those animals didn’t deserve to die like that. But he looked over at the glass dividing him from the outside world and sniffled; it might just be how he leaves this world too.

He shook his head, trying to focus. Two sets of handwriting. A partner. A protege. The murderer and the victim had worked closely together. Race dug around, trying to find any trace of a name, something that would give this person away. He paused when he saw the books stacked beside the desk. He sniffled and shook his head. “Don’t be stupid, Higgins,” he whispered to himself. “She’ll be okay…” He shakily took out his phone and dialed a familiar number.

“Race?” David answered quickly.

Race sniffled, rubbing at his nose. “Hey, Davey,” he smiled sadly.

“Hey…” David looked down. “How you holdin’ up?”

Race opened his mouth like he was about to reassure the other man. In reality, he’d already begun to sweat. His curls were sticking down to his head and his eyes were growing a bit weary. He was sure they'd be red if he could look into a mirror. “Uhm…”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Anthony,” David assured. “Just tell me what you need, okay?”

The young agent sucked in a breath. “I need ta leave a message for my mom,” Race whimpered. “I… I can’t call her hospital because the staff will be alerted but— but if something happens to me, I wanna say goodbye ta her—“

“Tony, everything’s gonna be okay—“

“Can you please just let me do this?” Race whispered, hugging an arm around his middle.

It was too hard to answer for a long moment. David wished he could hang up and have the day start over again, but he couldn’t. So he nodded. “Okay… go ahead, kiddo.”

Race sniffled. “H-hey, mama…” he said, trying to plaster on a smile. She was always good at knowing when he was smiling or not, just by how he spoke. “It’s me… Tonio…” He steadied himself and nodded. “I just wanna tell you that I love you so much, yeah? And… how… how proud I am ta be raised by such a strong person,” he whimpered, trying to clear his throat to be okay. If he sounded okay. Maybe he would be. “I think about you everyday and I want you to know that… nothing that happened was ever your fault. I love you,” he whispered. “Bye…”

David sniffled. “Race—“

“I gotta go,” Race rushed out before quickly hanging up the phone.

The door opened and Race jumped, standing up straighter and wiping at the sweat on his forehead. “Jack,” he breathed. “Lookin’ like a million bucks,” he tried to joke.

Jack was dressed in a hazmat suit and helmet. “Yeah, I'm thinkin’ a’ changin’ careers. I’d be a badass astronaut,” he smiled, allowing another person to come in with him as Race laughed weakly. “Kid, this is Dr. Kim.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Higgins,” the doctor smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine,” Race insisted.

“I can give you something for any pain you might be feeling,” Dr. Kim offered.

Race backed away. “I feel fine, thank you.”

“Well, they can also help get you more comfortable—“

“I don’t want any narcotics, okay?” Race insisted brashly.

Jack stepped closer to him so Race backed into one of the desks. “Get back, Jack, you shouldn’t be in here!”

“Kid…” Jack breathed. “You’re fine. You’re gonna be fine.”

“Just ask me about the case, okay?” Race pleaded.

So Jack nodded. “They don’t think the partner was something Nicols worked with. Any ideas of who he might be?” he asked. Race almost answered, but was cut off by a severe coughing fit that made Jack flinch. He wanted to rush to the younger man, but the doctor put her arm out to stop him. “Race?” he called.

Race sunk down to the floor. “I don’t know,” he rasped. “I didn’t find nothin’… m-my head hurts.”

“I know, but I need you to think okay?”

Race wheezed a bit to catch his breath as he lazily looked up at Jack before crawling over to the other side of the room. “I s-saw something before… syllabi… and what looked like a thesis paper. No author on it, thought it was his. A study of Anthrax.”

Jack nodded. “Okay?”

“A student… this thesis ain’t his, he was helping a student,” Race decided, coughing again. “Jackie—“ his voice broke, so he cut himself off.

Jack pushed away from the doctor and kneeled at the boy’s side. The kid was shaking. “It’s alright. It’s okay, just breathe, you’re doin’ real good, buddy.”

Race shook his head. “He ain’t a science major,” he insisted. “Check social studies, s-somethin’ like that. He wants to save the world, not destroy it—“ He hunched over, coughing even harder. Blood dropped onto the floor.

Jack’s eyes widened. “Okay, come on, I’m getting you out of here,” he insisted.

“We’ll hose him down and get him to a hospital,” Kim insisted.

Jack rushed him into a small tent and began undressing him. Race shoved his hands away. “Go help Denton—“

“No, I’m staying with you,” Jack insisted.

“You really wanna see me get hosed down, completely naked?” Race grumbled.

Jack rolled his eyes. “Stop… I’m staying with you, okay?”

Race nodded and let himself be undressed. “Davey better take good care of you,” he whimpered. Jack scoffed.

“Stop talkin’ like that. Stand up, come on, you can do it…” Race did. But when the water hit his body, he gasped and felt his face head up when he realized how many people were there. “You’re fine, kid,” Jack insisted.

For a moment, Race believed him. Until he began convulsing again, coughing and spitting B up blood. Jack shook his head, catching the kid before he could fall. “I’m fine, Jack. I fleel fim…” Race blinked harshly. “I flin fn…” he shook his head, tightening a hand in Jack’s suit. “I flul… J…” His breathing picked up. He couldn’t make the words come out of his mouth.

Jack shook his head. “You’re okay, we’re taking you to a hospital,” he insisted, trying not to panic. “Get him into an ambulance!” he cried, gathering Race up in his arms as the boy began to fade, getting more and more confused by the second, his breaths becoming heavier and heavier. “You’re alright, I got you, pretty boy, just breathe…”

Race whimpered in his arms and by the time he got into that ambulance, he was unable to understand a single thing that came next.

—

Jack sat idly by his friend, eating a Jell-O cup and kicking his legs up on the bed. He breathed as steadily as Race did. It had only been a few hours. Thanks to Race’s big brain and Davey’s skills, they had found the cure and Jack would be here until Race recovered.

“Are there any more Jell-O cups?” a voice spoke from the bed.

Jack looked down at the boy and smiled. “Welcome back, Racer,” he whispered, handing Race the Jell-O he’d been eating. “How’re you feeling?”

Race slowly sat up and took a deep breath, coughing a little which made Jack’s eyebrow furrow the tiniest bit. “I’m fine,” he smiled. “Really, this time. How are you?”

Jack leaned forward. “Don’t scare me like that again, okay?” he asked. Race sniffled, nodding as a tear poked at his eye. Jack just sat on the bed and hugged the boy tightly. “You’re good, okay? I got you. Promise.”

[asphaltvalkyrie]

Disclaimer: I fucking love vaccinations. I think anti-vaxxers are a literal plague upon this earth. Holy fuck just read about rabies and polio and smallpox and diptheria and tetanus and measles and a dozen other debilitating diseases and holy shit man get your goddamn vaccinations and vaccinate your kids and your pets too FFS.

Its also worth adding that I'm an essential worker (vet medicine) - I never got a single day of quarantine time and worked through the whole pandemic. I also wore a mask every day.

But... I just have to vent a bit. I had a reaction to the COVID vaccine - the initial one was fine, but each of the 2 boosters I got had me bedridden for days with a high fever, severe body aches and dizziness so bad I could barely stand.

Then I actually got COVID last March - it lasted longer than the vaccine reaction, but was only a fraction as painful. I'd gladly take the 7 days of mild discomfort that actual COVID gave me over the 2-3 days of agony the vaccine put me through.

But, state and federal programs paid for all of the time off from work I had to take during both of those periods, so I didn't have to worry too much either way - it was worth getting the vaccine.

But those programs are no longer in place.

Because I had such a bad reaction to the vaccine and didn't want to miss any more work (I only get two paid sick days PER YEAR,) I've really been dragging my heels on getting the new updated vaccine just in case I react to it like I did the old one. Can you blame me?

But now I have COVID again. And I have to miss a full week of work, which is more than the 2-3 days I'd have missed from getting the vaccine. Again, its just mild discomfort, but

I just think its a little fucked up that I have to suffer both physically and financially for whatever decision I make, wrong or right.

That said, the right decision is getting vaccinated and I'll be getting the new vaccine once I'm over this bout and can afford to miss 2 more days of work, that is.

[rocknrolloccultist93]

Warning: vent post, which will probably only make sense if you happen to mostly or only like music from before CD's and MP3 players were invented.

Just once. Just fucking ONCE CAN THE GODDAMN UNIVERSE STOP KILLING MUSICIANS I CAN'T AFFORD TO SEE. TAKE A BILLIONARE THAT IS CAUSING OUR PROBLEMS. TAKE A POLITICIAN. TAKE ERIC FUCKING CLAPTON BECAUSE HE'S A RACIST DICKHEAD JUST LEAVE THE OTHER DAD ROCK MUSICIANS ALONE GOD DAMNIT. I don't even have it in me to be sad anymore. I'm just fucking pissed. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH IT COSTS TO GO TO ONE CONCERT? I COULD LIVE 6 MONTHS ON THE PRICE OF A CONCERT TICKET IF I HAD TO. I COULD BUY A YEAR'S WORTH OF WEED. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO BE ABLE TO AFFORD COCAINE TO GO TO A GODDAMN ROCK CONCERT OF A MUSICIAN I HIGHLY RESPECT. AND NOW THEY'RE ALL DYING. THE RICH BOOMERS, AT LEAST HALF OF WHICH ARE MISINTERPRETING THE MUSIC FOR THEIR OWN POLITICAL AGENDA AND HAVE ALREADY SEEN THEM BEFORE ARE THE ONLY ONES WHO WILL GET THAT EXPERIENCE BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL FUCKING DYING. If they only did box office sales AT LEAST I'd be able to fistfight real people to get a somewhat decent seat, but no. I HAVE TO FIGHT GODDAMN ROBOTS ON THE INTERNET KNOWING I WILL LOSE. We who actually have a lot to gain from going to a concert, don't have a chance in HELL at seing any of our favorite bands/artists, we have to sit here and FIGHT INVINCIBLE ROBOTS FOR IT. We have to DROWN IN COMPLACENCY BECAUSE WE'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO AFFORD IT. AT LEAST LET ME FIGHT THE RICH MOTHERFUCKERS FOR TICKETS AND GOOD SEATS. YOU WANNA KNOW WHY KIDS NEVER LISTEN TO GOOD MUSIC ANYMORE KAREN? HUH? BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE A GODDAMN DOLLAR LET ALONE HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS THAT WE CAN THROW INTO TICKETMASTER ANY TIME SOMEONE GOOD DECIDES TO TOUR NEAR US. BECAUSE ALL YOU RICH FUCKERS DON'T HAVE THE BALLS TO GIVE UP THE ENTITLEMENT YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO THESE ARTISTS WHOSE MESSAGES YOU PERVERT FOR YOUR OWN TWISTED NARRATIVE. Have the day you deserve, rich bastards, keep doing dumb shit like refusing to get vaccinated so we can take your place and make things less shitty already.

[alex51324]

In case anyone's wondering what the CIA was doing impersonating health workers, it was when they were going after Osama Bin Laden, and they were taking DNA samples from kids, because they figured that wherever he was, there'd be a bunch of his relatives nearby.

The kids got genuine polio vaccines and were not directly harmed, so it isn't quite as lurid and horrible as some of the scenarios that might come to mind. But as Griselda said, the effects were pretty bad in terms of damaging trust in international aid organizations, especially US-based ones. It's pretty goddamn creepy to think about a foreign government's secret police experimenting on your child without your knowledge or consent, no matter how noninvasive it is, & even if you agree with the goal of capturing Bin Laden.

“that character is a war criminal” that character is from a fictional fantasy world and did not attend the geneva convention

[star-anise]

Do you have any thoughts on the psychology concept of "reactance"? I just discovered this last night, I was trying to figure out why people telling me to go to bed motivates me to Not Do That. Plus, I just realized this connects with how people are like "when they say you can't win then do it out of spite" and otherwise motivating themselves through anger. And you post about deradicalization sometimes which also seems relevant. I'm just fascinated by the theory but i don't know how to apply it??

Survival instincts are powerful things. We know on a very basic level that if other people aren’t on board with our needs, our chances of survival go down quite a lot. 

(I’m laughing a bit because this morning a discord I run got very into telling one person in another timezone to go to bed, and I had to step in and go, “Is this argument actually keeping you up longer? Should we stop?” and that person admitted that it might be midnight where they were, but they weren’t going to go to sleep for another few hours so no amount of pushing would make it happen)

A lot of reactance comes out of repeated interactions with people or systems that have not understood what you needed or what makes sense, and pushed you into doing things that were aversive or harmful. It’s the common pairing of “person says to do a thing” and “having a bad outcome” that triggers irritation, anger, and the will to resist.

The antidote is accurate empathy, which means the ability to understand another person’s mental and emotional state, and then the ability to act in a way that is not unpleasant or harmful for them. Usually, that means presenting them with the information they need and then letting them decide for themselves.

The people I really think this is important for is flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, and climate deniers. I don’t know if you’ve seen the Netflix documentary “Behind the Curve”, but it got me thinking along these lines. These people make sense as people with ingrained reactance to arguments from authority. They’re people with a deep-seated aversion to “this is the way to do things Because Science Says.” They’ve had experience of science making them feel less-than, or being applied in a way that crushed their own need for independence. For them, denying an obvious part of established science is their way of saying, “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me.”

This is why so many of the obvious arguments tend to backfire with them: because those arguments are saying, “You are wrong, you don’t know the truth, you need to submit to authority.” Which they quite naturally resist as more of the same bullshit that got them into this position in the first place.

So the way to engage them is way more to encourage curiosity and open thought--to say, “Come here, look at this, what do you think? What decision will you make because of it?” That’s why public health authorities fund games like The Scientific Method or Vax!, which try to engage adults in a vaccine simulation that lets them experiment and observe. That way they can reach conclusions that don’t feel so much like submitting to a foreign authority.

Being willing and able to understand other people, and to have the patience and kindness to let them work things through themselves instead of just shouting DO WHAT I TELL YOU ALREADY, really are the tools to building a better world.

(And it works for you, yourself too. A lot of the things that are good for us, we resist because it means squashing some essential inner experience that needs to be listened to. If we listen to it, it can often be appeased in a different way. Humans need to be heard and understood. After all, if someone doesn’t understand a baby is hungry and feed it thousands of times, over and over, that baby will never grow up into an adult.)

[eowyndy]

There are two things for which I have hard and fast opinions:

1. Vaccination

2. Honey Bees