I've been trying to not lose my temper on educating folks on #Covid, but I realize that I have every right to be angry on this. I've been in isolation for three years now, and I am ill with #LongCovid because of the lack of pandemic mitigations people used around me, which infected me and got me this ill. That impact on my life was devastating, and it was due to people's denialism and refusal to take Covid seriously. That harm needs discussed.
We need to be able to talk about how the lack of covid precaution is a form of eugenics, and that eugenicist policies is rooted in the marriage of white supremacy + ableism. If we can't discuss this, then we can't ever dismantle the systems of harm killing, disabling, and isolating so many of us.
Leftists in particular need to stop putting their feelings first, sit down, and listen to the words said here.
Lack of Covid Precautions creates a space where Covid can easily spread. This infects more people and puts their lives in danger. We have more than enough research that proves this. This action is rooted in denial of Covid's very real danger, and that denial complicity with eugenicist policies. That's a very hard truth for folks to swallow, and I get that, but if folks cannot grapple with that truth, then how can we ever build a better world?
Denialism indirectly kills people and causes severe harm to individuals and communities. Lack of Covid precautions indirectly kills and disables people. The dropping of covid precautions and mitigations by many governments is eugenics and it kills and disables many. They kill and disable because these actions spread Covid, and Covid kills and disables people. These are facts not opinions.
Instituting Covid Mitigations does require work. Saving lives and not contributing further to mass death and disablement ought to matter more than people's feelings and desire to 'save on work.'
We must, if we wish to build a better world, change our behaviors and normalize Pandemic mitigations. That's the only just path forward. Those that refuse to do pandemic mitigations normalizes mass death and disablement, and in turn, by not normalizing pandemic mitigations is to side with eugenicists. Yes, most people don't want to believe they are complicit or side with eugenicists, just as people are very reluctant to admit when they are being racist, as they see eugenicists as pure evil and no one wants to view themselves as evil.
But that is a form of denialism. It denies the reality that the actions we do influence and impact other people. Our actions lend support - whether we wish to admit it or not - to others who either fight for justice/accessibility/equity or fight for eugenicist/racist/ableist policies. None of our actions exist in a vaccum. We influence and are influenced by society and our communities.
People have the capability to do great good and great harm. We are never fully good or fully bad. Our complexity, our internalized bigotry, our wants/needs, our feelings, our actions all play a role in who we are and how we present ourselves to others. Examining internalized bigotry is hard and scary, and I get that, but it must be done otherwise no growth can happen and we stagnant. That stagnation tips us into denialism of our roles and impacts on others, which then perpetuates (whether we are conscious of it or not) the oppressors and the harm they cause.
It can be powerful and life changing to be willing to say: I am wrong. I did cause harm. I want to do better. I am going to learn about this and change my actions to do better.
Calling out the actions we do by naming exactly what they are is how we can recognize the harm done. It is how we can learn what to examine, find ways to examine it, and then change our actions to do better.
Words matter. Words often need to be precise for us to best understand the complexity and nuance of a situation.
For Covid, we don't have the luxury of time.
Covid Mitigations and precautions save lives, that is a fact. We need Leftists in particular (but all people) to be willing to acknowledge the harm they've done when they've relaxed covid mitigations/precautions, and we need them to be willing to grow and do better. To be willing to change their actions in order to be more accessible, more just, and more willing to save as many lives as possible.
In reply to a comment accusing me of confusing Leftists with right-wingers:
No, don't simplify this into an us versus them. Leftists are just as capable of bigotry and harm as any other group.
There are many Leftists that have been organizing protests, conventions, and meetings that do not require masks nor do they make clear their pandemic mitigations (sometimes not even bothering to include any). I've witnessed this and been isolated and harmed for calling out the harm and impact of their decisions.
Yes, not all Leftists do that, but the 'not all' attitude is harmful and derails the conversation. If Leftists are engaging in Pandemic mitigations and fighting for them, then they know this message isn't for them but for others who aren't doing that. So then boost as needed to get the message out to those that need to hear it.
So no, do not accuse me of confusing the matter. Leftists need called out on this too as they are just as capable of perpetuating harm in this manner as any right-wingers. We need to be able to discuss this without this 'you're confusing them with x' and 'not all leftists' sort of discourse derailing threads like mine.
Thanks for reading.
we've still been wearing a mask. and not going anywhere, which fucking sucks. this is hard, we don't claim to know all the answers, but denial is not the right way.
I see so few people masking anymore, and the anti-covid measures I do see are like security theater, but for health. Six feet signs, hand sanitizer dispensers with signs saying to use them to protect against covid, flat plastic shields, people who mask but pull their masks down to talk...
