The original title of this post was Panic at the CDC, with a subtitle of no, this ain’t no disco.
Then I thought better. Time to call the vaccine lies what they are, lies. According to the Merriam Webster dictionary the definition of a lie is to “make an untrue statement with the intent to deceive”.
We need to start naming the lies.
None of this namby-pamby “mistruths”, “states without evidence”, “mislead”, “false”, and “fabrications”. All of those words mean the same thing. That someone is not being honest with you *cough, cough, RFK Jr., Fox News* for their own benefit.
Use the word lie(s). Tell it like it is.
It is a good rule of thumb to interrogate your feelings about what you are being told. And also consider the motive behind the one telling you these “truths”. Is it to make you mad? Is it to make you do something that you would not normally do? Such as shoot up the very place that works, and has worked since 1946, to keep the public safe.
This is about a man who was poisoned by the media he was ingesting, not the vaccine that he receive. He thought, probably because that is what he was told, that the vaccine was making him depressed and suicidal.
So, emboldened by the lies that were being told to him at the highest levels and the news, the shooter gathered up his guns and went to kill the very thing he blamed for how his life had gone off the rails.
Never mind that the CDC had been actively working to keep him alive and in good health.
No.
He went to the CDC campus in Atlanta, Georgia and fired 180 rounds into the buildings. He broke 150 windows by firing indiscriminately at four buildings. He was not on the CDC campus, instead firing from the second floor of a CVS across the street.
He also killed a first responder, a Dekalb police officer by the name of David Rose. This was a man who will be missed by his wife and children. He was shot responding to the shooting.
This is an ongoing story and investigation. However, it is also a moment of reflection.
I certainly hope those who are spewing anti-vaccine lies and rhetoric do not sleep easy knowing that their reckless lies and breathless new reports caused this.
According to the CDC website, and the various vaccine makers such as Pfizer and Moderna, depression and suicidal ideation is not a side effect of the vaccines.
And no, I will not be naming the coward who thought it was a good idea to listen to the lies and act upon them. That is readily available.
As always when you are confronted with a news report, Facebook post, text from a friend, consider who your anger benefits.
For fuck’s sake, stop calling it misinformation and use the word lie!
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 