Let’s have this conversation.

It feels awkward to need to preface this article by saying, “I am fully vaccinated,” as though only this status will make me a credible person and source.

Yes, I am fully vaccinated. But I am very troubled that today only people who support the vaccine can have a platform to speak.

…we are not actually comfortable with diversity; we would rather enforce conformity.

This has been a decade highlighting diversity, but when we see real diversity, what do we do? We reveal that we are not actually comfortable with diversity and would rather enforce conformity.

I see a lot of outrage of the vaccinated towards the unvaccinated. Think about the fact that if the vaccine truly worked as it was hoped, then we would not have this outrage, because the vaccinated would be fully protected. But the truth is we now only have “degrees” of protection. For this reason I understand the alarm of the vaccinated when they see people refusing the vaccine. The unvaccinated are making them insecure. People do strange things when they are afraid. We are seeing increasing outrage against those who do not want to take the vaccine. This is clearly also being fuelled, daily, by media.

The outrage of the unvaccinated is directed less at individuals and more towards policies, misinformation, withheld information and authoritarian-like government mandates. Their irritation began way back with the following:

• at first being told masks were not necessary…and then suddenly they were
• being told early on that the virus was definitely not airborne…and then it was
• hearing the virus did not escape from a lab and seeing anyone questioning this narrative censored on social media…and then possibly it did
• being told repeatedly that the vaccine was completely safe…until clotting, myocarditis, neurological disorders and ramped up immune reactions began to be reported
• seeing six foot distancing in grocery stores, but not on planes
• being told the vaccine was effective…and now witnessing the vaccinated being tested and having to wait in quarantine for their results after travelling

Any reasonable person would have questions around this. If not, then there is a sort of selective hearing of information. I’ve actually seen this a lot among the vaccinated people I know. They are following the mandate of the government, healthcare and media not to say anything that could possibly cause vaccine hesitancy.

Questions ought to be encouraged. Science encourages questions. Isn’t that at the core of science? Asking how do things work? Why? Why not? Looking for answers. Looking at the relationship between the various data.

I heard an interesting comment this week in a video, Paul Kingsnorth: why I changed sides in the vaccine wars, that made me think. Kingsnorth mentioned that we do not have the appropriate language to properly talk about the issues at hand. We are experiencing a shocking division among people, bordering on hatred–a completely inappropriate response to the common threat we all face.

If we don’t have the language, then let’s find it. Let’s work at this because it is too important not to.

Kingston states that in the past societies have been unified around religion and following that, the pursuit of progress, but today we are lack a common unifying societal value and so government sees the opportunity for a more top-down, totalitarian approach. I thought this was a “conspiracy theory.” Now I am watching it unfold. From various sources I have heard incredulity over the ease with which people relinquish their privacy of information. Kingston says we are slipping into a China-like surveillance and social credit system with passports and it does not take too much of an imagination to see this could in fact be happening.

I think the conversation we need to have involves a Higher Power, otherwise we may find ourselves subject to less than altruistic motives both within and without. The Bible warns us against hatred of our neighbour, equating hatred with murder. We are admonished to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” and to “love one another fervently, out of a pure heart.” This applies both to vaccinated and unvaccinated.

We can choose our path forward. Let’s choose the path of peace.