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“Treating Healthy People Like Biohazards…”
“Treating healthy people like biohazards over an illness that has killed two dozen personnel in a force of millions is insane. Those preventative policies have consequences, too; the surge in depression and suicide among the young is real. . . .”
The Conservative Case for Cyberbullying America’s Generals
I am healthy, but our governor in California regards me as a biohazard because I am not vaccinated. He supports, “My body. My choice.” Except when he doesn’t.
This article does not address the California governor, but the author makes a good point about how people are viewed and the consequences. Here’s the opening of the article:
Published in MilitaryOn July 22, Major General Patrick Donahoe, the Commanding General of Fort Benning, reported from his official Twitter account that he was seeing a “surge” in ICU visits among young soldiers due to Covid. He reported that he would mandate the vaccine if he had the power to do so.
I replied, pointing out that the DOD has lost a total of 26 out of over 2 million personnel in the last year and a half to the virus. In the fourth quarter of 2020, there was a 25 percent surge in suicides across all services. In those three months alone, 26 additional servicemembers took their lives compared to the prior year.
The military’s response to the Coronavirus is almost certainly to blame for the rise.
Your post reminds me of an observation by Mark Steyn.
My body my choice is just an argument for government-funded unfettered sexual libertinism. It was never about freedom.
Always a good starting point, for a comment of any sort. I had to chuckle the other day when I heard him refer to the esteemed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as “Thoroughly Modern Milley,” being old enough to remember the ridiculous confection starring Julie Andrews and Carol Channing, and aware enough to appreciate its transposition into contemporary terms. There’s not much in life that isn’t a sitting duck, when Mark Steyn is on a roll. (I’ll never forget that, after my dad died, Steyn wrote a “The Corner” column in National Review about Dad’s encounter with the cannibal king who ate the local tax collector, under the headline “Here’s a practical solution to big government…”)
The OP’s linked article, which is by a former Marine officer is worth a read. For my own part, I think the general problem (see what I did there) is twofold–1) they’re far more interested in their own political thriving and surviving than they are in anything involving any aspect of the military either under their command or for which they were once responsible, and 2) although they’ve shrugged off the former in pursuit of their own self-interest, like many former military officers, they haven’t managed to lose the belief in their own omnsicience, or the delusion that their orders must not be questioned by the grunts. Thus, the very model of a modern major general, Patrick Donahoe manages to talk the most prating claptrap designed to further his political ambitions out of one side of his mouth, while barking orders and hurling insults at those who dare to ask questions or seek explanations, out of the other.
Side effects of Moderna vaccine… even doctors and nurses fear sharing that they have side effects.
The arrogance of such powerful individuals continues to be infuriating. Or maybe they are obtuse to a degree I cannot fathom, unlikely though having risen to rank of General (or VP, Dir of NIAID, Gov, Sen, et. al.) Having walked the walked, I understand following orders: “Soldier, Uncle Sam doesn’t pay you to think”. I get it…sort of. Following orders or trusting authority can only succeed when said powerful individuals exhibit moral legitimacy. Take that out and the whole system crumbles. This is not exclusive to the military as we are witnessing a lack of moral legitimacy across institutions, leaving us doubting everything.
Without delegitimizing SARS-COV-2 seriousness, we need look no further than the mandated responses during the pandemic as an acute emergency vs. the long-term epidemic of suicide in this country: conservatively 30,000+ suicides EVERY year and ongoing for over two decades. It’s actually closer to 40,000+. This does not even take into consideration current and future excess deaths from lockdown policies. Indeed, as early as July 2020 — just four months into the pandemic — the ‘esteemed’ CDC Director Robert Redfield remarked that “there has been another cost that we’ve seen, particularly in high schools. We’re seeing, sadly, far greater suicides now than we are deaths from COVID. We’re seeing far greater deaths from drug overdose.” Take esteemed with a grain of salt since 5 months later he also quipped “I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.”
But full steam ahead mandating masks and vaccines for 2-18 y/o school children in 2021, who’s sum total SARS-COV-2 related deaths to-date are about 400; dwarfed by the increase in suicides and suicidal ideation in the same population. I might ask of the COVID-concerned good General, or teachers still leaning to shutdowns for 2020-2021 school year, how many families or bedsides of this suicide ‘surge’ have you attended to?
A worthy project would be to compare those on the National Review crew that abandoned Steyn during the “hockey stick” suit with those who became rabid anti-Trumpers.
The nihilism of this age is responsible for suicides, not covid or lockdowns.
The lockdowns were simply a magnifying glass of the sickness and emptiness of our prevailing culture.
I can hardly comprehend why I am still here but for my Faith, which encourages me, “Stay in the Race.”
My heart breaks for those who have no hope.
I live in the Louisville metro area. Our health department has just called for a mask mandate starting tomorrow. Details to follow.
This stuff is getting stupid.