Y2/D236 Vaccines or Bust Part II

[shadowkat]

Due to allergies, once again spent the day worrying if I had somehow come down with a break-through case of COVID after hair appointment. (I don't, since allergy meds took care of it - and it went away.)

Twitter is amusing me again...

Ken Klippenstein
kenklippenstein
They’re mad at big bird lol

Big Bird getting vaccinated is government propaganda according to crazy anti-vaxxers

Mai Komagata
mai_komagata
·
22h
Replying to
kenklippenstein
if you are on the other side of an argument with sesame street, it is time to reevaluate whether your worldview is wrong.

What's the controversy about?

Big Bird Got Vaccinated on Sesame Street

Big Bird's seemingly innocuous — and obviously fictional — announcement Saturday that he was vaccinated for Covid-19 caused a stir online, as Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz accused the yellow anthropomorphic bird of tweeting "government propaganda."

"I got the COVID-19 vaccine today! My wing is feeling a little sore, but it'll give my body an extra protective boost that keeps me and others healthy," the eight-foot two-inch Muppet wrote on Twitter. "Ms. ericarhill even said I’ve been getting vaccines since I was a little bird. I had no idea!"

Twitter's response was basically, snarky.

Ah the internet, the gift that keeps on giving.

***

Feeling lonely today and bummed out. Also tired. Haven't been sleeping well - combination of the heat coming on (so I'm overheated), and allergies.
So after calling mother, who was tearful regarding my Dad, I'd opted to finish off my peppermint ice cream, have a bite of chocolate, and a CBD gummy. [Mother had visited my Dad and it hurt to leave him. She hates that he has to stay in the Preston and she can't bring him home and care for him. But, on the bright side, she is getting progressively better. Using her cane today she was able to make herself lunch and is hoping to reduce her POD (home health care workers) to maybe one a day, if any at all.]

The internet makes me feel lonely at times. I've been watching S3 episodes of Yellowstone, and recaps of previous seasons, because I've decided to watch S4. It's a dark modern western. And I'm in the mood - although I did skip the most violent season - S2, which is when my folks gave up on it. Currently taping on FX, Spiderman: Far From Home - which I missed in theaters and when it was on demand. Disney doesn't have secondary subsidiary rights to it - so it didn't end up on Disney Plus. (It's Sony, although Sony and Disney did a kind of deal to link the movies.)

Television and film air rights are confusing. If I didn't work in copyright law for a bit, I wouldn't be able to follow it. Paramount + doesn't air previous episodes of Yellowstone because it was more lucrative for Paramount to sell the exclusive secondary distribution streaming rights to NBC's Peacock, and to air it first distribution only on the Paramount Network. You can only stream the first season on Paramount Network (if you can unlock it) not on Paramount Plus. However, if you want to see the spin-off about a horse ranch, or the prequel 1886Y, then you have to get Paramount +. I think this may be the last or second to last season of Yellowstone (which stars Cole Hauser, Kevin Costner, Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley, and various others...)

Also, I think in such a way that this stuff makes sense to me. It's like a logic game. I'm good at logic games. Explaining them, I struggle with. I think in patterns, and it's hard sometimes to explain my thinking process to someone else. Apparently charts help - I suck at charts.

***

At the salon yesterday, neither stylist wanted the booster. Although mine was going to get it. The receptionist was reluctant because the vaccine made her ill, and she too got her period right afterwards. (I didn't get mine after the booster - odd, that.) But I think we all need them. Folks who haven't - have gotten COVID, as a breakthrough case, here and there.
Mainly because the initial vaccine is less effective six to eight months after you got it, hence the need for the booster.

I listened to a virologist and epidemologist at crazy workplace, so have more information on this than most. I know how the vaccine works, why it works, and why we all need it.

The anti-vaxxers unfortunately got used to questioning the flu shot. This whole movement started long before COVID, with the holistic health movement. And a lot of actors bought into it. I don't know what it is about the acting profession - but they are very susceptible to cults, psuedo-science, new age medical techniques, and holistic scams. They also have a tendency to be skeptical of medical science, and not at all very logical.

Currently on Twitter, this German actor (by way of Australia) who is known for his daytime soap opera roles has decided to make himself the poster boy for the anti-vax movement. I'm thinking, okay, you are a daytime soap actor, who last I checked barely graduated from high school let alone got a degree in virology or epidemiology. Your experience and knowledge is in modeling, soap acting, and running surf shop in Hawaii, also life guarding.
Not only that - but he plays a supporting character on a daytime soap, who is mainly recurring. The man needs a reality check pronto.

Speaking of twitter, it is apparently rude to @ anyone on twitter, this is considered subtweeting. And ratioing - is when the ratio of replies outnumbers likes, meaning people are arguing with you. If someone has been deeply ratioed - they've been argued to death or ganged up on, meaning they were wrong and got trounced. (We've all been trounced at some point in fandom. If you haven't, trust me, be happy about that not so meager accomplishment. Getting trounced on social media is never fun. I haven't really been trounced...called out, yes, trounced, no. But I was also playing in fandom prior to the advent of Twitter and FB, the techies who created those marketing platforms were in college when I was playing about in fan and other discussion forums online.)

I'm learning all sorts of new things...that I'm not entirely sure are necessary to my continued well-being.

***

Church featured violist, which I liked. And a sermon validating people who are religious but not spiritual (basically the woman who asked for the sermon was actively religious but an atheist, she loved everything about being a UU, and the practices, rituals, etc, but she doesn't believe in God at all nor is spiritual), since I'm more spiritual than religious this didn't work for me that well. Actually the whole thing left me feeling kind of out of sorts. It validated the woman who bought the sermon - she bought the option to request a sermon of her choice at a fund-raising option - but left me feeling a bit lost. This happens a lot with sermons or speeches geared to validate people, I often feel disconnected by them for some reason.

This day has felt very long, yet also weirdly short. My time clock is now completely off. Thank you very much.

***

Random photo of the evening, which cheered me up...(you can think of whatever you like...)

This is from Unvirtuous Abby (courtesy of previous minister), with the caption.."Actual photo of the Holy Spirit telling you that when the day comes and you're down in a river of trouble and about to drown to hold on, She's comin' " - kind of feeling that way at the moment, so it made me laugh and feel better at the same time.

Comments

[thornsilver]

Ok, I am deeply confused by the idea of religious atheism...

[yourlibrarian]

Hadn't heard of the Big Bird incident but it figures.

[mtbc]

That is quite a bird. (-: I'm hardly a theist but I certainly appreciate ritual, especially communal. I have envied Judaism given all the clear ritual, and practical requirements that feel achievable, whereas Christianity seems to focus heavily on asking so much in terms of faith and poverty. (That's just a personal impression, I don't mean to suggest I'm broadly representing faiths accurately, especially given the diversity they encompass!) I'd have expected UU members to be more like you but I guess it's one of the broadest tents.

[jesuswasbatman]

The "don't @ people on Twitter" is really two specific situations:

a) If you do a negative review of somebody's work, don't use their @ Twitter handle to link to them, as they get it as a message and it's like personally sending them your negative review.
b) If you're a famous celebrity with lots of fans and you're upset by some random ordinary person's Tweet, don't publicly draw attention to it, because all your fans will dogpile them with abuse for days.

[shadowkat]

Thank you, that makes logical sense.

I got a little confused, because that's what I thought "@" meant - it was the same as tagging someone on DW or FB. (I try not to do that - and I don't do it on Twitter, unless I'm replying to the person directly. It's kind of rude. And "@" someone when you wrote a negative review or post about them is just dumb. Expect to ripped or ratioed. People used to go on Whedonesque and rip apart the writers, which was just dumb.)

Subtweeting must be talking about someone without their knowledge or elsewhere without "@" or tagging them.

Ah, some days I miss Voy forums, they were more straight forward, also less pesky actors and celebrities and politicians on them.

[cactuswatcher]

Propaganda is the spreading of ideas, information, and even rumor to help or hurt a cause, institution or person. (Adapted from Webster's definition.) There has always been a lot of propaganda on children's television, (encouraging kids to share, read, listen to their parents, etc.) and since the government does donate heavily to Sesame Street, it might be fair to call much of it government propaganda. Those who criticize Big Bird's COVID shot as propaganda, may be technically right, but they are ignoring what propaganda actually means, and deciding it's whatever is said that they don't like.

They will never admit that virtually everything Trump said about himself in the past six years or so is propaganda. The difference is the propaganda on Sesame Street isn't as heavy on hyperbole and lies.

[shadowkat]

Except Propaganda usually has far more negative connotation:

usually disapproving : ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.

Ironically the anti-Big Bird Statements are more "propaganda" to further a conservative political platform and cause, than the Big Bird statements about the vaccine, which are of an informative nature and most likely not sponsored by any politician but the writers of the show who want to get the word out about the vaccine.

Note that Sesame Street isn't government funded and PBS never owned it. That's why it was able to move to HBO MAX and is no longer readily available on PBS.

Move to HBO Explained

So, they aren't even technically right. And Sesame Street has discussed vaccines and health issues since the 1970s.

The Big Bird vaccine is just the writers discussing a legitmate health related issue, no different than anyone else. And they obtained the information from those knowledgable about it in the field - virologists not politicians.

Unlike Fox News and it's pundits, who obtained theirs from politicians, and sources that wish to further misinformation. So ironically? Ted Cruise, Fox News, and those pundits are the only ones spreading "propaganda". This is part of Trump's negative advertising/marketing strategy - which is to accuse others of doing what you are doing. And if they accuse you, point the finger back, and make them look like the guilty party. A trump supporter would state that's what I'm doing right now - that I'm actually the one spreading the misinformation - they excel at "playing the victim". It's why they are impossible to discuss anything with. To admit they could be wrong or misinformed, is considered a failure.