My grandfather used to cut the seatbelts out of cars when he bought them. He said "it's better to be "thrown clear" of a crash. How he expected to be thrown clear without going through the windshield of his Ford Crown Victoria, I have no idea.

He died at 65 from heart and lung failure, after a 50 year 2 pack per day cigarette habit. He called anti cigarette advocates "hippy liars". And when he was in the ICU 2 months after retiring (3 months before he died) he told the doctor he didn't believe his diabetes diagnosis cause "he's been healthy his whole life!"

RIP to the greatest generation

I think they’re partly called the greatest generation because of their work ethic and resilience. One of my grandfathers is still alive and is 105. He caught COVID last year in his rest home, spent only one full day in bed, and described it as “not that bad”

Meanwhile, I freaked out after being a bit wheezy on the first night and called my doctor saying I had a fever and difficulty breathing and then went on paxlovid just to be safe. I am pretty pathetic in comparison. My generation is maybe the whiniest generation

The specific type of person I was talking about was pretty clear, especially when I brought up essential oils and big pharma. You know very well where I live and that I'm not referring to factory workers across the world from me. Don't try to shame me for having negative opinions about willful idiots in my own country. They do impact me, and impact the nightmarish political situation I have to deal with.

Generally though, if you are only referring to a subset of anti-vaxers (and the uneducated manual labourers also exist in large numbers in the U.S., as well as the long term unemployed, etc.) maybe it is better to be clear about that each time you vent

It doesn’t have any effect on me because I’m on an anti-vaxer. But in my experience it would have a negative effect on a non-vaxing parent who was outside of that subset you are angry with, but just heard you making comments generally about people who don’t vax.

I’m not trying to shame you. I’m just describing my discomfort with that blanket shaming approach

I’d have to do research, and should, but I have some hunches about the demographic breakdown of antivaxx ideology

I should mention that NZ’s “draconian” COVID policy, where we locked down early and kept our borders closed (and assisted by our geographic isolation and being an island nation) meant that my Grandfather had received 3 doses of the Pfizer vaccine before he was exposed to COVID and was given Paxlovid straight away as a high risk patient. So it’s entirely possible it was not that bad. The shitty COVID death lottery spared our family

i thought it was because the ones in Allied countries won the war.

american boomers couldn't even beat little Vietnam...

FTR I'm paraphrasing my other grandfather

"goddamn Jane Fonda and lazy hippie kids!!"

I think we share a hunch about anti-vax ideology

Although in NZ, specific to the Covid-19 vax, it was young Māori who were among biggest groups for vaccine refusal, and younger people generally, and the main theory I’ve heard for that is viral (ironic term) reels on TikTok, which are funnier and slicker than anything a government public health comms team can match, and which spread an anti-vax message more effectively than anything Govt/health agencies could produce to counter it

Oh true. In NZ they’re revered for their work ethic and ability to make personal sacrifices and delay gratification

That makes sense about winning the war. A lot of them would have come home to land parcels as a reward for military service, and became farmers, so straight into another life of sacrifice and hard graft

My grandfather was too young for WWI and was a conscientious objector in WWII. So he never went to war or claimed any part of it but is still one of the hardest working people I know. Maybe he felt he had something to prove

I meant to say though - there’s a difference between antivaxx ideology and vaccine hesitancy. But if you shame people simply because their children are unvaccinated and might give your kids the measles, you’re treating two different groups of people the same way

I think I’ve always related it to living through The Great Depression

I can dislike one group personally, but I still want my kids and myself the fuck away from anyone with the measles (or pick your preventable illness). That has nothing to do with skin color or economic circumstance on their part, and everything to do with the normal desire to avoid sickness. I hope there can be sane worldwide vaccine education amd access efforts.

I can be more sympathetic to vaccine hesitancy in the latter group, but I still shouldn't have to accept that as completely okay, even if they are less at "fault." Contagious and harmful diseases are still contagious and harmful.

here after WW2 participants got the "GI bill" when they came back. Basically college tuition (cause it was never free in the USA) and other financial perks.

All the indigenous land had been stolen by then. The last time they gave away other peoples' land here (I THINK) was after the Civil War. I found records of one of my ancestors who fought the English in the war of 1812, and he was given 80 acres by the Federal government ... in 1850.

Lots of promises to give land to freed slaves.. but that NEVER happened.

You can accept it as not OK, and you can want your kids to avoid illness, and you can still be empathetic and relate in a non-judgemental way (so, not making assumptions about why their kids are not vaxed, but asking questions and listening) to the group whose choices are different to yours.

I guess actually we agree about that. Maybe we are talking past each other a bit

Yeah, this style of conversation gets jumbled pretty quickly

Del. Spread love!

DEL SPREAD MEASLES!

del spread eagle

you forgot to put the n word in that post

del red breegull

Del the Funky Homosapien

I got back from Chester last night. I'd never been before, but it's a really nice little city. I liked it a lot.

Tell them to come to my ted talk.

I’m sort of bummed out. I made a joke e-mail address for this site like over 20 years ago and I tried to log into it but Microsoft finds me unbecoming and invalid of my namesake. But somehow Face ID knows me. So hi. Can any of you dorks hack into my email for me? I want it back. I’ll give you 10 bucks.

my baby is going to get his ass kicked out of daycare if he doesn't shape up. he is chill at home but cries all day at daycare unless the lady holds him. not sure what to do. we've been pretty loosey goosey with sleep scheduling so we will tighten that up, and try to work on self-soothing at home. but he's already pretty good at that at home, so i duno. and we'll switch from doing daycare MTR to MTWR... maybe going more consistently will help.

it's pretty stressful if he gets kicked out we are fucked

They're seriously going to kick him out only for crying?