MINOT, N.D. — Have you ever run into one of those people who will go to great lengths to tell you that they’re not anti-gay, they just don’t understand why gay people have to shove their gayness in your face?
They’re fine with the LGBTQ+ community, as long as they stay in the closet, and we’re supposed to treat these proclamations as though they were enlightened postures.
How noble of them to allow that the gays can exist as long as they’re out of sight and out of mind.
Another variation of this silliness is the people who will assure you that they’re all for free speech and free expression, but Mike Pence’s book must be tossed on a figurative bonfire in the name of, uh, fighting fascism?
This is the logic of those trying to shame you for acknowledging, in some public format, that you’ve been vaccinated.
Many Americans, including this one, are sharing news of their vaccinations with the world by way of social media, and that doesn’t sit well with a cranky minority who want you to know that they’re not some conspiracy-addled, anti-vaccination lunatic. They just don’t want you to acknowledge your vaccination publicly.
Folks, this is nonsense.
Don’t let anyone shame you for getting vaccinated.
This anti-vaccination attitude (and that’s what it is) is distinct from the nuanced and necessary debate over issues like vaccination requirements or “passports.”
Whether the government, or private companies, for that matter, should require vaccination is a worthy avenue for discourse. Reasonable and rational people can have that debate.
The smooth-brained snowflakes who can’t bear the evidence that you’ve been vaccinated, who will post snarky comments and try to shame you for posting a vaccination selfie, all while trying to pretend that they aren’t one of those nutty anti-vaxxers, are the reason why you absolutely should post your vaccination selfie.
Post them loudly.
Post them proudly.
Because vaccinations work. They’re not perfect, and for not-very-typical medical reasons some people shouldn’t get them (please talk to your doctor about this), but their efficacy, in the aggregate, cannot be denied.
Every new vaccination is a small step toward saving lives and easing suffering.
Getting vaccinated is something just about all of us can do to help our society be safe.
The people saying otherwise are liars and charlatans, or people duped by liars and charlatans, and they need to be persuaded.
What better way than to post evidence of your own vaccination, showing that you won’t be shamed into silence by the forces of ignorance?
