Podcast: I Feel Snitty
Episode 166: Vax Up and Dribble!
Premiere Date: 10/28/21
Length: 6:56 (1,210 words)
Link: https://ifeelsnitty.podbean.com/e/vax-up-and-dribble/
Transcript:
Welcome to I Feel Snitty, episode 166, entitled, “Vax Up and Dribble.” I’m your host, Craig Rozniecki.
Yeah, I know it’s been a while. I’ve been busy working on books – one in particular; trying to raise a 3-year-old; working out more; and finding some relaxation time by watching football. I honestly wasn’t 100% certain on when I’d start writing and airing these things again, but two stories recently caught my attention and I felt the need to comment on them - the first of which I’ll be addressing in this episode.
So, COVID is still a thing. We’ve now eclipsed three-quarters of a million deaths in this country due to it. That’s more than died here during the 1918 Spanish flu and the AIDS epidemic. Vaccination numbers are increasing, but it’s been more gradual than a turtle sprinting up a non-functioning escalator. Approximately two-thirds of Americans have received at least one dose of a vaccine, while close to three-fifths have received both jabs. Why the slow increase in vaccinations? Conspiracy theories, ignorance, brainwashing. Nowhere is this divide more apparent than in the NBA. While a large majority of the league has been fully vaccinated (an estimated 90%+), there are still some opting out of it, and they tend to be the loudest in the crowd. Here now are three quotes, from different players, I will dissect via science and snark.
The first comes to us from Brooklyn Nets starting point guard, Kyrie Irving. On Instagram Live, he said the following:
“I am doing what’s best for me. I know the consequences here, and if it means that I’m judged and demonized for that, that’s just what it is. That’s the role I play, but I never wanted to give up my passion, my love, my dream just over this mandate.”
He continued:
“Once again, I’m going to repeat this. This is not about the Nets, this is not about the organization, it’s not about the NBA, it’s not politics. It’s not any one thing. It’s just the freedom of what I want to do.”
In addition to all this, inside sources claim Irving wants to be, and I quote, “A voice for the voiceless.”
A voice for the voiceless? That’s rich. Who are the loudest on television, in the streets, and at school board meetings? The anti-vaxxers. Who are the loudest on social media? Anti-vaxxers. Who are the loudest in your neighborhood and that dive bar you secretly venture to on hump days? You guessed it – anti-vaxxers. They’re not voiceless. They’re anything but voiceless. The ONLY possible way they’d currently be voiceless is from losing their voice by constantly yelling about being voiceless.
It’s highly ironic Irving claims to be speaking for the voiceless – the living individuals who are against vaccinations and mask-wearing, for it’s because of selfish ignoramuses like him over 750,000 Americans no longer have any semblance of a voice due to COVID.
That brings me to one of the stupidest quotes on the subject I’ve heard thus far – uttered by Washington Wizards shooting guard, Bradley Beal, who said this:
“I would like an explanation to people with vaccines, why are they still getting COVID? If that’s something we’re supposedly to highly be protected from, that’s funny it only reduces your chances of going to the hospital. It doesn’t eliminate anyone from getting COVID.”
Yes, one goal of vaccines is to fully prevent the contraction and spread of a virus, but the #1 goal of them is to significantly reduce hospitalizations and deaths.
What is Beal saying here? “Wait, so by getting this vaccine, the virus can’t kill me, but I can still get the virus? Well, f*ck that sh*t. I’d rather die with the virus than live with it and the vaccine. For real.”
This reminds me of one of conservatives’ main debating points against gun laws: “Well, no matter the law, criminals are going to break it.” So, we should be a land of no laws? Laws aren’t put in place to be 100% effective, because that’s a pipedream. What they’re there to do is increase the odds of safety. If a gun law were passed in Wyoming; the previous year saw 1,000 gun-related homicides; and the first year after the passed legislation saw 1 gun-related homicide, would people like Beal seriously try to tell me the new law wasn’t effective because one criminal still committed a crime it was supposed to protect us against? Give me a break. COVID vaccinations significantly decrease the odds of contracting the virus; of spreading the virus; and even in the off-chance you do get it, significantly decrease the chance of hospitalization and death. Mr. Beal needs to go back to school, for he falsely equates “reduce” and “eliminate.” What he should do is help us eliminate COVID misinformation by reducing his time spent listening to YouTube personalities who go by the names of Bullshitology101, TheLyinKing, and PinocchioAintGotNothinOnThisNose.
Lastly, I go to the book of King James – LeBron to some, who said this with regard to the vaccines:
“I think everyone has a choice – to do what they feel is right for themselves and their family and things of that nature. I know that I was very (skeptical) about it all, but after doing my research, I felt like it was best suited for not only me but for my family and friends.”
I admire and respect James as both an athlete, and more importantly, as a person. Instead of playing the silent-game like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and others before him when it comes to getting publicly involved in social justice matters, he’s aligned himself with the likes of Muhammad Ali, fighting for what’s right, regardless of any potential backlash. Here, however, he has seemed to go the whole my-body-my-choice route. Many conservatives contend this is similar to the abortion debate, so if you’re pro-choice for women’s reproductive rights, in order to not be accurately branded as a hypocrite, you too must support people’s rights with regard to vaccinations. This is false equivalency at its finest.
When a woman gets impregnated, the fetus, baby, being, whatever you want to call it, is literally inside her body. What she decides to do after hearing the news will not affect the bodies of anyone other than her’s. The pregnancy or abortion doesn’t somehow become contagious. This is truly her body, her choice. That isn’t the case with regard to COVID. What one chooses to do with their bodies can result in dire consequences for others. On average, when an individual contracts the Delta variant of COVID, he or she will, on average, infect six other people. So, if these individuals weren’t vaccinated upon contracting the virus, the odds increase substantially for them being hospitalized and/or dying and of infecting others, who could perish as well. So, let’s stop it with the my-body-my-choice rhetoric. When it comes to abortion, yes, it is a woman’s body and her choice, but when it comes to COVID, while it may be your choice, it’s not just your body you’ll possibly be affecting. Never forget that.
That’s it for today’s episode. Until next time, you can check me out on PodBean, Twitter, Amazon, and Blogger. This has been I Feel Snitty with Craig Rozniecki. Take care.
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