(cw: death, covid)
Sorry if this is bleak, but I felt like talking about it. So I've got a large extended family. A lot of tinfoil hat Qanon type members are dropping like flies. They don't believe covid is real to the very moment they're dying of it. They're deeply certain even as people they've known their whole lives are dying all around them. A good 10% of my extended family has died of covid, a few others have gotten it and have permanent complications now. More than one has ended up in the ER with an overdose of the horse paste.
Any of y'all experiencing the same? What are you doing about it?
Pretty sure my sister is still unvaccinated because she's worried it will hurt her fertility or some shit. She lives in my house and I'm considering firmly telling her she needs to get vaccinated with the weight of her living in my house behind me (not explicitly saying anything about that, and I wouldn't actually kick her out).
I'm honestly kind of surprised she hasn't gotten it yet. She goes out fairly often, wearing a mask occasionally but not always. Every time I see someone young on HermanCainAward I worry about her.
Have a serious conversation with her about end of life care and decisions.
Fuck that's bleak, just one in my case and I stopped talking to them.
Edit: after trying really hard to show what they were getting into was dangerous. Months later they were sharing racist memes on facebook according to my sister, so I failed on that front.
The new age to Qanon pipeline is wild
My family did similar, just ceased interacting with me since I was so adamant on them getting vaccinated. I'm at a loss now.
Strangely the one new age-y hippy type relative I have was the first to get vaccinated and probably has no idea what Qanon is. The rest of my family got Q-pilled through facebook memes and bumper stickers, probably the weird church they go to as well.
I actually have a (much older) friend who literally has a graduate degree in biochem and is an environmental science professor who's been adamant the vaccine doesn't work and that the rhetoric against ivermectin as a treatment for COVID is a global capitalist plot. Yes, he's actually leftist, and has genuine leftist beliefs. TBF he's gotten the vaccine, but he doesn't think the vaccine is worth is a damn and has really bitten into "naked capitalism"'s theories.
The new age to Qanon pipeline is wild
Tell me about it. My dad was into shaolin/kung fu in his 20s and apparently believing in chi and or a universal life energy that permeates all of humanity leads directly to refusing life saving vaccines on a long enough timescale.
The best you can do is just get vaccinated and show them it doesnt hurt. Ive been told ill die in 3-5yrs cos of the vaccine so we'll see what happens within that time and how our individual mortalities fare then, but really all you can do is role model and hope they see it
I got vaccinated as soon as I was able and all that did was ramp up how often my relatives call me a Satanist lol
I'm really not sure what can be done. My Trump-supporting neighbor and his spouse just died of covid because they refused to get vaccinated. I tried to broach the topic with them a while back, but a lot of these people are too far gone to be reached, especially by a "liberal" neighbor. Not sure what I would do if it was a relative.
Both of my parents, mom is an evangelical Christian, dad is into woo woo shit and seems to have fully devolved into a conspiracy theorist (not the cool kind).
Idk, it's hard, but I don't think about it much, mostly just want to get my son vaccinated, waiting on that early childhood approval.
EDIT: Oh lol, also like almost the entirety of my maternal family at least all my aunts and uncles, because most of them are insane Qanon people. I don't give a shit about most of them, because they're mostly disgusting bigots.
The funny thing to me is that my dad is a diehard Republican and Trump supporter yet also heavily pro-vaccine. Like, he already got a booster shot a few days ago but has never once worn a mask if it wasn't required.
Please examine your ideology father :zizek:diehard Republican and Trump supporter yet also heavily pro-vaccine
wut
Most people figure out their own opinions as they're saying them
As lib as the comments are, the posts on the HCA sub might be your best bet. Lots of people that the Q types could probably see themselves in fucking around and finding out.
Does she have pets? I know the commends on HCA are lib as fuck but the aggregated posts are super sobering — there's a few that stand out to me, one person on their deathbed trying to find someone to take their dogs, and another guy who loved his cats.
If she's vaccine-apathetic some of the top posts there might actually be worth scrolling through for her. A lot of people fucking around and finding out.
My take is the posts are mostly a very good warning to ppl who don't think they need the vax
I'm deeply sorry so much of your family has passed. I can't imagine how difficult that is.
Much of my family is unvaxxed, and I fucking hate it. I hate it for them, myself, and my own child too young for the shot. Mostly, I've been trying to show them that I still really care about them. I listen and try to respond with empathy and kindness, if I can. I convinced my mom to get her vaccine by just asking her really nicely and explaining how important it was to me. My qanon uncle I basically just try to convey that I really care about him, and I'm still here for him.
I guess I just try to cultivate a relationship where I think they may trust me enough to listen, but it doesn't usually work. I don't know, comrade. Some people are just very scared to get it, and there is a very justified distrust in pharmaceutical companies, the US government, etc. It's so much to combat. I hope things improve for you.
I'm slowly getting better, thanks for the concern. It's hard to get anything across to them. We live all over the country and things are getting so stretched every time I speak to them they're completely different.
So many of them are deep level Qanon conspiracy theorists now. I can't speak to them for a second without them going into rapture, the storm, second coming, wildly bigoted complaining about Muslims or trans people. It's so frustrating to see them like this. They used to be kinda normal, probably still racist and stupid, but at least able to interact with the world normally. It's like watching a tiny version of the whole country just decay in front of my eyes, personalized because I've known them all so long.
I've tried the angle of asking nicely, like you have. They've written me off as a crank in league with actual demons. My only hope is some of my younger relatives beg their parents to get the shots, because none of them listen to me anymore. Thankfully my parents and siblings are all vaccinated since we're the more normal branch, but everyone else I'm so worried about.
Jeez, that's really, really difficult. Sounds awful. I have no clue if anything can be done in regards to thinking like that.
I understand your worry, and understand. Sounds fucking awful. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy. I can't imagine them going through all of that without realizing that something is seriously wrong. It sounds like you're trying your best, and that's admirable of you, though I don't think that'll make it easier.
no because my family doesnt have potato brains even if many of them are reactionary
Nah most of my family got vaxxed as soon as we could. My mother even ended up finding a place that was doing it before most areas were here lol.
One of my best friends was actually a nurse and used to be something of a lib. Now he's an aspiring venture capitalist and listens to Joe Rogan religiously. He swears off the vaccine and suggests that I do ivermectin. I can't fucking believe he was a trained nurse.
i have a mush-brained aunt (by marriage) that became a conspiracy brain anti-vax freak. my immediate and general extended are all vaxxed up, except like children who can't get it yet. anyway, dipshit aunt kept trying to come over to my mom's house for a planned multi-generational gathering that had a under 10 and an over 90 year old. my mom/hero, told her she was not allowed over without getting vaccinated. aunt cried and insisted the vax was dangerous and that my mom was putting her in danger. my mom calmly told her that she should only take medical advice from her doctor and that she was insisting on this because she cared about the health of the whole family, including her. shitty aunt tried to convince her own mother, a 90 year old in assisted living, to not get the vaccine because it was dangerous. frankly, i think it would be a win-win for her, because she is a big fan of inheritances. total wormtongue-type ghoul.
anyway, shit aunt digs her heals in, no vax. mom says she can't come. aunt tries to brinksmanship the situation by refusing to vax until it's too late to get one before the party, mom says "sorry you didn't do it when you had time, you can't come." aunt pouts but then moves several states away. current status: unknown.
my mom is much nicer than i am to wayward family. i would have told her to fuck herself from the jump, because she has been a stupid, manipulative and parasitic asshole for her entire life, feeding on the attention, effort and goodwill of others, and her going anti-vax would have just been the latest asshole move in a storied career of asshole moves.
