The American Anti-Vaxxer COVID Dead: A Dynamic Chronicle of Failed Sacrifices
Changing Societies & Personalities
; 7(1):11-32, 2023.
Article
in English
| Web of Science | ID: covidwho-20243337
ABSTRACT
Unlike earlier pandemics, where a "politics of blame" was directed against those who spread infection, the COVID pandemic in the United States has created occasions for the deployment of a "politics of commendation" for performing acts of sacrifice. Frontline healthcare workers have been celebrated for sacrificing themselves in service to their patients, even as critics have charged their being hapless victims of "social murder" at the hands of irresponsible medical administrators. Governmental officials, notably in Texas, have also recommended the elderly to refuse COVID care, die and thus sacrifice themselves selflessly for the benefit of the younger generation. Lately, COVID vaccine-refusal has been seen as an act of noble political sacrifice-typically to further individual liberty against the coercive power of the Federal government's promotion or mandating of vaccination. Anti-vaxxers embracing the role of such political sacrifices, however, generally fail to realize this aspiration, insofar they are often just culpable of their own demise by neglecting public health advisories. Furthermore, the partisan politicization of their deaths militates against the normal recognition of their being sacrifices. Party political calculations have frequently demanded denial of the COVID origins of the anti-vaxxer deaths, and also effectively eliminated any normal attendant rites of reciprocation, memorialization or sacralization of the victims, typical of sacrifices, proper.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Web of Science
Topics:
Vaccines
Language:
English
Journal:
Changing Societies & Personalities
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS