From Behind Enemy Lines

I don’t know who Elsa Kurt is, but this showed up yesterday afternoon on my feed, and I agree with it. It speaks better words than I can.

Chris will tell you that, during Trump 1.0 when I was suffering from TDS, I would often talk about the “mean tweets.” At the time, I was befuddled, and I couldn’t explain why they bothered me so much. I think perhaps now I have a better idea of how to put it into words. Elsa here has helped.

I can see and approve of, and indeed love, the THINGS that President Trump is doing while simultaneously decry some (but not all) of the things he says and/or tweets. I see all the good he’s done for our country, and I am very supportive of that. I see our economy recovering, spending going down, tariffs doing what they ought to, criminals being ousted from the country, and a general upswing in mood. But I also see his words. And they are troubling to me.

At one time, I lived in my parents’ home and in a very abusive situation. My mother only ever hit me once. At the time, I was a foul mouthed teen and I probably deserved discipline (though not a backhand with her ginormous wedding rings on). Her abuse was more sinister, though. It was mental. She was (and is, I suppose) an alcoholic who was undiagnosed and who refused to admit it. She drank frequently, and acted poorly when drunk. She was mean in general, but when drinking became a nightmare. I would be severely punished for such offenses as putting forks in the dishwasher wrong, having the wrong look on my face at a given moment, or asking for physical attention (hugs, etc.). Anything other than an “A” grade was also to be punished. Punishments ranged from being sent to my room, to berating and mocking me, humiliating me, and grounding me for months at a time. It was the digs, though, the mental and verbal digs that just kept coming, that destroyed me.

There was a time when I was 15 or so, when I finally broke and I went to the ER local to me, and begged them to lock me up on a 72 hour hold. After hours of talking to a therapist and various doctors, they basically told me I was fine, it was my mother who was sick. I could not get it through their heads that it didn’t matter if she was the sick one, _I_ was the one who had to change, because she wasn’t going to. That wasn’t just an assumption on my part, either. She’d told me that, to my face. I ended up medicated, because dulling my senses was the only way to get through my time living with her. I took up drinking and drugging, and inappropriate sex, because I needed to get love from somewhere.

Why are you talking about all this, you ask? Because when Trump does one thing and then says another, it shoves me right back into my days with my mother. It’s not so much of a match that I feel gut punched, but the discomfort is there. My mother could put on a dazzling display of “loving parenthood” when anyone else was around. Most people thought I was damn lucky to have such an attentive, wonderful mother in my life. They had no idea of the personal hell I lived through, every single day. When I see someone whose words and actions are at a mismatch, it is my natural reaction to look twice and thrice at every word and action they have made and are making.

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I started writing for this blog about a year before I switched to thinking of myself as conservative. Or rather, for Miguel’s blog. I stuck to things I knew well, like prepping and cooking. I rarely touched on political things, because I knew people wouldn’t agree, so what was the point? And then Chris asked me to write “From Behind Enemy Lines.”

At first, I found it offensive. I didn’t think HE meant it to be offensive, but it bothered me. A lot. I was standing “over there” and “over there” was “behind enemy lines” and therefore in his mind I must be “enemy.” That’s the logic that I followed. Since I have known Chris for over 25 years at this point, I know he doesn’t think of me as an enemy (and didn’t when I was on the Left, either), so I knew I must have misunderstood something. Still, it was a burr under my saddle, and it irritated me. I really didn’t want to be writing stuff that I knew no one was going to like.

I used the pseudonym “Hagar” because I was absolutely terrified to out myself in public. No matter how you play the game, this blog is public. I didn’t want anyone on the Left to think I was conservative, and I didn’t really want to be dragged through the mud every time I posted. So “I” didn’t post, Hagar did. As with reenacting, putting on a new face allowed me to write and communicate more effectively. Hagar might get blasted, but Ally was safely tucked away where no one knew her or how to get to her.

Over time, I came to understand that none of you were attacking ME. Some of you might have attacked my positions over the years, but no one attacked ME. And so when we made the big switch to this blog, I used my real name. I opened the door a crack.

As I wrote things for this blog, I had to do research. That’s just the type of person I am. Even though I could just have told everyone “what they were thinking over on the Left,” I didn’t consider that enough. I’ve always been one to be thorough in my writing. So I went down the rabbit hole. I started finding out just how much of what I was told on a daily basis was lies. I had to go look stuff up on a constant basis, because I wanted to prove my stance. I’d get to the research, to the raw numbers, and realize I was wrong. I’ve tried very hard to be open and honest when I’ve been wrong, both on the blog and in my real life.

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Chris and I have had a fundamental disagreement over Trump’s statements regarding the rogue Senators’ video. Let me get the original information here, for anyone who isn’t aware.

The text reads: Americans trust their military, but that trust is at risk. This administration is pitting our uniform military and intelligence community professionals against American citizens. Our laws are clear. You can refuse illegal orders. You can refuse illegal orders. You must refuse illegal orders. Don’t give up. Don’t give up. Don’t give up. Don’t give up the ship. 

Trump’s response: truthsocial.com/@WashingtonExa. It’s called SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL. Each one of these traitors to our Country should be ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL. Their words cannot be allowed to stand – We won’t have a Country anymore!!! An example MUST BE SET. President DJT

Trump’s later comment: SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH! (later in the above thread)

Alright, with all the information at hand now here on one page, with the actual words and not just copies or reports of them… let me continue.

I will start where I always start, by denouncing the behavior of the dems in question. What they did was wrong, full stop. For the ones who have previously been in the military (I know Sen. Kelley was in the Navy and is retired, but there may be others), the Uniform Code is still in play. That means that, if you’ve EVER served in the military and have taken the Oath, then you are still held to the USC.

According to Grok: 8 U.S.C. § 2387 makes it a federal crime to engage in activities that “affect the armed forces,” such as intentionally obstructing military recruitment, enlistment, or operations. It also prohibits advising, urging, or attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty among service members. Penalties include fines, imprisonment of up to ten years, and a five-year ban from U.S. government employment upon conviction.
What 18 U.S.C. § 2387 prohibits:
Obstruction: Intentionally obstructing or attempting to obstruct the armed forces’ recruiting, enlistment, or general military operations.
Incitement: Advising, urging, or attempting to cause insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty among members of the U.S. military.
Distribution of certain materials: Distributing written or printed matter that advises, counsels, or urges any of the above actions.

It seems quite clear to me that the above statements made by the six falls under 8 USC 2387. Those Dems clearly stated that Trump (“this administration”) is pitting military folk against citizens. It’s simply  not true. The phrase, “Don’t give up the ship,” has special meaning in the military harkening back to Cap’t James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake in 1813, but has been expanded to cover many branches of the military. So the dems were wrong. There are ways to communicate with the military, through the chain of command, that could have stressed the idea of following lawful orders, but they chose to do it via a public video, grandstanding, and not only is that … well, grandstanding… it’s also harmful.

Many of you probably know that the military has classes that teach soldiers what sorts of things are considered legal and illegal orders. Yes, it is expected of our troops, all of them, to not follow illegal orders. However, what constitutes “illegal” is a very specific thing, and they have to learn what that is. So this holiday, instead of enjoying turkey and stuffing wherever they’re stationed, they’re going through the full lecture series again, so that everyone’s 110% sure of what “illegal orders” are. Because for an active soldier to decide an order is illegal, there are hoops to jump through, and they are putting their career and possibly their very life on the line. Doing what they did, those dems ensured our military community will be pissed and irritated for the next several months.

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There are *some* things wrong in the top part. There is nothing right about the bottom part. The temper tantrums being thrown are epic and ridiculous. This is what happens when you “gentle parent” your way through life.

So, let’s break it down. SNAP is a benefit, something lower income families are supposed to get so that they can purchase groceries without being bankrupted. The idea of doing a monthly check in isn’t a bad one, on the surface. It would allow those administering the benefit to offer aid when needed, keep up to date on abusive exes, changes in income, and other important stuff. On the other hand, having monthly check ins would mean a CRAP ton of government workers spending all their time processing the information. Yet another drain on the government. Yet more money taken from those who need it (truly need it) and given away as overhead. So while the idea isn’t a bad one, I can’t see how we implement it.

Revoking someone’s benefits for having a new tattoo is stupid. My last tattoo was a gift. It was a gift from someone I wouldn’t have been willing (at the time, at least) to just ask for food instead. Sometimes, you get gifts like that, or new phones. Even destination vacations, although I think that’s pushing it, but still. If your income hasn’t changed and your living situation hasn’t changed, the fact that someone gifted you something shouldn’t cause the revocation of your benefits.

There is a direct correlation with being poor, being on food stamps, and being fat. The cheapest foods tend to be overly processed ones. When we were hard up for cash, we ate a lot of pasta, because it was cheap and plentiful, and filled our bellies. We also gained weight. A lot of it. That’s what happens. Also, what about the person who has a thyroid problem? What about the other medical conditions that can cause someone to be overweight? It’s asinine to suggest pulling food benefits away from someone because of their weight.

Failed drug test? It depends. If you live in a state where pot is legal or you’ve got a prescription for it, that should not prevent you from getting your benefits. Illegal drugs, yeah, that’s fine. I will say, though, if we’re going to drug test people getting food stamps, I want to drug test all the people in the government, too. Congress critters, Representatives, etc. Fair is fair.

The other side of the meme, that’s just stupid. “I spent my money, so I should lose my tax write offs.” No. I do think that there is something to be said about companies that hire people in ways that prevent them from getting health insurance or full time hours, but also are making record profits. I understand places like Amazon and Walmart have a bottom line, like all other companies… but we’re seeing a lot of their employees also being on food stamps because they aren’t making enough. Maybe it’s time to give a good look at those kinds of business models, and see if there are ways we can help workers and companies alike, or incentivize using full time employees rather than bunches of part time ones. I’m not saying we should tax them higher or shut them down; just that we should see if there are ways to make it more likely that they’ll be good employers to our citizens.

The left wants to hit back because they’ve been hurt. The problem is that we didn’t hurt them. They did most of it themselves, and the rest is “just life.” They want the Star Trek universe and future without having to go through the Troubles that they did in that universe. It just doesn’t work. It never will.

Of course, they’re starting to make their own Troubles by electing a socialist, but… oh well. I just look at it, and hope that it becomes a good bad example.

Chris wants me to write about something else, but I just don’t have the words for it right now. I’ll get there… eventually. For the moment, SNAP and other food benefits seem to be the topic of the week, so I’m going to go with that.

So there are a lot of people doing a lot of things right now. There’s “rage bait” folks out filling carts with junk and claiming it’s with EBT. There are assholes who are scamming the system by making fraudulent claims. And then there’s honest, hard working people (and/or those who are disabled or otherwise unable to work) legitimately trying to make ends meet getting caught in the SNAP shut down, who are actually going to suffer. This last category is the only one that I actually care about.

Different states have different rules for SNAP. To my knowledge, all states have work requirements for eligibility. There are also new rules for ABAWD, or Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents, who are those between 18 and 54 who otherwise have no reason not to work. The ABAWD requirements do not apply to those who are not able bodied, or those who have children under 14. For the most part, I don’t have any issues with those rules, as written, with the sole exception of pregnant women. Pregnant women are considered “disabled” for ABAWD and work requirements for SNAP. This means that a woman who keeps herself continually pregnant is fully exempt from having to work in any way. Before anyone gets on my case, WIC takes care of pregnant and breastfeeding women, so they do not need a special exemption for this. IMO, of course.

The name SNAP means “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” The program, at its beginning, was meant to provide supplemental food for those who were working but not able to make ends meet. I know I’ve been there (though I’ve never been on SNAP). The important words here are “supplemental” (meaning “…provided in addition to what is already present or available to complete or enhance it.” – Oxford English Dictionary) and “assistance” (meaning, “…the provision of money, resources, or information to help someone.” – ibid). As most of us know, SNAP and the other helper programs were meant to be a hand up, not a hand out. They weren’t meant to be lived on, but instead were meant to help you get on your feet after something bad happened (death of a spouse or supporting guardian, loss of job/career, military families, etc.). That’s not what is happening now.

There are families who have been on SNAP and other benefit programs for generations. The reasons start out honest enough, with people being in low paying jobs and being unable to move or find better work, and going on from there. These generational problems are systemic. The current means of helping people doesn’t actually help them. It traps them.

At one point, I was a single mother. I left an abusive wusband, stayed in a women’s shelter until I could get to court, and eventually was given low income housing in a gated community and welfare to pay my bills. I had gone from being the breadwinner, when my wusband was staying at home with the kid, to being stuck at home for an undefined amount of time. I tried several times to get work. I WANTED to get work. I despised being on the dole. The problem was, the cheapest childcare I could get cost more than I would earn (as in, in its entirety… childcare was very expensive where I was living). I couldn’t get help paying for childcare, because a) if I could work, I obviously didn’t need help anymore and b) if I was at work, my wusband could take the kid. The fact that abuse was part of the pattern and an ongoing issue between us didn’t seem to matter. This is a social “help” trap. There’s no way to escape it without outside help, help which my father thankfully provided, at great cost I might add.

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Truth hurts.
“If we aren’t being taught how to grow our own food, how to take care of ourselves and our families, and how to live without the need for huge governments, banks, or corporations — as our ancestors once did — then we aren’t being educated; we are being indoctrinated to be dependent and subservient to the system.” ~ Gavin Nascimento

That is the original text (above) that came with the image to the left. Below is what I wrote.

I will continue to point this out until the cows come home. Our forefathers knew that giant government, whether by senators or King, could not sustain itself forever. Eventually you run out of money.

First, you run out of general money. We’ve already done that. Then you run out of spare money, the stuff you tucked away in case of emergencies. We’ve run out of that too. Then you run out of other people’s money to spend. Believe it or not, we’re past that as well. Until we stop spending money we don’t have, we will never get better.

I wish I had better words to explain this. To me, it’s just common sense. You look at the budget and you go. I don’t have enough money to get that thing. It doesn’t matter how much I want it, or even how much I need it. If the money is not there, you just don’t get it. That is what our government needs to do.

I think that Musk started it, but then so much of it got reversed that it’s like it never happened at all. I’m horribly disappointed by that. And now, everybody still wants to spend money. While I think the Democrats are doing more of it than the Republicans, the Republicans aren’t blameless either. We can’t afford any of it. We can’t afford to pay for the very basic things in our country right now.

Do we all want to be rats in a drowning ship? I don’t. I’d like to see the government shut down until every last penny has to be pinched so hard that it screams. I want to see all of the people in DC not getting paychecks, maybe not even when they are in office. Definitely not when they’re not working. I know that terrifies a lot of you. It scares me too. I have aches and pains that I need to address, and maybe they’re not as bad as some of my friends, but I think I at least get the general idea. Those safety nets are really important. The problem is that those safety nets are full of holes right now and they have been for decades. I’m pretty sure you all know that, because you don’t get the help that you probably need. Some of that is because of bad spending habits on the part of the government, a very tiny part of it might be part of bad spending habits on the part of people receiving money, but the biggest part is people who are defrauding the government. And while I do mean some people who are getting safety net help when they should not, I mean looking at every red cent that our government spends. I don’t want any money going to other countries until we have made sure that our people are safe.

Some people might think that it’s horrible that I would say that, but I’m much more interested in seeing my disabled friends getting the help that they need without having to not get married or pretend or whatever. I just want them to be able to get help. And as long as there’s money going to people from other countries, whether it’s vasectomies for people in Iran or knitting lessons for folks in Scandinavia, it doesn’t matter. However useful or necessary or not necessary those out of country items are, none of them are more important than my friends and my neighbors.

On Saturday, while I was camped out at a lovely open air farmer and maker’s market for the afternoon, a Left friend reached out to people “on her feed” on Facebook. She said she was aware some of her followers and friends had voted for Trump, and asked if we were willing to explain why, and whether we feel Trump is doing an adequate job since getting into office. She made it crystal clear that no one was going to be dogpiled for responding (though I’m not sure how she intends to ensure that, since she can only control what’s on her wall, but the gesture was nice). She legitimately wanted to know.

I thought about it for a long time. I could have answered. I didn’t really want to do so in public, though. As I’ve said before, I’m still trying to keep my customers around, many of whom are on the Left. I don’t believe in mixing politics and business (other than what’s required by law… I mean that a business hanging a Trump or Dem sign out front is basically telling people that they value politics over business, and I might do so privately but not publicly). So I paged her privately and said I’d talk with her, but only in private.

She wanted to know why. I sat with that one for a good five minutes before finally explaining, “Because there’s been a lot of violence toward people on the Right of late, including a number of shootings. I don’t want to be shot, hun.” It took her a while to respond, and when she did, she admitted she understood now that it was explained, and that she was sorry if I felt threatened.

That led to me telling her I’d talk to her today or tomorrow (looks like tomorrow wins, as she’s busy today). I didn’t have time to get into long discussions with her while vending at a craft fair. She got it… she does the same thing (and well; she’s formed her own thriving business that is keeping her in her home, supporting her daughter, and paying for lawyers to keep her abusive ex out of her life). But I did explain to her that, while I didn’t think there was much chance of my being shot, it was something I thought about. A lot. Maybe Chris would get shot. Maybe one of my kids. I pointed out that an awful lot of Leftists and Liberals are talking freely right now, tromping around in front of ICE and the government, with no worry for their lives… and conservatives and Right leaning folk are wearing flak vests and standing behind bullet proof glass just to have simple conversations. After another long pause, she agreed. “Yeah…”

In the scattered long-distance chat we had over Saturday, she learned just how often I’d been called a Nazi of late, or a bigot, or a few other hateful names. She just couldn’t understand that. She’s known me since her girl was a little one, and left that little girl in my care on a few occasions during faire. She knows I support human beings living however they want, provided they’re consenting adults. She knows I’m poly, pagan, kinky, pansexual, all the things. She knows I’m not a Nazi, or a bigot. She knows, from personal experience, that I walk my talk.

What I intend to suggest to her is that, if we’d had the conversation in public, there might have come a moment when someone else used one of those horrid names for me. At that point, she would have had to either tell the person they were wrong (setting herself up as a target for her own people… ie largely how I ended up over here initially), be silent and let it happen (tacit approval), or engage in calling me names herself (open approval). Would she be willing to stand up for someone when it might put her at risk, or her kid? It’s a legitimate concern right now, after all. And that might lead to her asking herself why she’s involved with someone or a group of someones who would push her away because she had spoken with someone “like me.”

I think it’s going to be an interesting conversation…

Let’s see… The good is that the Right is holding its ground over the Left’s tantrum. I need you all to hear that up front: I AGREE WITH THE SHUTDOWN. I would agree with it on purely conservative morals, but I also happen to be a staunch supporter of smaller government. A government shutdown means we have the absolute minimum government (well, sort of, but you get the idea) and therefore I support the shutdown. The longer it drags on, the more we know just what we can do without.

The bad is that the Left is fighting back with the usual cycle of lies, half truths, and more lies. I need you all to hear this up front: I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE LEFT on any of this stuff.

And now, the ugly.

I often joked in private about Obama being the Teleprompter in Chief. Well, Trump is the MemeLord in Chief, and it’s a problem. I realize some of you may not consider it a problem at all, or a very minor one at best, but I DO consider it a problem. One of the sticking points I had, back during Trump 1.0, was the “mean tweets.” It really stuck in my craw. I’m going to be honest… it still does.

When I see Trump standing up, with Vance or with Melania, or even one of his kids, I see the dad, the grandfather, a righteous man who’s doing his best for his country. I respect that all to hell. Watching him erupt out of a sea of secret service to pump fist, blood streaming down his face, that was awe inspiring (also, I want those guys fired because he should NOT have been allowed to do that, but I digress). This is not Trump 1.0, and I see the good he’s doing. I see him brokering peace. I see him strengthening our economy. I see him doing infrastructure things in the government that are good, and will last for years to come.

But my FUCKING gawd, when he gets tweeting, I just want to vomit. I really do. I get it… he’s “just a man” and he wants to stick it to the folks who are poking and shooting at him. And if he was Trump the billionaire or Trump the last President, I’d sigh and move on. But he isn’t those things. He’s Trump, our current, sitting President. He’s the man leading our country. And things that I might find (or do find) amusing coming from one of us, I find just plain wrong coming from the Oval Office.

From the White House twitter account today:

As someone formerly of the middle, and honestly not that far out from the middle, it just turns me off. Sure it’s “just” a mean tweet. But it speaks volumes. I don’t mind the text as much, but the image (it’s actually a screenshot of a video) is just too much. It takes AWAY from the message. It makes it too damn easy to say, “Oh, it’s just Trump being a twit(ter) again.” And I don’t want that said.

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In the play Pygmalion (and later, in the movie My Fair Lady), there’s a quote that has come to mean an awful lot to me.

“Oh! if I only COULD go back to my flower basket! I should be independent of both you and father and all the world! Why did you take my independence from me? Why did I give it up? I’m a slave now, for all my fine clothes.” – Eliza Doolittle, Act V, Pygmalion

When I grew up, I lived in a house that was not political. It was a lot of things… abusive, alcoholic, nasty, obsessively clean… but it was not political. I learned nothing of politics from my parents. I don’t know that either of them ever voted. When I met Chris, I met someone who had an interest in politics, and who talked about it from time to time. I began to learn, both by talking to him and by talking to other people. I learned that I leaned Left, and over time I came to see myself as a “big el” Libertarian. I also learned that almost all of my friends were what would now be considered “far Left.”

I tried to listen to as many different viewpoints as I could. I listened to Chris, and people he suggested. I read about the Libertarian party’s platform. I listened to Gary Johnson speak, and was impressed (and sadly, it was the last time I was impressed by the Libertarian Party). I found out where Aleppo was before most other people. I educated myself.

When I lived on my own, way back when, I was a flower girl like Eliza Doolittle. I was not educated. I was independent. I didn’t have to look at the news and get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t have to face backlash from the Left, and concern over the Right. I just blithely lived my life, ignorant and free. And I ask you, why did I give it up? Because I am a slave to it now. And I often wish I could go back to my metaphorical flower basket. But I know too much, and you can never put the knowledge genie back into its bottle.

I don’t have to list the ways that the Left is imploding. It’s all over the news, every day. We’re all aware of it.

But Monday night, I ran into Trump’s announcement about Tylenol. According to Trump, “There is mounting evidence finding a connection between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism — and that’s why the Administration is courageously issuing this new health guidance.” Being the person I am, the first thing I did was go and look up the cited studies, because I’ve been watching this stuff (as a parent to a handful of kids with autism). What Trump said is … while it’s not an outright lie, it is definitely stretching the truth beyond belief.

The studies cited (you can find them all on the WH site) mention correlation. They do NOT speak of causation. That’s because causation hasn’t been proven. And WE ALL KNOW THAT CORRELATION DOESN’T MEAN SHIT.

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Vaccines are a hot topic right now. A lot of states are removing mandates about vaccines. It’s a topic that’s come up often between Chris and myself, as I struggle to come to terms with damage. Chris has said, and I suppose this is true (though I still struggle with it), that I believe most people are too stupid to make good decisions about vaccines.

I believe childhood vaccines are important. I have friends (now passed away, sadly) who couldn’t have kids because, as children, they’d had chicken pox that scarred their ovaries so badly that they weren’t capable of bearing children. Their adopted children were vaccinated; they all have kids of their own. Yes, we treated “common childhood diseases” as no big deal, but I don’t believe that was correct. It WAS a big deal, but we didn’t have a good way to deal with them.

As an example, when Ed Jenner discovered milk maids who’d had cow pox as youngsters didn’t get infected with smallpox, he came up with the general idea of vaccination. He gave pus from someone with smallpox to an 8 year old child, James Phipps. The child didn’t die; instead, he had a mild case, recovered, and went on to live a normal life. That whole thing led to us finding the vaccine for smallpox. At the time when Jenner did it, there was nothing better, and infecting Phipps with the disease in a controlled manner was the best he could do. Many people did it. You got sick, yes, but you didn’t die of it. I think that a lot of the “measles parties” and such were an extension of that desperation that caused Jenner to infect a healthy child with a deadly disease.

But we DO have vaccines now for measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, and others. I don’t think we’ve had a tetanus death in the United States in years, because of the vaccine. Shingles, HepA and B, Yellow Fever, Diphtheria, and others are all well controlled (though not eradicated) by vaccines. All these vaccines are well tested, with 40+ years of use and reporting behind them. The handful of severe reactions to them are noted, and reflected in information given to people getting the vaccines. The chances of getting a disease and having a severe reaction to it is much higher than the chance of having a severe reaction to the vaccines.

When I was growing up, I was taught that vaccines don’t make you immune. They boost your immunity, meaning they make it much less likely that you’ll get a disease, and if you do get it, it will be much more mild. This is what I’ve always believed. That’s what my immunologist friend told me during COVID, too. It’s why I like to get a flu shot when I can, because when I do get influenza, I get it very badly and it puts me out for weeks. If I’m vaccinated, my likelihood of getting the flu goes down exponentially (in fact, the years I got shots, there’s only twice that I did get the flu, and both times it was relatively mild, if bothersome). Not everyone has that reaction to the flu, and there are enough people that get the jab that it’s neither here nor there whether anyone gets it or not.

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