Repeating History (Part Three)

In this last segment of my repeating history series, I’d like to point out a few things about our recent history, within the last ten years or so, and how all of our history is affecting us today, how it will affect us tomorrow and in the future.

In our not-so-distant history there was a time when the right to choose whether a women could have a legal abortion, and whether it would be covered by government funding, was at play. There were women everywhere (not all women, just to clarify) who were screaming “My Body, My Choice” when it came to their right to abort a child. I won’t argue the fact that it’s their body, and whether I agree with abortion or not, they do, in fact, have a choice. These people were up-in-arms about a government mandate and laws that would prevent them from choosing.

How is this any different than a person being able to choose whether or not they receive a vaccine?

Abortion, to be clear, actually kills and takes the life of another. Not getting the vaccine does not affect anyone accept the person not getting it, because vaccines were developed to protect the specific person receiving it.

For instance, MMR, Polio and other childhood vaccines were studied and tested for years, not months. They were designed to eradicate a disease, not a virus. They were designed to protect those who had received the vaccine. They were designed and implemented at a time when Big Pharma wasn’t yet around, and it was more for people’s safety than for the money.

Put another way, it’s okay for women to have abortions (an event that takes a life) and for the government to fund them, but it’s not okay for those who do not wish to receive a vaccine (which has been proven ineffective purely by the number of breakthrough cases) to not receive it. Additionally, they must be tested, often at their own expense, so they can continue to work and provide for their families.

So, my real questions are: where are all the women who fought for the “my body, my choice” initiative? And why aren’t they as adamant about choices now as they were a short time ago?

I recently read a letter to the editor in the Helena Independent Record from Aug. 31, 2021. It states: “With Responsibility Comes Privilege: It takes a ticket to get on a plane, it takes a license to drive a car, it even takes a permit to cut down a Christmas tree. With responsibility comes privilege. Likewise, it should take a responsible person with a COVID vaccination to secure a hospital bed. Not one of the irresponsible and proudly ignorant anti-vaxxers should take up hospital space when citizens with unforeseen injuries and illnesses are being turned away. The responsible among us need to be the first in line. Period. Let the morons stay home, in their own beds, reflect on how stupid they are, and let them drink bleach. Richard Brown, Bozeman.”

Since when do we get to “decide” who receives treatment and who doesn’t? Since when did the self-entitled and self-righteous get to decide life and death for another human? Sadly, I’ve heard of physicians who have said if someone isn’t vaccinated, they won’t treat them. In terms of the Hippocratic Oath they took when they became a doctor, it goes against it, especially that first item, “I will do no harm,” It also goes against “I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures {that} are required, avoiding those twin traps of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism (the idea that cures do more harm than good).”

There is no direct punishment for breaking that oath, but there is medical malpractice, unless one mentions of the word COVID anywhere. The government has made it so that no one - not doctors, not nurses, not the pharmaceutical companies nor the facilities they work in - can be held legally responsible for anything pertaining to this virus.

So, they can’t be held accountable for refusing treatment a patient requests, or one that a state or federal government has banned. Never in recent history has one not had the option to choose their treatment, nor the inability to hold those responsible accountable for their actions or inactions.

We’ve gone down such a slippery slope of repeating history and creating ripples to last while creating our own history for future generations. We’ve gone from being an informed society to blindly following what we’re being told.

Instead of continuing to repeat our history as if we’ve learned nothing from it, let’s decide to become informed and educated. Do not let anyone just throw numbers at you and tell you the way things are. Decide to be part of a solution and obtain information, not from one source but many, and from those sources on the other side of whatever fence you’re on to give you more perspective.

It’s time we look back closely at our history. It’s time to make a new one, instead of repeating old ones. And now more than ever, I believe it’s time for people to become aware of the parts they play in both.