Letters to the editor | Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021: YCCD board panders to anti-vaxxers
Some local leaders don’t get it
Re “YCCD board approves COVID-19 testing for students, staff” (Front Page, Oct. 22-23): It is bewildering to me how the Yosemite Community College District Board and other elected officials in our area are apparently siding with a loud, obnoxious minority of people using intimidation and threats to impose their agenda. They are disregarding the medical and scientific experts who have consistently and repeatedly stressed the importance of vaccination in controlling the spread of this terrible virus that is killing millions of people worldwide. The health and safety of the community is apparently less important to them than their personal agenda.
I urge each of the voters who accept the overwhelming majority opinion that vaccinations save lives to vote these individuals out of office at the next election for their respective office.
Kenneth S. Bryant, Modesto
Is ignorance really bliss?
America is on the verge of finally containing the COVID virus. Yet we still have ignorance-is-bliss anti-vaxxers reeling off myriad reasons why they choose not to be vaccinated. The list of reasons run the gamut from religious beliefs to becoming magnetized or growing a third ear. We all know the real reason you balk at protecting you and your families: 85% of you still carry and nurture the big lie gene while embracing a slavish loyalty to a deposed, disgraced, treasonous ex-president. You think not getting vaccinated will endear you to the MAGA party. Sadly, you are right about that.
Ignorance is bliss. Anti-vaxxers who choose ignorance will soon find their bliss shattered by the cold, mind-numbing reality of becoming infected by the virus. It is time to wake up. Bob Dylan said it best: “Something is happening, and you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?”
Please, get your collective heads out of the sands of ignorance. For God’s sake, listen to the science and doctors. Do the right thing. Get vaccinated.
Brooks Judd, Turlock
Responsibility outweighs rights
There is such divide around the mandate requirements of vaccination for COVID-19.
I hear from those who are against vaccination the argument of “ I don’t want a foreign agent in my body.” My question: When you were mandated to get vaccinated for measles and polio, weren’t those foreign agents in your body? If you get the coronavirus, isn’t it a foreign agent in your body?
Another argument: “I am a citizen of a democratic country, therefore it should be my choice.” Yes. This is a free country but citizenship comes with rights and responsibilities. Where is your responsibility to protect others around you?
I don’t recall such a fuss when seat belts were mandated, nor do I recall parents making a fuss about providing proof of immunization records to register their children for school. We should all enjoy our rights as citizens but absolutely follow our responsibilities as well.
Irit Goldman, Modesto
A remarkable COVID treatment
Re “Stanislaus County wants to boost access for COVID-19 treatment” (Front Page, Oct 8-9): I appreciate Ken Carlson’s article on monoclonal antibodies for sharing the information on this amazing treatment option in the fight against COVID-19.
My fully vaccinated husband had a breakthrough case right at the six-month mark from the second shot. He received monoclonal antibodies at the big black box on McHenry and nearly all symptoms had disappeared by the following day. I hope this information helps others who contract COVID-19 to obtain this remarkable treatment as well.
Katherine Borges, Salida
No concert mask enforcement
I was eager and ready to attend a live concert event at The Gallo Center for the Arts, but I was seriously disappointed and troubled by inadequate COVID-19 precautions. The Gallo does check vaccine certification at the door where people are told to wear a face mask, but public health precautions disappear after that. Food and beverage were sold in the lobby which encouraged patrons to remove masks to consume them in the crowded lobby and performance hall. A prerecorded message immediately prior to the performance stated that masks were required throughout the event but there was absolutely no enforcement. A very large number of people in the audience failed to wear a mask as they shouted out encouragements to the performer and loudly sang along.
If they or their patrons think vaccination alone totally protects them from the pandemic, they are obviously not paying attention to the news. The event was a super-spreader event.
David Holtz, Modesto
This really won’t kill you
Behind me in a line at the post office, a lady tugged at her face mask and exasperated, “The country is being run by a bunch of idiots. We are living in China!” Well Ma’am, not yet and if we were, you might find the enforcing of wearing a mask or anything else a tad more harsh.
“Do you remember polio? We didn’t have to go through all this!” What I remember mostly about polio is a dear friend who was crippled by it — a year before the vaccine that effectively eliminated it was introduced. He rehabbed himself, became a CPA, a respected attorney and a fun guy at a party. Never, in all the years I was privileged to know him, did I ever hear a whisper of self-pity or a complaint about going through life on crutches and canes.
It’s a mask, folks. We are not being asked to shove bananas up our nose. But mostly it’s not that piece of cloth, it’s the attitude that nobody is going to tell us what to do, or interfere with our freedom! And if it harms our fellow citizens?
Jack Heinsius, Modesto
Some officers forget oath
Is anyone honestly surprised at the reaction of Chicago police refusing to obey the law and wear masks? Doesn’t it follow other cops in New York City who would kick a man off the subway after he asked them to wear a mask?
Everyone knows cops think they are above the law, which is why they bend it and break at a whim. Many cops have failed to report a crime perpetrated by a fellow cop. Yet, what would they do if you refused to immediately obey their commands? Anyone who has seen cops in action knows most of them are ego-driven, not law-abiding, obedient public servants. If a cop tells a black or brown man to stop, that guy better stop or as we’ve seen he could end up dead, badly beaten or arrested.
Let’s hope the Chicago mayor has the grit to proceed and fire all the cops putting the general public at risk, while endangering themselves and those they serve.
Jorge Martinez, Newman
When does life really begin?
Re “Bible settles abortion debate” (Letters, Oct.17): When does life begin? Per this letter, it begins when a fetus takes its first breath, and he refers to when God created man. If one looks further into scripture at Psalm 139 we read that God formed us in our mother’s womb and he knew us as an individual being. The heart begins beating to human detection four-to-six weeks after conception. How can a mass create a heartbeat? Why, when a pregnant woman is murdered, is the criminal charged with two deaths?
We need to educate ourselves and study the Bible before grasping at a single word or phrase. Some of our political leaders could take heed, as well.
Angeline Michelsen, Turlock
And another abortion view
Careful consideration of the flurry of new abortion-related legislation tends to expose the flawed logic of separating biology and theology in any analytical discussion of human reproduction. We can observe sperm penetrate an ovum and describe the microscopic beginning of human life, but we still can’t explain why it happens. It is nothing short of a miracle, and that is God’s department.
Similarly, the concept of so-called reproductive rights when it comes to human abortion is likewise logically flawed. If the mother has the right to abort her own pre-born child, shouldn’t the father have equal rights? It is his child also, who just happens to be incubating inside the mother’s womb. The concept seems barbaric, outrageous.
When considered objectively, abortion has nothing to do with reproductive rights — if in natural law, such rights even exist. Once a human baby is conceived, reproduction has already occurred. Abortion is simply about killing one’s own helpless, innocent pre-born child. Choose life!
Ross W. Lee, Modesto