Don’t Spread On Me

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TRANSCRIPT FROM AUDIO

Hey, y’all,

I sure did miss you, thanks for your patience and, and sticking with me and tuning in  today. and I apologize for my lengthy absence, I wasn’t really intending to take a hiatus.  I got a little sick around Mother’s Day with a throat thing, which was not COVID, and then I just kind of got into summer. And you know, kids coming and going and whatnot.  Anyway, I’m excited to be back and appreciate you tuning in.

The first thing I want to talk about is news avoidance, or news overload – which I think I definitely had. Second thing we’re going to talk about was not exactly my strongest subject in high school, but a subject I have become increasingly interested in…science. And I also want to touch on the Olympics real quick. We’re going to do a definition,  and we’re also going to give you  – as always – some push backs. 

So it may not surprise you to find out that I’m a little bit of a self diagnosed.  When I started feeling better but was not especially anxious to come back to the podcast, I realized it was the research that I was putting off… anyone who knows me will know that talking is never the problem… It’s making sure I know what I’m talking about. So I have to consume and weed through a ton of news to kind of boil it down to the 15 minutes I want to cover and it felt like that news was dragging me down. There are lot of people in America that suffer from news avoidance – a lot of them are my best good friends. Many of them are moderates – republicans and democrats in the lonely middle – who are sick of the extremists and crazies on both ends of politics. Others are just weary from crisis overload. Of the 65% of the people who don’t consume news regularly,  (and I’m not talking about like a news break, which is what I did,  but people who regularly avoid the news because it negatively affects their mood) they feel like all the news is bad news, and for good reason.  Because, you know, positivity is harder to find these days and it doesn’t do much for ratings.

It used to be that our parents would read the morning paper and then watch the evening news. And then they’d have the rest of the day to themselves. But no, not us. We’re inundated all day long, with crisis after crisis on social media, on our phones, on cable news, everything screaming breaking news. And I’ve heard people in the mental health field compare this to the cave man days when you would get a big boost of adrenaline because you were running from a lion. But the problem is that now if you pay attention to the news at all, you’re always being chased by lions. (Lion roars)

The net result is that the happy, sane people check out and the unstable angry people check in. (You can see how that math doesn’t work, Right?) People like laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson working 24/7 to make sure everybody’s really angry all the time. It’s called learned helplessness. And this is especially bad for older folks, because they don’t feel like they have the power to do anything about it. It’s like if somebody said to them all day every day, “Hey have you heard from your ungrateful family today? Aren’t you feeling lonely?”   It’s toxic for the consumer, but it is ratings GOLD for the Sean Hannitys and the Tucker Carlsons and the Anderson Coopers of the world. You know, this isn’t news. It’s not even really presented as news. it’s entertainment,  It’s opinion television. It’s designed to fit into the narrative that you already that you already subscribe to – that’s why you like it. That’s why the rhetoric gets crazier and crazier because they’re feeding the beast. And the fact is, most of those people don’t even believe what they’re saying. (Looking at you, Tucker Carlson.) 

And if you doubt the demographic, consider the commercials that they run during these breaks. You’ve got Wilford Brimley, I don’t even know if he’s still alive, but not long ago he was selling catheters, you have Magnum PI saying  “Would I tell you to buy a reverse mortgage if somebody was trying to take your house?”  and then you have people selling gold doubloons or something like that, because its always smart to have a stack of gold sitting around. 

Pushback #1: If you have somebody in your life that sits around watching outrage news all day, please stop them, cancel the cable subscription or maybe just permanently tune their TV into Andy Griffith or maybe Murder She Wrote. I mean, because no matter how bad things get, you know, Jessica Fletcher is going to get to the bottom of it. 

Anyway, as far as the other 35% of people who don’t really like to consume a lot of news,  it’s because they just don’t know what to believe  – they don’t trust anything anymore. And a lot of that’s because of both misinformation and disinformation. So id like to give a definition real quick… misinformation is just being wrong. It’s when you’re mistaken. It’s kind of like at the beginning of COVID when they said that the virus could live on plastic and cardboard and paper and glass and it can live for weeks and weeks. But now we know that’s not the case. They didn’t lie, they were just wrong – thats what you would call misinformation. disinformation, on the other hand is also misleading, but it’s intentional… It’s when you say something that you know not to be true, and you usually do it for political purposes – kind of like propaganda. It could sound something a little bit like this…

AUDIO:  “It’s gonna go away…when you have 15 people, and and the 15, within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, it’s going to disappear one day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.” – You know who.

All right, well, we’re in it. So let’s get into it. Next up: science class. 

So we plugged along with just regular old COVID for a while. And then we got our first variant, which was the Alpha variant. Then we had a Beta and a Gamma that you didn’t hear much about. Now we’re on the Delta variant, and we’re hearing a lot about the Delta variant. There’s also a lot of concern about a Lambda variant that’s presenting overseas. What happened to Epsilon Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota and Kappa you ask? I don’t know…but I would like to give a quick shout out to the Oklahoma Betas of Pi Beta Phi for my knowledge of the Greek alphabet.

Now, we don’t know too much about the Lambda variant. We know a lot about the Delta variant because that’s one that’s getting everybody so so sick in this country, but this is just to illustrate to you how many times this virus is mutating and how quickly it’s mutating. And it’s mutating because we didn’t eradicate it when we could.   To eradicate something means to get rid of it, right?  We’ve eradicated a lot of things like,  polio.  Thanks, Jonas Salk… nobody wants polio to come back. Or, you know, smallpox.  Our parents in the 1970s all got those big old shots that that turned into a blister or something and left that ugly scar on their upper arm. And yeah, they got an ugly scar,  but you know what they didn’t get?   Smallpox. So back to eradication…In order to squash this virus we needed to get 90% of Americans fully vaccinated. By July 4, the goal was to have 70% of the people vaccinated with at least their first dose, and we’re at 69%, which sounds pretty good, right? But the problem… as with a lot of our problems lately… is the map. 

(THIS IS ONE OF THOSE COOL SIDE-BY-SIDE SCROLLY THINGS. USE THE TOGGLE TO SLIDE BACK AND FORTH TO COMPARE MAPS)

I’m sure y’all have seen on the news, and I’ve talked to your friends and you know, that the states and counties that went for Donald Trump tend to be vaccine resistant. And the states and counties that went for for Joe Biden tend to be highly vaccinated, but I had no idea how clean the overlay is.

For the full article, click here. And it’s not just whether they won, it’s the percentage. For example, in Vermont,  Biden won 66% of the vote, and 66% of the people are fully vaccinated. In Minnesota, Biden won 52% of the vote. Also 52% of the people are fully vaccinated. You can flip it upside down Oklahoma. Trump won 65% only 39% of fully vaccinated. Alabama 64% went for Trump only 34 are vaccinated. I’ll put this stuff on my website because it lines up so perfectly. It will blow your mind. It’s crazy. 

You know what else is crazy? People getting this virus when there is a vaccine. I’ve got a Facebook friend who posted recently that she just been in the hospital for a very lengthy time with COVID.  She wasn’t vaccinated, and she got on FB on to tell everybody “Hey, you know, this is for real. This was really bad. I got really sick… but you know, I serve an awesome God, and He pulled me through.”  And that’s great. But it just kind of reminded me of one of my very favorite stories from church. And I especially like it because it shows us that God doesn’t always work in obvious ways. Or maybe he does kind of talks about personal responsibility. You guys all know it.. It’s the drowning guy. 

So there’s a big flood –  not Noah’s Flood – that’s a different flood. But it’s a big flood and this guy ends up on his roof and he’s praying to the Lord to save him. He’s getting pretty scared, then along comes a man in a rowboat and says “get in I’ll take you to shore.”   “No, no, no, I’m a Christian. I’m praying to God  -he’s gonna save me  – He’s got me in the palm of his hand. Thanks anyway, though.”  

About an hour later, a motorboat comes by  – the water’s getting higher – and the motorboat drivers says, “Hey, get in – I need to get you to safety.” 

“No, no, no, no, no thanks, the man said, “ God’s gonna save me. I’m good here. I’m Christian. I’m praying to God. He’s gonna save me. “

About two hours later the water is about to overtake the man and a Helicopter appears and as they dropped the ladder down, the man said . “No thank you,  I’m praying – I serve an awesome God –  I’m good to go.”  So helicopter leaves, the water rises, and the man dies.   When he gets to heaven he walks up to God and says  “what happened? I’m a Christian. I do everything I’m supposed to do. I prayed and prayed for you to save me – why didnt’ you save me?”  And God said “Well, I sent you a rowboat a motorboat and a helicopter. What more did you need?” 

(I feel like if God did mic drops, this would be one. )

This vaccine is the rowboat, motorboat and the helicopter all rolled into one. And if people choose to not take it, affects more than just them.  On the other hand, I really dont like this sentiment out there of “Well, you know, natural selection… If people don’t take it, then, Oh well.  I guess they will die.”  What?  I know we are frustrated but attitude is not okay either. We need to care about our neighbors – even if our neighbors have whackjob, shit-crazy ideas.  We need to love them anyway – its what we’re called to do.  We can disagree – but we still need to love one another. That’s the deal.

So where do we go from here? I mean, the fact is, we would be far better off if the unvaccinated were scattered evenly throughout the country, that way, the virus would have a better chance of hitting a dead end, instead of bouncing between all the unvaccinated people and having more chances to mutate and change.  Also, because the Delta variant is more contagious, 3 times more contagious,  the initial exposure of 2-3 people is now more like 8-9 people – the Lambda Variant could be even more.  it’s gonna be like that shampoo commercial from the 1980s. 

AUDIO: “And she told two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on.”  

And if your friends or your family tells you, they’ve done their research –  Uh, huh. They haven’t ‘done their research.’ They’ve gone on the internet. And you know, who wrote that article on the internet?   Some guy with a neck beard and a tracksuit from the 1980s sitting in his mom’s basement, eating a cheese sandwich. A pretty good way to know if research is actually legit or not, might be the source. I would I would consider that carefully.  Also, the misuse of the words there, they’re and their. (If they get those confused, it’s a big red flag.) Other misspellings, or perhaps pie charts drawn in crayon – also things to maybe watch for…. Ok I’m being silly. Truthfully, a lot of the articles on the internet are very convincing, so please make sure that your friends and family don’t get confused and mistake absolute fiction for fact.   

A big internet rumor right now is that the vaccine causes infertility. Now, obviously, we don’t know what the long term implications of vaccines are – nor the long term implications of getting a virus, for that matter.  The good news is we do have people who’ve done actual research… the researchers.  And the scientists.  See this isn’t the first Coronavirus – these people have been working on the fundamentals for this vaccine for decades before we knew about COVID. There is no evidence that any of the Covid vaccines cause infertility…but do you know what causes infertility 100% of the time,  in every case study,  in every country in the world?  Deadness.  Being dead.  If you’re dead, infertility is kind of the last of your concerns, isnt it? 

I’m sorry, (I guess I’m sorry, not sorry.)  I’m not being facetious here. It really seems like some of y’all don’t understand that this is serious business. Otherwise healthy people are getting very ill with this variant.  Kids are getting it, and younger adults are starting to get really sick. And what about the kids who aren’t yet eligible for a vaccine… Does anybody care about them? Does anybody care that there are going to be generations of kids who go to school year after year in masks…because if the variants continue this could take years… and these poor kids will finish high school and be like, “Hey- I didn’t know you were in my graduating class.  Maybe because I  never saw the bottom half of your face!”  

Here’s the thing, people. It’s not just about your personal rights, it’s about your responsibilities. And this is where I come back to the party that I worked for my whole life.  The GOP used to be the party of personal responsibility.  Somewhere along the line,  in the last five years, we’ve become the party of GET OFF MY LAWN!   

So here’s the deal. If you don’t want to take a vaccine, or you don’t want to pay taxes, or you don’t want to participate in society, do us all a favor, and just don’t. I mean, seriously, like go off the grid move to Alaska… disappear. Go up there and live off the land,  eat caribou and mallard and geese and whatever they eat up there… whale?   I don’t know.  Don’t get vaccinated, don’t do anything anyone asks of you ever.   Don’t talk to another human being. Don’t use public roads or schools or hospitals. That’s fine. Go. But if you want to live in a society where you want to have the benefits of that society you have to submit to the rules.  You must consider and respect what is good for the community –  for everyone – not just yourself. Oh, and also…. the Bible.  The book that y’all like to throw around and use as a weapon. There is a bunch of stuff in there about loving your neighbor and caring for the least of these. Seems like yall skipped over all that stuff. You just went from the Old Testament straight over to Revelation. Lordamercy. 

 Let me give you your second pushback of the day…and this is the most important pushback I may ever offer… its a call to action. Full FDA vaccine approval is right around the corner. As in, weeks if not days, but probably more like days. We can move this needl. You you can move this needle.  Of all the things that you have the most influence over, It’s your friends and your family.  And I know that a lot of peoplE listen to this podcast in Texas and Oklahoma,  and the South… Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina…you live in places that have these hot pockets (and not the toasted, cheesy delicious kind)  the kind where people are going to get very very sick and some people are going to die.  Maybe even someone that you love.  It doesn’t have to happen.  We can get rid of this thing – we can be done with it.   We can be done with the masks – we can be done with the distancing and the nonsense.  We can finally be done with COVID.

Ok – Ive got one last thing for you. Let’s talk about the Olympics. Since the whole wide world’s talking about Simone Biles, let’s start there.

I bet you can imagine how I feel about her. She’s a badass. I also had a few tips and advice for people who feel the need to arm chair quarterback (or coach) her decisions from their perch on high.  I’ll put that on my website too. But in a nutshell, Biles was already a champion – she didn’t have anything to prove. I think that the lessons that she taught us about self care and being in tune with your brain and your body and knowing when you need to pull away and say no – it’s a valuable lesson for all of us, but  especially our kids. Its something we rarely see on the Olympic level and I think it’s groundbreaking and I think it’s wonderful, and I think she’s very, very brave. She knew she’d get criticized, I don’t know that anybody thought she’d get called lazy… (cause… um, ha  – okay?) You know,  Americans love the impossible odds story – the guy who broke his leg and than scored the winning touchdown because he pushed thorough the pain. But they never show the flip side of that story. The one when someone pushes through the pain and ends up maimed like that that guy on Monty Python. 

AUDIO: Monty Python clip “its just a flesh wound.”

I’m sorry. But that’s one of the funniest things of all time. Look, my point is that life is long, and it’s a lot bigger than being an Olympic champion. Simone also did the best thing for her team, she took herself out when she knew she couldn’t perform at her best and she gave other athletes a chance to compete. We’re not talking about all the other Olympians that we should be talking about – Suni Lee, Katie Ledecki, Lilly King, and not just the girls, I mean, Bobby Finke and Caleb Dressel. And I’m not even a sports person. But this is great, y’all – this is exciting. The Olympics are when we used to be able to all come together and root for the same team. Can we please not turn everything into us and them? It’s Team USA, can we all root for Team USA, please? 

How about we all be a little bit less Donald Trump and a whole lot more Ted Lasso?.

And on that note, I think I’ll wrap this up.

Thank you all for listening. Thank you for reaching out and inquiring about when I would be back in the studio/ closet. I’m happy to be back. Next week, we’re going to cover the 1/6 hearings and I’m going to try to find a way to make it funny and/or positive. Not going to be that easy. If you haven’t seen Ted Lasso please see it.