Why You’re a Brainwashed Little Sheep, According to Anti-Vaxxers and Covidiots
Rugged individualism is killing us — and them.
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Everyone I know has a story like this now:
A friend of theirs didn’t take the coronavirus seriously. They laughed at masks and vaccines. They scoffed at variants. They called us sheep. They said they weren’t going to live in fear. They wound up in the hospital.
They wound up dead.
Their favorite thing to do is call us brainwashed, and that points to the bottom of it. They possess a deep sense of anti-establishment angst, along with a need to feel superior to everyone else. They’ve bought so much stock in rugged individualism, they can’t tell the difference between communism and cooperation anymore. Anything that even hints at a shared purpose or common goal gives them mental hives.
Anti-vaxxer propaganda appeals to that hidden desire some of us have to be the underdog and fight the system. That’s the narrative that makes them feel special. This problem calls for a flank approach. We have to shut them down online, and we need to make their lives more difficult.
The next time you come across an anti-vaxxer, you don’t have to debate them all day. You don’t have to ignore them either.
You can share this:
The “you’re brainwashed” argument
Most conspiracy theorists will berate you for doing ordinary things like reading credible newspapers and journals.
Here’s what one guy said to me:
You have so much experience out there in the real world right? You have all this first-hand experience. And you use it to educate people on what’s really going on? Oh wait. You don’t. You live online, likely in your comfortable box rarely going outside, and you get 100% of your world-view from the screen in front of your face. And all these commenters here are just as brainwashed as you.
True, I do live in a comfortable box. That’s what smart little sheep like us have been doing to avoid the likes of anti-vaxxers. And yes, I do know people who’ve gotten very sick or died from Covid. I also happen to believe the news when it’s coming from 30 or…
