Hello "Critical Middle" I just want to say how much I appreciate your writing this article and sharing your experience. After reading about the rage you felt, I was remembering my own, and realized that a lot of it is still deep inside me. The thing that's bothering me now is that everyone is acting like it's back to business as usual, as if none of that happened. Not one of my friends has yet to have the courage to admit that they were "mistaken" (damn flat-out wrong) in their judgment of the situation. It's as if we just had a difference of opinion, no big deal. But let's not mention the reason we lost loved ones, what the real cause was, let's just offer our condolences and move on. It's hard to still feel the same about them, but why am I the one who feels guilty and judgmental? Go figure.
Thank you for reading and for your comments! It’s great to connect.
I have been thinking more about this.. one unintended consequence is that those of us who experienced this jab discrimination will never forget. We are “vaccinated”, to be ironic, for a bit of fun, metaphorically not against covid - but against authoritarianism. We see it now for what it is.. and we will not comply.
I can totally relate to this experience and have experienced many instances of shunning as an unvaxxed person. (Best decision of my life) I used to be part of a book club and a couple ladies lectured me on my selfishness, telling me I was the cause of hospitalizations. It was clearly ridiculously ignorant. I didn't argue I just quit and have no desire to be near such people. I am a first generation American and my European family was under Nazi occupation and then the iron curtain so I more easily recognize dangerous state sponsored/directed anger than most people. I know ordinary seemingly 'nice' people can become murderous in the right political conditions. I like your definition of psychological safety.
It has been so terrifying. I have some family history that makes me aware of such things as well. I exist because relatives before me had the good sense to leave before killing began. Perhaps that played a role in my decision to leave CA. I had such a strong urge to leave.
It is heartbreaking to realize that the world is not as I imagined or expected it to be. I was raised to believe in freedom and that we were above repeating the mistakes of the past. Then one day I found myself hearing the Pledge of Allegiance as ironic. I suppose human nature has its limitations, always.
The good news is the more people negatively impacted, the harder the pendulum swings.
Reading this just made me want to stomp around the room and throw things. I'm sorry you were so abandoned by your wine group; it IS amazing how much we value a sense of belonging. Well, maybe it's not that amazing, given our ancestral hard-wiring. Ostracism = Death, in our lizard brains.
Thank you Mary! And sorry to pass along some of my rage. I think there is SO much to belonging and to genuine human connection. Even a warm exchange at the grocery store with a stranger can change a whole day. This is what we lost.. and we need to hang onto. Human interaction! The kind where people feel understood and seen, even if it’s just a shared smile.
Oh my goodness, I am vibrating with my own burning anger for you!! It reminds me of myself. Your story brought into clear focus exactly what had made me drop a friend of 25 years. We only get together every three months or so, and the previous visit we had had, she complained bitterly about her older parents, who lived with her for that moment in time, always watching Fox and not believing the "science" around the Covid jab. Three hours of this in various stories from her. Fast forward to the last get together we had, and we are visiting and she asks me if I am jabbed (I had told her I was not the last visit) then asked if I had not gotten it for a medical reason? No, I just did not think it was safe. Then she said, oh, ok, I am trying to keep track of the unjabbed people I know who had a "legitimate" medical reason for not getting it. If I had any wits about me I would have stopped her there and asked if she had heard herself and what she had just said to me. I did not. I was in shock and did not process all she said surrounding the Covid jab during that visit until weeks later. At that point I realized I could not be "friends" with someone who treated me that way. She is an RN by the way. So compassionate-Not.
Your story is even more horrifying as that woman tacitly acknowledged what you already knew-you were NOT SAFE with her or any other member of your wine group, and while none may "kill" you, they would watch you be put in a Covid concentration camp or the like, and probably proclaim smugly, "she deserves it, she should have gotten jabbed".
The grief that underlies all of the rage I feel is probably why I am so angry as you point out. Ultimately I truly believed those I loved and felt closest too, including my mother, my children and my siblings, would see through the lies as I had and search out the truth, or at least hear me with their heart and check into it for themselves. Instead they all pressured me to take the jab, including the pressure from my son and his girlfriend to get it since they had just had twins before the jabs came out and now we should take the jab to "protect" the babies. My husband and I explained we would not and why, and they had their pediatrician send a letter saying we were a danger to the twins and would not be allowed to be around them. I have not seen them in 19 months. We still talk to our son occasionally, and he lives in the same city, but even now there is no mention of Covid being over, that it is known the jabs do not work, and that we should come see the kids, and so sorry for the way we behaved.
Thank you for so eloquently speaking for all of us who withstood the Covid psy-op and paid the price!
After reading about the wine group, then about your family and the grand kids story I started crying, thank you I needed that. It is comforting to know I am not alone.
These comments and the post it help to clarify things for me. I am still grappling with how to go forward. All of my family and most of my close friends ostracized me. I recently brought it up with my sister who I was extremely close to until she called me a selfish (her tone implying idiot) for not getting the jab. I reminded her about her words and she said she was sorry, that was the end of it. It was clear she is not able to look more deeply into what motivated her to verbally assault me and show such deep disrespect, therefore while I appreciated the apology I do not feel secure about our relationship. Honestly I don't know how I will open my heart again to all the people - practically everyone I knew and cared about - who were so quick to deny me my right as a human being to chose differently and refused to see me, who would have stood by mute as worse things were suggested and happened. I think the only way they can fully gain my trust again is by seeing the truth about what happened and understanding the enormity of it, because we all know it isn't over. It is good to hear my sentiments echoed with you all. Sending love to you all and myself too. Because the weight of the awakening for me is immense and I am struggling with how to live in their world now. Some very deep trauma structures have been triggered for me, ones I thought I had already worked through. It's crazy intense. I know that communally we are headed in the right direction, but emotionally at the individual level is not easy.
yes I would love to connect. If you click on my name it will lead you to my profile which lists a few of my websites, at the healing one there is an email address. If that doesn't work write me again here please :)
It took a lot of courage, critical thinking, and determination to do the right thing not to be jabbed. The truthful data was available on the internet for all to see if they even looked. We tolerated cruel and hateful things said to and about the mandate holdouts, meanwhile praying that the vaxed would come to their senses. Good doctors voicing concern were fired and lost medical licenses.
Probably all of us have struggled to understand how the vax believers could be so conned. One reason is continual, repeated messages on mainstream media about how the unvaxed were a risk to the health and safety of those who succumbed to the lies of health authorities. Very strong counter intelligence methods were used to target the masses. It turns out to be the opposite and now they are paying the price of high COVID rates and vax adverse effects. Even so, they still don’t accept that the huge increase in sudden deaths and myocarditis is from the shots. It tells us something about human nature not being willing to admit being wrong. They don’t want to swallow the red pill that the mainstream media and government wants to kill much of the population. Acceptance would mean asking what other lies were told.
Thank you - I so enjoyed your story -- honest and real. And very relatable! At least you know you were not alone in your experience, so many went through some version of the same.
That sounds eerily familiar. All I have to say is ... Me Too. We moved to The Live Free or Die state. Though this state is being inundated with liberals and sits precariously on the fence of Red and Blue, leaning for the time being towards Red, we will make our last stand here. BTW, I am no longer red or blue, I am a libertarian. I wish you peace and happiness wherever you wound up. -Dr. Jay
I had contempt for a while during covid. I wanted people to hear me, but most weren't interested. Luckily for me prior to covid I had lots of understanding about talking about alternative views, and I don't bring up stuff that isn't completely verifiable to anyone, but that won't stop people from shunning. So I already grokked people were afraid to think for themselves cause of lots of prior experience, covid was just another level of arrogant ignorance on display.
After telling one person about my take on covid they said: "You're one of them"...I just smiled. It was a real life Invasion of the Body Snatchers moment where Donald Sutherland is pointing with mouth agape. I again, already knew they didn't read and were just parroting back stuff they heard. That's how most get their views. They don't actually think, read, or research, they just hear a perceived authority that was validated by their equally idiotic peer group, employer, religious leader, or favorite politician/celebrity and repeat it with gusto.
Thank you for saying this. It brought tears. It’s been a hard road for us. No harder than for our brown friends, gay friends or our poor friends. But fucking hard.
You are so very welcome. It’s a special kind of hard. The gaslighting is perhaps the hardest part. With other groups that have been oppressed, there is acknowledgement by a reasonable number of people that things have been hurtful and unjust. Not so with the unjabbed! Not yet…
Yes. That feels true. I was reflecting after I posted that there may be something unique here and that’s at least one thing. Who’s left to vilify now? Poor white folks and the unjabbed. Bout it. Even in China and Russia (the other places filled with evil doers) we are verboten.
Maybe there is a standing amount of hate in society that has to be directed somewhere! Joking, kinda.. as you say with everyone else out of bounds, all of it came our way.
I am doing so much better! Reconnected to my sense of adventure, got the job I wanted, enjoying life in the South, meeting new people, family doing well ❤️🙏🏻
Hello "Critical Middle" I just want to say how much I appreciate your writing this article and sharing your experience. After reading about the rage you felt, I was remembering my own, and realized that a lot of it is still deep inside me. The thing that's bothering me now is that everyone is acting like it's back to business as usual, as if none of that happened. Not one of my friends has yet to have the courage to admit that they were "mistaken" (damn flat-out wrong) in their judgment of the situation. It's as if we just had a difference of opinion, no big deal. But let's not mention the reason we lost loved ones, what the real cause was, let's just offer our condolences and move on. It's hard to still feel the same about them, but why am I the one who feels guilty and judgmental? Go figure.
Thank you for reading and for your comments! It’s great to connect.
I have been thinking more about this.. one unintended consequence is that those of us who experienced this jab discrimination will never forget. We are “vaccinated”, to be ironic, for a bit of fun, metaphorically not against covid - but against authoritarianism. We see it now for what it is.. and we will not comply.
I really like that notion.
Me, too!
I can totally relate to this experience and have experienced many instances of shunning as an unvaxxed person. (Best decision of my life) I used to be part of a book club and a couple ladies lectured me on my selfishness, telling me I was the cause of hospitalizations. It was clearly ridiculously ignorant. I didn't argue I just quit and have no desire to be near such people. I am a first generation American and my European family was under Nazi occupation and then the iron curtain so I more easily recognize dangerous state sponsored/directed anger than most people. I know ordinary seemingly 'nice' people can become murderous in the right political conditions. I like your definition of psychological safety.
It has been so terrifying. I have some family history that makes me aware of such things as well. I exist because relatives before me had the good sense to leave before killing began. Perhaps that played a role in my decision to leave CA. I had such a strong urge to leave.
It is heartbreaking to realize that the world is not as I imagined or expected it to be. I was raised to believe in freedom and that we were above repeating the mistakes of the past. Then one day I found myself hearing the Pledge of Allegiance as ironic. I suppose human nature has its limitations, always.
The good news is the more people negatively impacted, the harder the pendulum swings.
Reading this just made me want to stomp around the room and throw things. I'm sorry you were so abandoned by your wine group; it IS amazing how much we value a sense of belonging. Well, maybe it's not that amazing, given our ancestral hard-wiring. Ostracism = Death, in our lizard brains.
Thank you Mary! And sorry to pass along some of my rage. I think there is SO much to belonging and to genuine human connection. Even a warm exchange at the grocery store with a stranger can change a whole day. This is what we lost.. and we need to hang onto. Human interaction! The kind where people feel understood and seen, even if it’s just a shared smile.
Oh my goodness, I am vibrating with my own burning anger for you!! It reminds me of myself. Your story brought into clear focus exactly what had made me drop a friend of 25 years. We only get together every three months or so, and the previous visit we had had, she complained bitterly about her older parents, who lived with her for that moment in time, always watching Fox and not believing the "science" around the Covid jab. Three hours of this in various stories from her. Fast forward to the last get together we had, and we are visiting and she asks me if I am jabbed (I had told her I was not the last visit) then asked if I had not gotten it for a medical reason? No, I just did not think it was safe. Then she said, oh, ok, I am trying to keep track of the unjabbed people I know who had a "legitimate" medical reason for not getting it. If I had any wits about me I would have stopped her there and asked if she had heard herself and what she had just said to me. I did not. I was in shock and did not process all she said surrounding the Covid jab during that visit until weeks later. At that point I realized I could not be "friends" with someone who treated me that way. She is an RN by the way. So compassionate-Not.
Your story is even more horrifying as that woman tacitly acknowledged what you already knew-you were NOT SAFE with her or any other member of your wine group, and while none may "kill" you, they would watch you be put in a Covid concentration camp or the like, and probably proclaim smugly, "she deserves it, she should have gotten jabbed".
The grief that underlies all of the rage I feel is probably why I am so angry as you point out. Ultimately I truly believed those I loved and felt closest too, including my mother, my children and my siblings, would see through the lies as I had and search out the truth, or at least hear me with their heart and check into it for themselves. Instead they all pressured me to take the jab, including the pressure from my son and his girlfriend to get it since they had just had twins before the jabs came out and now we should take the jab to "protect" the babies. My husband and I explained we would not and why, and they had their pediatrician send a letter saying we were a danger to the twins and would not be allowed to be around them. I have not seen them in 19 months. We still talk to our son occasionally, and he lives in the same city, but even now there is no mention of Covid being over, that it is known the jabs do not work, and that we should come see the kids, and so sorry for the way we behaved.
Thank you for so eloquently speaking for all of us who withstood the Covid psy-op and paid the price!
Honored to be a voice for truth and heart-broken that so many of us experienced this. Sending hugs and healing.
After reading about the wine group, then about your family and the grand kids story I started crying, thank you I needed that. It is comforting to know I am not alone.
These comments and the post it help to clarify things for me. I am still grappling with how to go forward. All of my family and most of my close friends ostracized me. I recently brought it up with my sister who I was extremely close to until she called me a selfish (her tone implying idiot) for not getting the jab. I reminded her about her words and she said she was sorry, that was the end of it. It was clear she is not able to look more deeply into what motivated her to verbally assault me and show such deep disrespect, therefore while I appreciated the apology I do not feel secure about our relationship. Honestly I don't know how I will open my heart again to all the people - practically everyone I knew and cared about - who were so quick to deny me my right as a human being to chose differently and refused to see me, who would have stood by mute as worse things were suggested and happened. I think the only way they can fully gain my trust again is by seeing the truth about what happened and understanding the enormity of it, because we all know it isn't over. It is good to hear my sentiments echoed with you all. Sending love to you all and myself too. Because the weight of the awakening for me is immense and I am struggling with how to live in their world now. Some very deep trauma structures have been triggered for me, ones I thought I had already worked through. It's crazy intense. I know that communally we are headed in the right direction, but emotionally at the individual level is not easy.
Trauma is right! Is there a way to direct message on SS? Happy to get in touch if you would like to have a conversation.
yes I would love to connect. If you click on my name it will lead you to my profile which lists a few of my websites, at the healing one there is an email address. If that doesn't work write me again here please :)
It took a lot of courage, critical thinking, and determination to do the right thing not to be jabbed. The truthful data was available on the internet for all to see if they even looked. We tolerated cruel and hateful things said to and about the mandate holdouts, meanwhile praying that the vaxed would come to their senses. Good doctors voicing concern were fired and lost medical licenses.
Probably all of us have struggled to understand how the vax believers could be so conned. One reason is continual, repeated messages on mainstream media about how the unvaxed were a risk to the health and safety of those who succumbed to the lies of health authorities. Very strong counter intelligence methods were used to target the masses. It turns out to be the opposite and now they are paying the price of high COVID rates and vax adverse effects. Even so, they still don’t accept that the huge increase in sudden deaths and myocarditis is from the shots. It tells us something about human nature not being willing to admit being wrong. They don’t want to swallow the red pill that the mainstream media and government wants to kill much of the population. Acceptance would mean asking what other lies were told.
The book One Idea to Rule Them All should enlighten all who read it about how we can be manipulated. It will leave you both stunned and outraged.!
Thank you - I so enjoyed your story -- honest and real. And very relatable! At least you know you were not alone in your experience, so many went through some version of the same.
Here's to new - upgraded! - friends.
Thank you for sharing this powerful story, and the concept of psychological safety.
It gives me all the good chills to know you are out there hearing my story. Thank you!
That sounds eerily familiar. All I have to say is ... Me Too. We moved to The Live Free or Die state. Though this state is being inundated with liberals and sits precariously on the fence of Red and Blue, leaning for the time being towards Red, we will make our last stand here. BTW, I am no longer red or blue, I am a libertarian. I wish you peace and happiness wherever you wound up. -Dr. Jay
Georgia! Thank you. 🙏🏻❤️ It means so much to be reminded that this really happened, and not just to me.
I had contempt for a while during covid. I wanted people to hear me, but most weren't interested. Luckily for me prior to covid I had lots of understanding about talking about alternative views, and I don't bring up stuff that isn't completely verifiable to anyone, but that won't stop people from shunning. So I already grokked people were afraid to think for themselves cause of lots of prior experience, covid was just another level of arrogant ignorance on display.
After telling one person about my take on covid they said: "You're one of them"...I just smiled. It was a real life Invasion of the Body Snatchers moment where Donald Sutherland is pointing with mouth agape. I again, already knew they didn't read and were just parroting back stuff they heard. That's how most get their views. They don't actually think, read, or research, they just hear a perceived authority that was validated by their equally idiotic peer group, employer, religious leader, or favorite politician/celebrity and repeat it with gusto.
Yes exactly! That part of human nature is dangerous.
Thank you for saying this. It brought tears. It’s been a hard road for us. No harder than for our brown friends, gay friends or our poor friends. But fucking hard.
You are so very welcome. It’s a special kind of hard. The gaslighting is perhaps the hardest part. With other groups that have been oppressed, there is acknowledgement by a reasonable number of people that things have been hurtful and unjust. Not so with the unjabbed! Not yet…
Yes. That feels true. I was reflecting after I posted that there may be something unique here and that’s at least one thing. Who’s left to vilify now? Poor white folks and the unjabbed. Bout it. Even in China and Russia (the other places filled with evil doers) we are verboten.
Maybe there is a standing amount of hate in society that has to be directed somewhere! Joking, kinda.. as you say with everyone else out of bounds, all of it came our way.
"All I knew was that I understood, now, how it was possible to be at one's loneliest while in the company of others."
I second this 1,000 times. Our stories have so many similarities. I look forward to reading to find out where you are now.
I am doing so much better! Reconnected to my sense of adventure, got the job I wanted, enjoying life in the South, meeting new people, family doing well ❤️🙏🏻
I am in NC if you are nearby. Glad things are going well.