COVID May Have Achieved Bin Laden's Goal, MCU Inspired by Real Life Heist, CMT Gun Control Message Backfires, Florida Abuses Prisoners (The Five for 06/11/21)
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[one]
As new research around COVID-19 emerges, the cultural rift around the disease only seems to widen. A new study showing that people who have had COVID do not need the vaccine will likely cause more social divisions in the U.S.
MSN reports:
A study conducted on over 52,000 Cleveland Clinic employees found there was no significant difference in COVID-19 infections between previously infected and currently unvaccinated participants; previously infected and currently vaccinated participants; and previously uninfected and currently vaccinated participants. Researchers also found that 99.3% of all COVID-19 infections occurred in unvaccinated participants who had not been previously infected. The remaining 0.7% of infections were in vaccinated participants who were not previously infected.
The study did not find a single incident of COVID-19 infection in participants who previously had the infection, regardless if the participant received the vaccine.
This new info comes on the heels of a new Gallup poll that shows a major schism around re-opening the country, which is divided sharply along political lines.
The news also broke this week of some areas dramatically over-counting COVID deaths.
The death toll from COVID-19 in California’s Alameda County has been cut by 25%, from 1,634 to over 1,223, after authorities found that some fatalities were not “a direct result" of coronavirus.
The change is a result of Alameda County’s "alignment" with state guidelines, the county news release on June 4 stated. It said that the county previously included in its total virus toll any person who was positive for COVID-19 at the time of their death. This broader system was implemented prior to the state's implementation of guidelines for reporting COVID-19 deaths.
Now, it will only include those who "died as a direct result of COVID-19, with COVID-19 as a contributing cause of death, or in whom death caused by COVID-19 could not be ruled out," as per the state guidelines.
No (reasonable) person is arguing that COVID doesn’t exist, hasn’t killed a lot of people, or isn’t a life-ending threat to some (most people who died had 4+ complicating factors).
However, more stories are coming about people who want to stay masked forever despite being fully vaccinated, and often don’t trust the science, as the COVID vaccine has been shown to be 95% effective by the CDC.
Evie Magazine recently reported on the cultural walls that have even been erected within immediate families. I found this to be the most heartbreaking:
“My mother and father kicked me out of the house for not wanting the vaccine. They had previously agreed to let me live at home until I paid off my $50,000 in student debt, but now they are telling me to move out. It hurts that they are treating me like a leper when I’ve never once gotten them sick. I guess they no longer care about helping me get to a better place financially, all because I don’t want an experimental injection.”
We seem to be in a metaphorical Chinese Finger Trap here, with both sides pulling harder apart, which tightens the trap and makes getting out impossible.
As someone who had to get the vaccine early for my job, I was absolutely terrified as people with existing food allergies are more likely to have a reaction, and more than 1,500 people die of Anaphylaxis each year. Given that COVID has a 99%+ survival rate for my demographic (healthy males in their 30’s), I was likely more at risk from dying due to an allergic reaction to the vaccine than I was from COVID itself.
But I considered unemployment to be the biggest risk of all, so I rolled up my sleeve and got stuck. I’ve been fine (so far), but it was a serious and scary decision and one that was surprising at how many “pro vax” people absolutely would not hear the idea that there could be a medical reason (serious allergies) to opt out.
To be fair, both sides of the vaccine/COVID equation are unknown. The vaccine hasn’t been fully approved by the FDA, so we don’t know the long term potential side effects. We also don’t know the long term potential side effects of having the disease itself.
Now that the pandemic is (more or less) behind us, two big questions remain:
A). Will we ever be able to truly “follow the science,” even when said science contradicts the hysteria of the early days of the pandemic? Or when said science (including the CDC) invites the general public to re-join society, but roughly half won’t believe it’s safe? What are the long term effects of a society with an extended shut-in rate for up to 40% of the relatively young and healthy?
B). Are the current social conflicts we’re seeing permanent? Will a mask transform into the new hijab, Yakima or cross around the neck…an outward symbol of internal beliefs? (If that’s the case, I’ll extend the same courtesy and respect to the masked as to Christians, Jews and Muslims…but it fundamentally changes society).
In the beginning of the pandemic, all the general public wanted was to “get back to normal.”
As cases continue to fall and vaccines rates rise, I’m beginning to see this in a different light. Rather than “back to normal,” COVID was a 9/11 style event that fractured our society to the core.
There may never be “normal,” again, just pre-and-post COVID.
Bin Laden’s goals for flying the planes into the twin towers were to sew political, economic and personal discord and fear into the fabric of American society.
He picked the wrong tactic. A disease works far better than turning planes into bombs to achieve those ends.
[two]
I’ve been fairly critical of the Marvel Cinematic Universe for being cookie-cutter over the years, but I have to say I’m intrigued that the new Marvel/Disney+ streaming show, Loki (out today) drew inspiration from the DB Cooper plane hijacking.
MSN has a good recap of the real life hostage situation:
On November 24, 1971, a man by the name of Dan Cooper (later dubbed DB Cooper by U.S. Media), purchased a one-way ticket to Seattle, Washington at Northwest Orient Airlines in Portland, Oregon.
When the Boeing 727 flight was midair, Cooper handed air hostess Florence Schaffner a note and told her he had a bomb inside his briefcase.
After taking a look at what appeared to be a makeshift bomb, Schaffner was instructed to take a note to the flight's captain, William A. Scott.
The plane took off again, and Cooper parachuted out into the Washington wilderness with $200k in cash, never to be seen again.
It’s a much more grown up story angle than the first 10 years of the MCU would have touched…but perhaps that’s because Marvel fans are growing up, and so the brand is growing with them.
One final note…the FBI finally closed the case on DB Cooper in 2016, after looking for the plane heist master for 45 years.
Oh, and if you’re on the fence about Loki, it’s currently at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.
[three]
One of the more odd elements of the entertainment industry…is the closely held belief by many who work in it…that America turns to our entertainment outlets, not to be unplug and recharge, but to have values dictated to us.
This week, CMT asked fans to wear orange for gun control. The request was met with a near total fan backlash, according to the LA Times.
Views on firearms (on either side) is a highly entrenched topic in U.S. politics, and one that most people aren’t likely to change their minds on based on a single tweet from an also-ran cable network.
This reminds me of Joaqiun Phoenix using his Oscar acceptance speech to demand American stop consuming dairy products.
Whatever you think of guns (or veganism), it’s clear that neither attempt at a political statement achieved the goal of changing the minds of fans.
I don’t have one ounce of data to back this up, but a shot-in-the-dark theory is that YouTubers, podcasters and social media influencers now carry more power to sway the opinions of the public (and the public’s political leanings) than actors and legacy media, because the former open up so much more of their lives to their fans.
Which raises the valid question of what CMT and Phoenix really want…changed minds, or a return to a world where marquee actors and broadcast media still held the keys to the kingdom.
[four]
In the debate about wokeness, Critical Race Theory and identity politics, nobody talks about plain old, un-hyphenated down and out folks these days.
A new law in Florida, which charges prisoners to receive their mail digitally, is both unethical and cruel.
The plan, which was announced this week in detail, would not only eliminate incarcerated people’s access to physical mail but also greatly limit the number of pages someone could mail inside at one time and extend the time in which officials have to provide someone’s mail.
“To institute a policy that hurts those individuals and further alienates them from the people in the free world, … it’s something we just can’t understand and get behind,” said Seth Miller, the executive director of Innocence Project of Florida. “We should be trying to build up [an incarcerated person’s] humanity and dignity, and not tear it apart.”
These people are already behind bars, with their every move controlled by others. I’m going to assume that the vast majority have earned their sentence.
Why are we charging people…to hear from a loved one?
What great purpose does taking away the chance for these people to hold a hand drawn picture from one of their children?
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup:
In a previous issue, I asked the question “who really wants a Jim and Tammy Faye Baker movie?” Now that the first trailer has dropped…the answer is “people who like Oscar bait,” apparently. Academy Award nominees Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, The Amazing Spiderman) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty, The Help) are incredible in our first look at the biopic. The Eyes of Tammy Faye releases this fall.
And speaking of Oscar bait, Andrew Garfield must REALLY want some hardware this year, as he’s also starring in Tick..Tick…Boom! a musical written in 1990 by playwrite David Auburn of Rent fame. Lin Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) is reviving the forgotten project as a movie musical for Netflix. Out sometime this fall. First trailer here.
Stranger Things season four added some fresh faces to the cast, including cast Amybeth McNulty (Anne with an E), Myles Truitt (Queen Sugar), Regina Ting Chen (Queen of the South), and Grace Van Dien (The Village). No release date announced yet, as the new season is still filming.
Beloved Aughts teen drama Gossip Girl is getting a reboot on HBO Max and the first trailer looks…dumb. The whole thing feels like Zack Snyder or Christopher Nolan were running this like a Batman movie. “What if we made the show metaphorically AND literally darker. Like, there were drugs and murder or something, but also the scenes don’t have much light, so you don’t know what’s going on? Every rich kid in New York is on edge of a psychotic break.” Ummm…sure guys.
The first trailer Fear Street Trilogy (a story spanning three centuries, told in three movies over three weeks) has me pretty excited for some mid-summer scares. Based on the 90’s R.L. Stine series (Stine more famously wrote the Goosebumps series of JV level horror/suspense).
MUSIC: The first new single from Lorde in four years dropped last night, the long awaited follow up to her Grammy winning 2016 debut Pure Heroin. Maroon 5’s new album Jordi is out (I tried, not my thing). Much-buzzed-about-female-fronted Brit alt rock band Wolf Alice’s Blue Weekend is out. 90’s alt-rock pioneers Garbage are back with a new album getting plenty of critical praise. Chicago rapper Polo G let go of Hall of Fame (my favorite Gen Z rapper). The name James McMurtry either means nothing to you, or everything. The son of Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Larry McMurty (Lonesome Dove), James writes songs that are short stories, and his new single is no less prolific than his past work. Post punk outfit AFI unveils their new album Bodies. Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real are getting some buzz for A Few Stars Apart (and yes, he sounds a LOT like his dad, Willie). Texas country troubadour Red Shahan’s Javalina album really caught my ear at first listen. Punk rock/hip-hop hybrid KennyHoopla’s new project SURVIVOR’S GUILT: THE MIXTAPE is a collaboration with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, and is worth a listen. Country-pop act Lady A has a new single. So does Kelsea Ballerni, Brad Paisley, NEEDTOBREATHE and Flatland Calvary all have new singles.
[epilogue]
Cigarette vending machines were commonplace in mezzanines and lobbies in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Due to anti-smoking pressure campaigns, many businesses started phasing them out in the late 1980’s, because, believe it or not, not all teenagers obeyed the “valid ID required” sticker…on an automated vending machine.
The machines were phased out due to public pressure starting in the 1980’s, but weren’t outlawed until 2010.
Before outlawing the machines, the National Institute for Health studied cigarette vending machines in 1997 and found fewer teen smokers in areas where cigarettes weren't available via vending machine. (Ummm, duh).
Until the next one,
-sth