Oh, this reminds me. I was asked to go to a Chiropractic "doctor" this weekend for a check up. That's nonsense to begin with, but I went anyway.

She asked about my back hurting, and I mentioned that I threw it out really badly when I got COVID a year or two ago, and was stuck in bed coughing super hard for a week. Her immediate response was "I've heard the vaccine can do that."

... Like, fucking what? How god damn stupid do you have to be to hear "I threw my back out coughing really hard." and instantly try to insert your anti-science bullshit into the conversation?

Measles, that old-timey disease we didn't really think about as kids because of vaccinations. Welp, that's coming back. Thanks to fucking idiots.

I gained the superpower of crippling anxiety, depression and panic attacks. I had very mild anxiety prior to Covid, but something broke in my brain after I got sick.

I am anxious and yet constantly tired. I can barely function before noon and can't shut my brain off to sleep.

I hat every fucking person on Earth who said it was bs.

I was assaulted by a family member for not giving “IV Ivermectin” to someone with COVID who I had just crash intubated (honestly thought they were going to code, but somehow didn’t) back during the Delta wave.

My view of humanity has gotten pretty pessimistic since COVID. If I had the guts I’d honestly love to go create an insulated community of people who actually think about stuff and want to help each other.

I still see "heroes work here" banners outside of healthcare facilities and nursing homes. I imagine a number of the low-paid and overworked staff say "fuck you, pay me more" every time they drive by too.

Also would have accepted the meme with the Muppet like puppets being asked "and what did we learn?' and they all scream "Nothing!!"

I wonder if it would've been on net better if COVID had been deadlier. Like if people had been dying from a new disease with blood gushing out of their eyes, would idiots have taken it seriously? Probably not.

I can't believe people are falling for Trump's "Four years ago you were better off" bullshit

Worked through this myself. Not as a nurse or care assistant, but as an NHS binman. Still saw lots of shit I basically cant talk about (not due to emotion but due to Trust policy as its a bit too specific). Saw doctors, nurses, care assistants walking around like zombies after having worked 18 hours straight. Saw morons walk in and film them thinking there was some major conspiracy. Heard the lungs of patients rattling as they struggled to breath. Two workers I knew died. Heard from colleagues how some other morons had "served legal papers" on the staff (thats not how you get "served" here btw) and then saw it on the BBC 6 oclock news. I also saw the hard work of every delivery driver, supermarket worker.

What did I learn? That some people will fight to save your life, even if you've not taken heed of all the advice.

I have a two year old niece now. I'm reminded of when I was a kid in the early 80s and war veterans would come and talk to us about WW2 and Korea. I am thinking it would be good if some of us did the same for these kids in a few years. If we went and talked about what we saw, not the scary/nasty stuff, but the stuff that makes people hopeful for humanity.

This pretty well sums it up. It's hard to believe it's been four years. It used to feel like it'd been ongoing for forever. Now it feels like a dream. What a fucked up thing we went through and how fucked is it that my brain can just sort of "forget". I guess that's how we cope. It isn't evolutionarily advantageous to dwell on the real threats. Only on the stupid social fuckups that happened that embarrassed me.

I have to admit, before Covid i didn't think people would be joining the war on disease on the side of disease in any meaningful numbers and yet here we are. I think we may be in decline as a civilization, not sure how that kind of brain rot is survivable.

Turns out conservatism was the real plague all along.