Trolling—and How Not to Take the Bait

I happened upon a video, about a letter/article that was making the rounds. It was a YouTuber I was unacquainted with. As he read through it, he expressed some doubts about its authenticity. In fact he said he hoped this was satire, because it was so unbelievably obtuse. So, upon hearing it, I wanted to see it in context, to see if it was indeed satire. I think the word trolling applies.

the quick definition that came up in the search engine

the longer definition that came up within Urban Dictionary

The piece was a bit obscure to find. A fact checker claimed it was debunked. The magazine, called The Conversation, that supposedly published it denied doing so. The sources I found, to get screenshots and piece together the entire letter, did not have an author or date. But the fact checking claimed it was dated June 2023, several months hence. And it had an author, who denied writing it, as you’d expect, because his job is to combat vaccine hesitancy.

So, I can’t say who wrote it. Some image editing made it look like it was published by that unlikely magazine.

The funny thing is, we’ve heard so much irrationality from the pro-vaccine crowd that this isn’t all that much of a stretch.

Several of the sources—and most of the commenters—were livid. The hypocrisy, adding insult to injury, was definitely bait to make a person respond emotionally. And they certainly did.

We’ll talk about it some more—after you’ve had a chance to read it. Warning: don’t go trying to think through how to respond; there is no need. Here’s the whole thing:

screenshot found here

They knew: why didn’t the unvaccinated do more to warn us?

The unvaccinated knew what we didn’t. Some of them said too little. Most said nothing at all. A lot of blood is now on their hands.

As the world struggles to come to terms with the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, one question that continues to surface is why the unvaccinated didn’t do more to warn us about the potential dangers of being injected.

While well intending citizens lined up, did the right thing, and received their COVID19 vaccinations—now seeming to do more harm than good—their unvaccinated friends stood by and let them do it. Some of them said too little. Some said nothing at all.

Even though they knew what we didn’t.

Our blood is now on their hands.

Those are strong words. But the unvaccinated had access to important information about the potential side effects of vaccines. They knew about the risks of severe allergic reactions, blood clots, and other serious health complications. They knew that vaccines did not immunize us. They knew it wasn’t effective, and that they can cause more harm than good.

They knew all of that, but instead of warning us, the unvaccinated chose to remain silent. They chose to

look the other way and not speak out about the potential dangers of vaccines. They let millions of good folks who did the right thing (at the time) fall to death and disease, and many antivaxxers even gloated online about how their coin flip had been the right bet. The more diabolical even urged folks they disagree with to “get boosted.”

It has become all too clear. The silence of the unvaccinated was a dangerous, sociopathic, and irresponsible decision that has had serious consequences for those of us who received the vaccinations.

And silence is, after all, consent.

It is time for the unvaccinated to take responsibility for their actions and to work with the rest of us to find a solution to that crisis. We cannot afford to let their selfishness and lack of action continue to harm our communities. It is time for the unvaccinated to step up and do the right thing.

The unvaccinated should by any moral measuring stick have done more to warn about the potential risks—to help us make informed decisions about our health And they must now ask us for our forgiveness.

And, hand to heart, we may just give it to them.

Because we are good people. We took those injections because it was the right thing to do—until it wasn’t.

OK, take a deep breath. And consider laughing.

I’m not all that familiar with trolling, as an online sport. But this seems to me a definite example of master trolling, ticking off everybody on every side. And adding in a byline for an author who would never write such a thing—if indeed the originator did that—has to qualify for a few extra bonus points.

But it made me think about the questions I’ve had throughout the last three years:

·        Why don’t people know what I know?

·        How do we know what’s true?

As Ronald Reagan used to say,

“The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.”

image found here

Some of it has to do with who your sources are. Mainstream media, as is becoming more clear every day, is not a reliable source. Sometimes for local stories, or human interest. But even more of that is becoming agenda-driven.

So how do you know you’ve found the truth? Because this would be good to know relative to all facets of life.

I don’t always know. But as I go to a source that seems to ring true, and then that source proves themselves again multiple times, I tend to rely on them more. There’s quite a list of my sharing those sources—because, of course, we in-the-know people weren’t withholding information; we were just speaking, metaphorically, with the mic turned off. (My year-end review includes links to several of my posts about COVID during 2022.)

If a source contradicts itself without explanation for the pivot, that’s a red flag. I didn’t start out distrusting Fauci. But by April 2020 I did. Things didn’t add up. And he’d already pivoted on the mask wearing, claiming he’d lied about them being unreliable at first to avoid a shortage for frontline workers. No. You don’t get a pass for that. You tell the people up front; they come up with solutions, like making their own. Which, we shortly learned, weren’t filtering well enough. But then, neither were the medical grade ones—because the virus was too small. So wearing them was a sign of compliance only. Many of us complied merely to avoid upsetting the fearful.

Meanwhile, actual doctors, doing actual clinical work, were finding ways to treat successfully, and they were shut down, careers and reputations destroyed. Once you see that happen, you tend to turn away from those shutting them down and toward those who were brave enough to speak anyway.

I built a collection of sources, and continued to be open to new ones. And the pattern continued to be against government and mainstream media and social media. Facebook placed (continues to place) those handy warnings about where to turn for accurate information—which meant you might want to take an extra look at the source they’re trying to turn you away from. That led to some good information.

And recommendations from the reliable sources helped. They tended to come to know each other. If I trusted one doctor, I could probably trust someone he trusted.

This trolling letter shows another thing: no point of view is immune to emotional triggers. But that’s also a clue. If something seems designed to push your buttons, you might want to ask why they want your emotional reaction. And then don’t give it to them. Do more rational searching instead.

If you do that most of the time, you might have been among those whose “coin flip had been the right bet” concerning the vaccines.

It’s also possible that you thought you’d reasoned everything out, and getting vaccinated (two doses) seemed reasonable. And while serious side effects happen more frequently than ought to be allowed in the health care market for any product, it’s still highly likely that your “coin flip” will not show up as harm to your body. But I wouldn’t press your luck. And, to avoid the risk of being accused of not warning my neighbor, let me just urge you not to go on getting boosted.

I might never get good at trolling. But I might just be able to appreciate a good troll. Laughing at the absurdity of our world is a relatively sane response.