Friday, September 24, 2021

WIRTW #597: the “Sorry Antivaxxer” edition


If you've visited me on LinkedIn or Twitter (and if we're not connected on both, please fix that immediately), you may have noticed I describe myself in my bios as the "Master of Workplace Schadenfreude." What is Schadenfreude? It's a German word that is most commonly translated as "enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others." My research, however, reveals that it has as many as four different potential philosophical underpinnings, which I've synthesized as the following: Taking joy in someone else getting what they deserve because of who they are or what they've done, and celebrating that you're not in their shoes.

No matter how you define it, today's share is dripping with Schadenfreude.

Meet sorryantivaxxer.com, a repository of stories of anti-vaxxers who, because of their own un-sound and stubborn beliefs, needlessly died or came close to dying from Covid. It's a who's who of right-wing pundits, QAnon cultists and other fanatics, religious leaders and zealots, and even health care providers, all of whom opposed, shunned, or spoke out against the Covid vaccine and paid the ultimate price as a result.

Any death is sad, but what's especially sad about these is that each was almost 100 percent preventable if they had just done the one thing that could have prevented them from dying from Covid—taking the damn shot.

Please don't end up on sorryantivaxxer.com. If you're not yet vaccinated, do as soon as possible. Serious illness and death is almost entirely preventable. But you do need to join the 182 million of us who are fully vaccinated.

Here are the best things I read online this past week that I think you should be reading, too.

Riverside Man Claims Trader Joe’s Fired Him For Being Unvaccinated — via CBS Los Angeles
Companies See 'Manna From Heaven' With Biden Vaccine Mandate — via Bloomberg Law