Yup, but to be fair, Laurie Garrett wrote about this in the Coming Plague in 1994. We’ve always been on the edge of something like this and been in a position unable or unwilling to handle it. Even now, though, when looking at the vaccine uptake and our roles, and the American (or even UK, Canada, EU perspectives), we have to accept our privilege here. We bought our way to the front of the line. And it’s a long, long line, and we only succeed when we get to the end of the line of people who want the vaccine and we’ve hit over whatever metric is needed for herd immunity. Even with our hesitancy, we’re further ahead than most the world on this, and I think, like I said, we need to check and accept our privilege.
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A mainstay of cults everywhere. If you can’t find an isolated community, make an isolated community.
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IIRC, the vaccine targets the spike protein that allows it to get into the cell. There are still other parts of the virus that are deadly if it finds other ways to get into the cell.
Let’s also not forget that it doesn’t just infect humans. Many different kinds of mammals- wild and domesticated- are also getting infected and can be reservoirs and mutation pools for the virus.
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I agree, as long as you recognise that some isolated communities are an attempt to escape from mainstream hatred.
(Mentioned because TERs are trying to claim that transgender is a cult while engaging in internal cultish behaviour themselves, stuff like love bombing and shunning.)
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Maybe a bit off topic. But “high pressure religious group” is the increasingly common term there. Cult is a bit loaded, and it has other meanings. It is technically possible for a cult to be a cult in the common meaning without engaging in these things. Even if you’d be really hard pressed to find an example.
So by “High Pressure” that is exactly what I meant. It’s a little more specific, and has the benefit of narrowing in on the specific actions that are specifically harmful.
I think it’s also worth considering that there could always be a person reading this, if not participating, who is in that circumstance. And “cult” is gonna chase them out.
It’s also one of the reasons why it’s important to stress there is almost always a way out.
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Interesting. And matches what other countries are seeing.
My data nerd side wonders: Does the “unvaccinated” category include people who have had COVID in the past 6 months, but no jab? And vice versa - does “vaccinated” mean “jabbed”, or does having COVID recently count?
Vaccinated means injected with a vaccine. Period.
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The unvaccinated category is people who have not received the vaccine. Getting covid does not necessarily confer the same level of immunity that getting the vaccine will give you.
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Agreed on that. I was not asking the “in general” sort of question, but the “on this particular chart” question. I’ve seen some that only clarified their definitions off-page, and a few picked some unusual definitions.
This chart meets my expectations - I’m not asking because I suspect shenanigans. I’m asking more to get a better intuition about how definitions are used.
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Keeping in mind that some groups swap out religious for other labels. NXIVM, EST/Landmark, etc.
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Hence “High Pressure Group”.
Kind of a moving, developing term at this point. Tends to get various qualifiers in there from “social” and “religious” to “movement” and others.
The whole Q thing would certainly count, but it would be hard to argue it’s genuinely a religion outside of shit takes. A lot of the Alt Med/CAM scene would likewise fit, but while those are sometimes features of religious groups. They’re not religious ideas in themselves.
It’s the other reason why I’m liking the term lately. It’s very flexible, and by honing in on those specific abusive practices really does get to the heart of the issue.
Also circling the same subject are terms like “extreme belief”, and “false belief” which I tend to use a lot. But those more focus on the nature of the ideas in question and not the actual practices and behaviors of actual communities.
“New Religious Movement” used to be a big thing. Attempting to remove the stigma of “cult” but still differentiate the sort of groups that got that label. Fairly or unfairly. But what’s meant by “cult” in popular parlance tends to encompass a range of abusive behaviors that don’t typify many New Religious Movements. Like it’d be real hard to apply what I wrote above to The Satanic Temple. Or even Wicca to run with something that isn’t tongue in cheek.
ETA: the other variation you’ll run into is “High Pressure Group”, and then “High Pressure, High Control Group”. Similarly dials down into the exact behaviors and tactics at the root of it.
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I and several people I know had to travel hours roundtrip for our vaccine because local appointments were already all taken. So not really a sensitive measure, I’m afraid.
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I know several people who refused to get the shot because it’s poison, it’s tracking them, HIPAA, etc…
Then, as soon as they thought they wouldn’t be able to fly to their favorite vacation spot they got the shot.
In other words they wouldn’t do it to help stop a deadly pandemic but their so called principles got tossed out and they took the poison for their vacation.
They got angry when I pointed out how absurd it was.
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Yeah, it would be hard to tell if a location was the closest available, most convenient (I’d say close to work, but… work away from home?), etc. I only had to travel 40 miles to the next county over, past probably a dozen other shot clinics.
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