ETA 2: This is getting a bit meta, please do not fret. I replied to this a post by @Jesse13927, to which I reacted and pointed out that his darkly sarcastic reference to tattooed numbers made me feel very uneasy. He asked me if he should remove it and apologized, and wrote that I rather would like it be stay up. Now it is gone.
[Since the OP was deleted after community flagging, I removed my link to it here, which for some reason was still visible. @moderators, I would appreciate advice if I should take down my whole post, as Jesse suggested in a personal communication.]
/End ETA2
Coming back to your post, and why I don’t think it is necessary to remove it.
Reflecting on my post, while I replied out of a visceral urge to share this feeling with the community, I think that maybe my posts here might possibly make a casual reader stop scrolling for a second and think about the historical background
I am of the opinion that I need to feel the empathy which makes me deeply uncomfortable with that bitter, deep sarcasm. I thus want to feel this way.
I said I could contextualise your post.
I understood your sarcasm. I am quite sure your aim is to have a jab (pun intended) at people feeding conspiracy bullshit to others. Equating evidence-based health measures with neo-fascist control phantasies is dangerous, and the exaggeration you used makes that visible.
We shook our heads at the microchip injection bullshit early in the pandemic, but most of us did not take this kind of bullshit seriously. The very same group of people (not necessarily the same individuals) also made and make allegations that their freedom is in danger. For various reasons including visibility, the Alibidebatte du jour is still about masks (I think this mixture of a German term with a French expression is appropriate and fitting here, but basically I couldn’t resist).
I think at the basis of the fears which find an expression in the COVID denial bullshit, the face mask Alibidebatte and the anti-vaxers protests is the idea of government overreach, the fear of perfect government control over the population, and the individual. You can find this in any part of the political spectrum, I perceive.
What I think being really problematic here is that the very same groups were and are terrible at distancing themselves from neo-fascists, often embracing them and being taken over by them. Their worldview might internally be perceived as conservative or as well as liberal, even as leftist, but their imagery, their tropes, their policies above all are not. They are often neo-fascist, or revisionist “conservative” talking points.
There are necessary debates which already take place or will take place soon. In Germany, e.g., the idea of a central register for vaccination status is a tricky one, especially before the historical background. The idea of an Impfpflicht ist another tricky one, albeit less so, because it is distinguish from Impfzwang. Both translate to “compulsory vaccination”, but Zwang would be enforced physically, i.e. vaccination by force, while Impfpflicht would be enforced by penalising non-adherence financially.
However, the overblown fearmongering your post takes the piss on is not part of that debate.
Sorry for the long-winded post. I hope it covers where I’m coming from.
