Young Hillsong Church congregant who mocked vaccine dies of COVID

[AlexanderG]

According to a Daily Beast article, Man Who Tweeted About Having '99 Problems but a Vax Ain't One' Dies of COVID. In particular:

He made memes about trusting the Bible over Dr. Anthony Fauci. But in late July, Harmon wrote that he was “on max oxygen” and “struggling to function.” His final tweet July 21 asked supporters to pray for him as he was about to be intubated: “Don’t know when i’ll wake up, please pray.”
​

Why are so many Evangelicals putting their faith in direct conflict with science? It's not as if science has lost any of these fights, ever. Vaccines are clearly demonstrated to be effective in preventing viral infections, and I think most Evangelicals would agree that god does not answer every prayer for healing.

Why not go with the reliable cure? Why are vaccines seen as such a threat? Why not also spurn glasses, for example, since praying to god will either fix your eyesight or not, and using unnatural ocular contraptions is surely an "affront against god's will"? Wouldn't such behavior be theologically consistent? I know many people have died for the sake of their religious identity throughout history. In this case, it seems so gratuitous and irrational. Unlike in prior religious struggles, I see no uplifting moral movement that is motivating this resistance. Only spite.

Part of me appreciates the sad irony of so many conservative Evangelicals winning Darwin Awards, but I really wish they'd just get vaccinated along with everyone else. This kind of virtue signaling is no virtue at all. It's of no benefit to anyone.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What am I missing here?

 

[Twilight Hue]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

 

[AlexanderG]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

I put them on par with someone who puts on a blindfold, runs through a busy intersection, and happens to survive, rather than looking both ways and waiting for the walk signal. I think they're needlessly reckless and irrational. They merit no praise. That's my point.

 

[Revoltingest]

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What am I missing here?

Some people don't look at things objectively.
My helper is an anti-vaxer anti-social distancer.
When I offer epidemiological reasons for getting
vaccinated, his ultimate argument is that those
Democrats are evil, & our governor is a corrupt
***** (rhymes with a kind of female Wiccan).
It's about what group he hates or likes.
Very tribal, eh.

 

[sun rise]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

Catching COVID is not a death sentence. But hundreds of thousands if not millions can be saved with the vaccination. And many more get very sick and still live. With the vaccine, those who catch it most likely only have minor symptoms. Without the vaccine, the odds of a hospital stay go up quite a bit.

And of course, here a personal decision has a direct impact on the rest of us because of the health costs leading to rate increases and money out of the rest of our pockets.

Anyone who thinks that their decisions don't have an impact on others is ignoring those quite real impacts.

 

[Vinayaka]

According to a Daily Beast article, Man Who Tweeted About Having '99 Problems but a Vax Ain't One' Dies of COVID. In particular:

He made memes about trusting the Bible over Dr. Anthony Fauci. But in late July, Harmon wrote that he was “on max oxygen” and “struggling to function.” His final tweet July 21 asked supporters to pray for him as he was about to be intubated: “Don’t know when i’ll wake up, please pray.”
​

Why are so many Evangelicals putting their faith in direct conflict with science? It's not as if science has lost any of these fights, ever. Vaccines are clearly demonstrated to be effective in preventing viral infections, and I think most Evangelicals would agree that god does not answer every prayer for healing.

Why not go with the reliable cure? Why are vaccines seen as such a threat? Why not also spurn glasses, for example, since praying to god will either fix your eyesight or not, and using unnatural ocular contraptions is surely an "affront against god's will"? Wouldn't such behavior be theologically consistent? I know many people have died for the sake of their religious identity throughout history. In this case, it seems so gratuitous and irrational. Unlike in prior religious struggles, I see no uplifting moral movement that is motivating this resistance. Only spite.

Part of me appreciates the sad irony of so many conservative Evangelicals winning Darwin Awards, but I really wish they'd just get vaccinated along with everyone else. This kind of virtue signaling is no virtue at all. It's of no benefit to anyone.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What am I missing here?

What you're missing is the degree to which stubborn can be. You've underestimated that. Because I follow sports, I learned how tough the NFL intends to be on the 10 to 15% of players and staff who refuse to get poked. Today was the first day one of them left. The team wouldn't let him mingle, effectively making his job pointless. So he resigned. (Something like that, not following the details) Even if it comes down to livelihood, stubborn will win out. It always does, practically by definition.

 

[Valjean]

A lot of these anti-vaxer, anti-evolution, anti-science, pro-religious types are team players. They've divided the world up into competing teams, and chosen one. Reason doesn't enter into it.

 

[Nakosis]

I suspect it is a matter of proving their faith.
So far through their life, faith hasn't really let them down until this one time.

The need to have faith can be a dangerous message.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

According to a Daily Beast article, Man Who Tweeted About Having '99 Problems but a Vax Ain't One' Dies of COVID. In particular:

He made memes about trusting the Bible over Dr. Anthony Fauci. But in late July, Harmon wrote that he was “on max oxygen” and “struggling to function.” His final tweet July 21 asked supporters to pray for him as he was about to be intubated: “Don’t know when i’ll wake up, please pray.”
​

Why are so many Evangelicals putting their faith in direct conflict with science? It's not as if science has lost any of these fights, ever. Vaccines are clearly demonstrated to be effective in preventing viral infections, and I think most Evangelicals would agree that god does not answer every prayer for healing.

Why not go with the reliable cure? Why are vaccines seen as such a threat? Why not also spurn glasses, for example, since praying to god will either fix your eyesight or not, and using unnatural ocular contraptions is surely an "affront against god's will"? Wouldn't such behavior be theologically consistent? I know many people have died for the sake of their religious identity throughout history. In this case, it seems so gratuitous and irrational. Unlike in prior religious struggles, I see no uplifting moral movement that is motivating this resistance. Only spite.

Part of me appreciates the sad irony of so many conservative Evangelicals winning Darwin Awards, but I really wish they'd just get vaccinated along with everyone else. This kind of virtue signaling is no virtue at all. It's of no benefit to anyone.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What am I missing here?

I don't want to use a tragic death as a stage from which to grandstand. Anybody can become a victim of misinformation, because the world is a complex place, and there's too much for us ordinary mortals to know.

Just do me a favour, please, and share your message with anybody you can -- not just here on RF.

 

[AlexanderG]

I don't want to use a tragic death as a stage from which to grandstand. Anybody can become a victim of misinformation, because the world is a complex place, and there's too much for us ordinary mortals to know.

Just do me a favour, please, and share your message with anybody you can -- not just here on RF.

I'm sorry if you felt like I was grandstanding. That wasn't my intent. I'm using a poignant example to illustrate an issue that I'm concerned and curious about. Particularly, I consider religious faith to be a persistent form of misinformation that is difficult to correct. I would hope that could be a topic of debate on these forums.

Either way, I'll take care to be sensitive going forward.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I'm sorry if you felt like I was grandstanding. That wasn't my intent. I'm using a poignant example to illustrate an issue that I'm concerned and curious about. Particularly, I consider religious faith to be a persistent form of misinformation that is difficult to correct. I would hope that could be a topic of debate on these forums.

Either way, I'll take care to be sensitive going forward.

No! If it seems like I was accusing you of grandstanding, then mea culpa -- I meant nothing of the kind. I just didn't want to use your excellent post as something that I could use for that purpose. My bad writing -- and if I offended, I certainly apologize.

 

[Twilight Hue]

I put them on par with someone who puts on a blindfold, runs through a busy intersection, and happens to survive, rather than looking both ways and waiting for the walk signal. I think they're needlessly reckless and irrational. They merit no praise. That's my point.

Happens to survive? No. They survived because the virus dosent kill the majority of people it infects.

I know the gist of it though, and it's to do our best to help the vulnerable out which people are doing as evidenced by the vaccine.

Most will do fine. Some need the vaccines.

Singling out one who died by challenging the virus is tragic, but its simply not the majority of cases.

I do recommend taking the vaccine only through careful research and risk assessment.

Respect those who make their own decisions weither the end proves good or bad.

It's up to them as much as it is up to ourselves to make our own free choices on the matter.

 

[Twilight Hue]

A lot of these anti-vaxer, anti-evolution, anti-science, pro-religious types are team players. They've divided the world up into competing teams, and chosen one. Reason doesn't enter into it.

Reason isn't sound with the advocates either.

They tell you people with vaccines to still wear masks, and then tell you masks are not as effective and the need and urgency to take the vaccine that in the same breath is touted that isn't effective enough to warrant taking off the masks.

Reason isn't even in the vocabulary and it's not just limited to anti vaxxers here.

 

[Viker]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

They're alot like Russian Roulette survivors.

 

[Twilight Hue]

They're alot like Russian Roulette survivors.

Hardly.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Most will do fine. Some need the vaccines.

See that statement? That is the very height of how ignorance about what vaccinations are about.

Very few diseases kill ALL of it's victims, and with viral infections, that has been the mechanism through which we discovered vaccination in the first place.

But what @Twilight Hue says above suggests that you need not get the vaccine until AFTER you find out you are infected and might not do well.

Well, by then, it's too late -- and a fracking waste of a vaccine dose that could have done somebody else some good.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

They're alot like Russian Roulette survivors.

Hardly.

And what about those who mocked the virus, caught it --- and died?

May it not happen to anyone here!

 

[Father Heathen]

What about those who mocked the virus , caught it,, and lived?

Why do you double down on the dumbest ****?

 

[SomeRandom]

According to a Daily Beast article, Man Who Tweeted About Having '99 Problems but a Vax Ain't One' Dies of COVID. In particular:

He made memes about trusting the Bible over Dr. Anthony Fauci. But in late July, Harmon wrote that he was “on max oxygen” and “struggling to function.” His final tweet July 21 asked supporters to pray for him as he was about to be intubated: “Don’t know when i’ll wake up, please pray.”
​

Why are so many Evangelicals putting their faith in direct conflict with science? It's not as if science has lost any of these fights, ever. Vaccines are clearly demonstrated to be effective in preventing viral infections, and I think most Evangelicals would agree that god does not answer every prayer for healing.

Why not go with the reliable cure? Why are vaccines seen as such a threat? Why not also spurn glasses, for example, since praying to god will either fix your eyesight or not, and using unnatural ocular contraptions is surely an "affront against god's will"? Wouldn't such behavior be theologically consistent? I know many people have died for the sake of their religious identity throughout history. In this case, it seems so gratuitous and irrational. Unlike in prior religious struggles, I see no uplifting moral movement that is motivating this resistance. Only spite.

Part of me appreciates the sad irony of so many conservative Evangelicals winning Darwin Awards, but I really wish they'd just get vaccinated along with everyone else. This kind of virtue signaling is no virtue at all. It's of no benefit to anyone.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What am I missing here?

Would it be incredibly tacky of me to say, damn Karma can hit hard?
My sympathy for his family and friends of course.
But sometimes even the universe has to facepalm at a person

 

[Wildswanderer]

Would it be incredibly tacky of me to say, damn Karma can hit hard?
My sympathy for his family and friends of course.
But sometimes even the universe has to facepalm at a person

Yes it's tacky.