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Despite being inundated with popular movies amd video games dramatizing the concept of a life threatening pandemic for decades, many westerners are utterly unable to grasp the idea that such things are in fact real and pose serious questions about government, society, medical systems and personal customs.
Even living in Seattle, supposedly a bulwark of progressive thought in America, the vast majority of people I knew personally either were vaccine and mask skeptics (one of these was even a charge nurse at a local clinic so thats terrifying), or they abandoned meaningful protective measures when they were inconvenient for them personally, or abandoned them when they simply got tired of it, regardless of what the actual state of transmission was.
I, a heavy smoker, and at the time for the below stories, obese as well, ended up eventually quadruple vaccinated.
And I had to endure essentially delusional hypocritical insanity from every individual I spent a decent amount of time with in person since COVID broke.
...
My brother was a neurotic doomer who was obsessed with following every covid related update. I followed such events as well, but I had to spend a huge amount of time and energy handling his constant breakdowns and depression.
Then he, a self described anti social person with no friends and social anxiety disorder, decided to go to Las Vegas, via plane, to attend a business convention where he was going to... mingle with people?
I told him this was an extremely bad idea as it was essentially the easiest way to maximize covid exposure in a short time. I was living with him at the time so I was pretty worried he would bring it home.
He went anyway, caught covid, gave it to myself and his gf. Obviously nothing came from his opportunity to network, as he has the social skills of a, well, neurotic depressed hypocrite.
So that sidelined me from a month of work.
Some how I did not get long covid.
...
Before this saga, I was dating a woman who had no ability to plan any part of her life or be responsible for any problems she ever caused, and would just have a panic attack that she would nearly hyperventilate from, and then become nearly suicidally depressed, any time anyone pointed out she had made a serious mistake.
(I am autistic and terrible and spotting red flags relationship wise if you cannot tell, lol)
This woman I was dating had some friends that were worried about covid where we would wear masks when around, and other friends who didnt take any of that seriously. One of this second group of friends included the aforementioned charge nurse who only wore masks and such at her job amd never did in daily life because she didnt believe they worked.
I would point out how that doesnt make any sense, and all of this friend group, and my gf at the time, would switch to collectively woke scolding me for whatever topic was trending on twitter at the time, twisting various unrelated things I said into 'having the vibe' of some bad opinion having person or group.
Then, in private, my gf would tell me she actually agreed with me. I would ask her why she didnt stand up for me then, and she would have a panic attack and become depressed for 2 months to the point of needing me to spend eventually thousands of dollars on order in food for her because she was too depressed to move.
Then she would get a bit better, and talk to her friends, and then I would also be the bad guy anew because I caused her depressive episode, in their eyes.
Anyway, I eventually broke up with her but still talked as friends for a while. She ended up getting sexually molested by a friend of idiot nurse, but because this person was a friend of idiot nurse, idiot nurse convinced that whole friend group that the molestation either did not happen or was not really that bad.
I stopped talking to all of these dysfunctional morons around the time I realized I was just being used for emotional support (8 hour phone calls for nearly every day for nearly a year) to the point that being there for my ex /was my entire life/, and that she was totally incapable of change.
...
Later, after both of these episodes, I was made homeless by a complex chain of events kicked off by my neurotic brother that gave me covid, and my QTard Fail-Dad.
basically my medical team told me after 3 years of therapy and psychology, I am Autistic. I told my family this and they told me I was delusional and tried to force me into a long term group home for schizophrenics and druggie burnouts. I grabbed all my stuff and got in my car and left... long story but I ended up losing the car, my belongings, and my job.
Anyway, point is, I am crashing for about a month at the place of a young woman who is a self avowed clean freak who is "Never Wrong." She would scream at me for not taking my shoes off the instant I came in, but also for using drano to clear a clogged up tub, and would use absurd amounts of cleaning products to clean up her cats that pissed and shit everywhere instead of actually solving the problem by giving some of the cats away as she planned to, or get more litter boxes.
She brought up the flu vaccine at one point and I began to explain to her how yeah we are going to just need a yearly covid vaccine for the rest of our lives now due to how poorly our society amd the world reacted to it. She got bored and started talking about some mumble rap artist.
So yeah, little miss 'clean freak' doesnt know anything about germ theory or viral spread: Her bf caught covid, gave it to her (who was asmptomatic) who gave it to me.
It was absolutely impossible to explain to her how asymptomatic spread can occur. I actually just got tired of her absurd abuse and went back to being homeless.
Barely survived being homeless with covid, but again I somehow did not develop long covid.
Yay vaccines!
...
So I have now had covid twice, somehow have not developed long covid, and am no longer obese due to having to walk probably about 2000 miles in the past two years now!
Anyway, I bring up my personal stories here because it is cathartic to type them out, but also to illustrate that... it basically seems to be near impossible to predict how seriously literally anyone will take covid at this point.
It didnt matter what experts said. It didnt matter how many personal stories were documented by HermanCainAwards and propagated or echoed toward the more online.
Seemingly everyone I knew would either believe in utter nonsense, or become hypocrites when it became convenient to them personally.
The worst part is that all of these fools blame the people they are hurting for pointing out that they are hurting them.
...
If you are concerned about me after reading this, don't be. I wont lie, I could use some donations or maybe a real friend, but I am now halfway across the country in a motel I can afford o stay indefinitely as I hilariously qualify for SSDI due to my Autism counting as a mental disability by the Social Security Administration. I will just be staying put while I build up some cash and repair the credit damage from my stolen identity and credit cards to be able to afford to actually rent a studio somewhere.
FWIW I enjoyed your post. And yeah, quite the knack for shite friends/relationships :D
Yep, it's nearly killed me many, many times now, my inherent trusting that people will not become hypocrites the moment it benefits them personally to do so, and my thinking that my own family /loves/ me.