r/politics 17d ago

It's OK to blame the unvaccinated — they are robbing the rest of us of our freedoms

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/12/its-ok-to-blame-the-unvaccinated--they-are-robbing-the-rest-of-us-of-our-freedoms/
51k Upvotes

View all comments

Show parent comments

212

u/TurboGranny Texas 17d ago edited 17d ago

Same. I know it's an immoral thought, but when you realize that them clogging up the hospital system due to selfish reasons is going to cost the lives of people that genuinely need hospital support (like those with cancer), it doesn't feel exactly immoral.

27

u/Windy08 17d ago

It's not immoral if it results in more people ultimately living.

18

u/TurboGranny Texas 17d ago edited 17d ago

Well, that's an age old question in ethics and morality. The trolly problem. One answer/justification is "whichever solution saves more lives", but ultimately the decision costs lives as well. It's not a decision I would make in a slapdash way. I'd at least warn people it was coming and give them a chance to reconsider.

35

u/charisma6 Oregon 17d ago

Um, the decision facing society today is nothing like the trolley problem.

It isn't kill people A or kill people B. It's don't let stupid people kill themselves, or do let them.

Conductor: "The train is coming, everyone get off the tracks."

Sane people: "Oh shit okay no problem."

Insane people: "No fuck you, there is no train, I'm staying right here."

Conductor and sane people: "Dude how can you say there's no train? The train just hit and killed your uncle five minutes ago!"

IP: "He didn't die of train, he died of extreme lacerations to the torso and face."

C&SP: "Come on just sit up and look, it's right there."

IP: "That's just special effects."

C&SP: "YOU CAN FEEL THE GROUND RUMBLING, YOURE GOING TO DIE"

IP: "lol are you mad, liberal?"

3

u/the_reifier 16d ago

It's more like there are people who have tied themselves firmly to the tracks and also to people who do believe in the train and want to get off, but they cannot because they are tied to the train-deniers.

If we could build train wheels that skip over believers and kill only deniers, then I wouldn't even touch the train's brakes, but we can't do that.

-4

u/TurboGranny Texas 17d ago

Yeah, but that is essentially the problem. Your first thought is, "Why are they on the tracks, why don't they just move, what the hell?" and your ethics prof just says, "they are there and won't move". Thus you could apply any narrative to them that you like to justify when they won't move and technically the one you described would fit the bill.

4

u/charisma6 Oregon 17d ago

What the hell are you talking about?