The Mixed Blessings of Schadenfreude
Those who spread falsehoods about the pandemic share responsibility in countless deaths and therefore have blood on their hands. So, how to regard them?
The following essay is from my blog, DIPLO DENIZEN, 2/3/22:
The federal government is dispatching two 20-member medical teams from DoD to two regional hospitals in our area that are overwhelmed with COVID patients. People, including friends of ours, needing elective surgeries for joint replacements, cancer treatment, heart problems, etc. must wait patiently till the flood of pandemic cases clears, whenever that may come.
So, I find myself almost subconsciously sensing schadenfreude whenever I read about the latest antivax activist succumbing to COVID. I'll confess that I hold least compassion for right-wing rant radio hosts who, for the past two years have spread disinformation about COVID, some even taunting those who get vaccinated, wear a mask, etc., or, incredibly, mocking those who have died from the disease. Sic semper malefactoribus.
My schadenfreude works on a sliding scale. At the top are the anti-science propagandists who've help contribute to hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. A rogue's gallery:
Bob Enyart, host of "Real Science Radio" and church pastor, railed against COVID mandates, denouncing those backing them as "mask Nazis." He gleefully read obituaries of AIDS sufferers while playing "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen, whose lead singer, Freddie Mercury, died of the disease.” In 1994, Enyart was found guilty of child abuse and jailed after he spanked his soon-to-be third wife's 7-year-old son with a belt for refusing to take a shower. Enyart and his wife contracted COVID at the same time. He died last September at age 62, a week after entering hospital.
Marc Bernier, 65, a Florida radio host who urged listeners not to believe what they were being told by health and government authorities, died of COVID three weeks after being hospitalized. In his last tweet Bernier compared the federal government to -- wait for it -- "Nazis" for its efforts to get people vaccinated.
Phil Valentine, whose radio show was broadcast over 100 stations nationwide to an audience of millions, was a leading propagandist opposing anti-COVID measures. He sang a parody song, "Vaxman," aping the Beatles tune, "Taxman," changing the lyrics to mock vaccination efforts. He equated vaccination badges worn by medical workers with -- you guessed it -- the yellow stars Jews were ordered to wear by the Nazis. "You need to have a plan in case you get COVID. Make SURE you get your vitamin D3 level checked… And then have a doctor on speed dial who will write you a prescription for Ivermectin," he told listeners. Valentine predicted his chance of dying from COVID was less than one percent. After getting the disease last July, he self-treated with Ivermectin and vitamin supplements. Shortly before his death at 61, he conceded he was wrong all along.
Marcus Lamb, 64-year-old co-founder of Christian TV network Daystar, died of COVID in December. He questioned the safety of vaccines and aired a segment falsely telling millions of listeners that COVID vaccines are "killing your immune system."
These are just a sampling. The Grim Reaper was especially active recalling these characters late last year. I like to think we're all better off without them. But then I think they'll all be replaced by people as loudmouthed and stupid as they were.
Next on my sliding schadenfreude scale are those who were vocal anti-vaxxers, but didn't have an audience of millions. You can glean these from a handy bare-bones site called sorryantivaxxer.com. Its stated purpose is "educational; except for a few exceptions, everyone listed on this site was/is an anti-vaxxer activist who helped spread COVID-19 misinformation on social media. Share to stop others from making the same mistake. GET VACCINATED!"
Perusing this exhausting list of death and sorrow is a haunting experience. Faces of the now deceased, our neighbors, co-workers, loved ones, young and old, stare back at us, incongruously smiling, flush with life before being snatched away by a disease that doesn't give a shit about our political, religious or other beliefs; flips the bird at rant radio hosts, superstitious televangelists and crank politicians. Sorryantivaxxer.com is a kind of tragedy porn which can command your singular attention for hours. The stories are utterly heartbreaking.
Jeff and Christy Gough, husband and wife, aged 52 and 49, died within two weeks of each other last fall. Christy was a registered nurse. Jeff was active on social media opposing vaccinations, mask-wearing, etc. Jeff's daughter, Lindsay, battled COVID for 40 days in 2020 before vaccines were available. Her efforts to persuade her parents to get vaccinated fell on deaf ears.
Days after her COVID-afflicted mother was put into an induced coma, Idaho nurse Natalie Rise caught the disease. An ardent antivaxxer, Rise wrote a note to her mother urging her not to get vaccinated. She died shortly after. At 46, she left behind twins with a developmental disorder. Her brother, who has taken guardianship, told reporters, "I think it was from misinformation, I think it was from falling into negative social media and bloggers, YouTubers."
Weeks after posting on Facebook, "The vaccine DOES NOT PREVENT INFECTION OR TRANSMISSION," 39-year old mother of seven, Elizabeth Fowler, died of COVID. She and her husband, an ER nurse, were both avid anti-vaxxers.
What stuns me is the number of nurses, physicians and other health professionals who help fill the death roster. A medical or nursing degree and years of professional practice are no guarantee of sound judgment or even faith in science.
There's the story of the man with stage-4 kidney disease who is removed from the transplant list because he refuses to be vaccinated. Another man, at death's door waiting for a new heart, is similarly taken off for the same reason. There are at least two sets of brothers who die within days of each other; married couples who pass within hours of each other. Young and early middle age parents who leave behind five, six, seven children. That which unites them all: rejection of science, and mortality.
Then there are those, not on sorryantivaxxer.com's list, who were personally opposed to anti-COVID protocols but didn't broadcast it. You read their obituaries daily. They deserve our pity.
The loved ones of all of the above warrant our sympathy.
As of this writing, deaths from COVID in the United States are approaching 900,000. Those who spread falsehoods about the pandemic share responsibility in many of those deaths and therefore have blood on their hands. So, how to regard them?
Raised a Christian, I was taught to have compassion even for sinners and to forgive. The Bible tells us, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the Lord see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him." The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer admonished, "To feel envy is human, to savor schadenfreude is diabolic." And then there's Janis Joplin: "You're out on the streets looking good, And baby, deep down in your heart, I guess you know that it ain't right."
Yes, but...
The Mixed Blessings of Schadenfreude
You are so right. The news media seems focused on the number of new Covid cases as they track the spread of the disease. And this does have meaning. However I have been tracking the daily death toll. Just a few months ago the numbers were at a low of 800. For the past several weeks however they have been more than 2500! Yesterday alone 2656! If these numbers do not improve... if disinformation keeps killing people at this rate... we can see another 900,000 deaths over the coming year.