The twisted fantasies of vax death hunters
Matthew Perry's death provided more fodder for anti-vax propaganda
I’ve never watched Friends.
I lost interest in sitcoms after high school and never regained it. The first episode of Friends dropped during my sophomore year of college, at just the time I began taking psychedelics seriously. There were more pressing things to attend to.
I’m not hating on a show I’ve never seen. I grew up a sitcom kid. The timing just didn’t line up. Still, when Matthew Perry passed away this weekend, my social media feeds were flooded with the news. A lot of people were rightfully sad.
My wife filled me in on his longtime struggle with addiction. The entire story sounded tragic, especially given how hard he worked to help people struggling with addiction, as he had for so long.
I empathize with anyone struggling with drug abuse. Too many people in my life spiraled down this particular pathway, often beginning with opioids for pain relief, as Perry had. While the cause of his death remains unknown, relapse is not a complete wild speculation.
But another one is: death by Covid vaccine. And that too has taken over my social media feeds.
Unjected is a dating site for the unvaccinated, or, in their lingo, “purebloods.” They label themselves part of the “repopulation agenda.” Apropos of nothing (save spreading misinformation for clout), they shared this story over the weekend.
Unjected’s feed repeatedly shares ridiculous propaganda, like the notion that vaccines are a bioweapon changing the DNA of babies and sleeping with vaccinated partners will transfer mRNA to you, which you will then infect others with.
Seriously.
Unjected isn’t the only attention-hungry influencer seeking eyeballs. Aspiring politician and podcast host (actual name: Jesus, Guns & Babies) Kandiss Taylor couldn’t be bothered to “do the research” and discover that Perry was, in fact, an advocate for vaccinations before posting this.
Elon stan Matt Wallace also had to chime in, sharing this with his 1.3 million followers.
The thousand-plus comments resound in the echo chamber.
These claims are ludicrous enough. Seeking out celebrity deaths to push forward an entirely invented agenda is another layer of cruelty.
Yet if there’s something anti-vaxxers have shown to us over the years: cruelty is the point.
And with that directive, they have no shame.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to re:frame to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.