Facts don't matter if people don't see them

I know the pandemic is now receding from daily life, with a nice, steady 300 deaths a day from Covid but mostly among the elderly and those with other conditions that made things worse. The panic is over, until the next variation arrives that kick starts the whole thing once more.

I saw a stat that amazed me the other day: only about 5 percent of all Americans eligible for the latest booster (the third, for Pfizer users, and fifth overall covid shot) have been vaccinated and fully boosted. Nearly 20 percent of the elderly haven't even had those first shots of the vaccine. RIP is about all we can offer those who enlisted in the "I'll leave it in God's hands" club. 

I would guess that God, were he to chime in, might note that the vaccine was His will in action, but we couldn't be bothered. After all, there are more deceptive political ads to enjoy and Angry White People must have superior bodies and protections from all of life's dangers. Ha.

Black Americans died much more often percentage-wise for most of the pandemic, but now whites have taken the lead. That might be partially due to the most vulnerable Blacks already having been lost, but a huge chunk of a group that claims to love freedom and anyone who will own the libs is now a juicy target for a virus that couldn't care less about politics or ethnicity.

Thousands have died needlessly and many thousands more will join them in the next year or so. So it goes. Everyone dies, so the mere fact of death or even the increased numbers aren't that shocking or even tragic over the long term. Evolution is at work, inexorably.

Die-hard (well, not THAT hard) FOX News viewers will not see the new stats that show whites dying in larger percentages than Blacks. That fact, after all, would puncture all sorts of myths about racial superiority. 

I read today that the CEO of FOX News has been quite clear that the network's strategy is to keep stories that might alarm or doubt among viewers off the airwaves they control. This "news" platform has an official stance that includes shielding viewers from information that might challenge their assumptions and make them uncomfortable.

FOX is filled with all sorts of hateful opinions and slanted attacks, of course, but the audience enjoys being supported in its hate and fear and loathing. It's a form of entertainment and keeping the masses entertained is the key to success in America.

I suspect that if Murdoch and Putin and Trump were to disappear from the planet today, tomorrow would soon look much brighter. We are at the mercy of the autocrats.