When the global COVID-19 vaccination drive kicked off earlier this year, two distinct faultlines gradually emerged, separating the relatively monolithic pro-vaxxer camp from the more heterogeneous assemblage of fence-sitters, sceptics and outright vaccine refuseniks. The new divide reflected a larger chasm that has prevailed since the watershed event of Sept 11 2001. It was a divide between those who lapped up mainstream narratives and those who instinctively questioned them.
Doubts over the novel coronavirus were sown from the onset by scientific data which appeared sketchy, contradictory and outright dodgy. Big Tech’s digital pogroms against undesirable questions and expert opinions reinforced suspicions further. It was clear that earnest scientific inquiry, which thrives on vigorous debates, will not be tolerated.
This ironically resulted in the “free world” resorting to the likes of TikTok – a Chinese platform once targeted by the Trump administration – to post their opinions and grievances, including a litany of adverse reactions to various vaccines. Despite this, Western elites still have the gall to view themselves as champions of “free speech” even as mass protests against the New Normal roil their cities.
The hypocritical actions of countless leaders, celebrities and “influencers” worldwide who routinely flouted the very lockdowns they had advocated inevitably hardened public scepticism. If there are different sets of norms for the ruling and the ruled, why shouldn’t there be space for divergent opinions over the coronavirus?
The Informed Unvaccinated
A recent MIT study revealed that coronavirus sceptics were generally better-informed and scientifically literate vis-a-vis their vaccinated counterparts. The unvaccinated cohort also appeared more “sophisticated” in the use of “datasets from official sources” as well as “state-of-the-art visualization methods” to interpret the COVID-19 conundrum. The qualitative contrasts between the pro-vaxxer and unvaccinated camps are nicely encapsulated in this video clip.
Mainstream tirades against vaccine holdouts – including profanity-laden epithets such as “morons” and calls to “remove them from society” – further alarmed the unvaccinated. Faced with such gratuitous hostility, vaccine refuseniks can be forgiven for regarding the growing inoculation divide as one between septic tanks and sceptic camps.
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