Thread by @TananariveDue

I’m reading @Stephen King’s THE STAND as a part of #thestandpodcast & and I’m close to the end, where the Free Zone characters (the Good Side) are meeting the fear-motivated followers of Randall Flagg (the Bad Side)…and I'm again struck by parallels in our true-life plague 1/

Covid isn't Captain Trips. We lucked out. But this "shambling zombie" virus is having a devastating impact in the U.S. because of Covid denial and Tr*mp's epic failure to lead.

This week, one of my RTs drew a bunch of trolls & I visited denier profiles as I was blocking them...

One thing King makes clear in THE STAND is that Flagg's followers aren't all a bunch of murderers and freaks: many feel very ordinary. As Larry Underwood and his group observe upon meeting them, "They're just like us."

Reading denier profiles, I often had the same thought...

The vast majority of Covid deniers I saw on Twitter were white. But beyond that, here's what I found:

-One of them was an RN
-They were men and women, young and older
-Some were hard M*GA types, some weren't
-They cited their own charts and statistics: but different ones

One thing was clear: they think those of us who take Covid seriously and advocate measures to stop its spread are HYSTERICAL. They think the estimated deaths are lies.

"Old people are going to die of something"

"Is it worth giving up your rights?"

"It's just like the flu"

There are a LOT of them. Many of them were educated. But bec of their world views, their information sources, their family histories, their childhoods...I don't know all the reasons...they think very differently.

As in THE STAND, the nation has fallen into very separate camps.

But unlike in THE STAND, we are not separated by more than 700 miles to live our separate lives. These deniers teach our children, police our streets, sit at holiday tables. They are not convinced by the deaths. As we've seen medical personnel tweet, some are deniers even in ICU

So this thread doesn't have a happy ending. To quote our soon-to-be-out-on-his-ass "president," it is what it is. I know someone with #longcovid who always masked and was super careful, but she got Covid at the grocery store in Arizona because half the people didn't wear masks.

We have to return to the vigilance of the early days. Washing our hands. Wiping down surfaces. Curtailing unnecessary outings. We can't fight Covid alone, but we have to protect ourselves and our families.

Winter is coming y'all

On a brighter side, #TheStandPodcast is awesome! @jasonsechrest is the host, and I have appeared on several episodes with Mike Flanagan @flanaganfilm and Anthony Breznican @Breznican, with special guests. Here's the October episode: thestandpodcast.com/?p=2425