Coming out of the un-vaxed closet
Eve Jeffery
I'm all for coming out of the closet. If you're a friend of mine and you're gay, I’m here for you when you come out (so love all my gay peeps). If you're bi come out, come out. If you're a vegan, come out and bring the nooch, and if you like to knit jumpers for penguins in the nude (you in the nude, not the penguins), then come the hell on out – I love yousall!
Today I’m coming out!
Many of you already know my dirty little secret but I'm coming out and I'm coming out for a good cause.
The Jabberwocky
I am coming out as un-vaccinated: I’m a Jab-berwocky.
I have my reasons and not that they're any of your business, they are that I have several nasty health conditions racing around my body and I'm not confident at this point in time, that any COVID vaccination will do more good than harm.
I know there are a lot of people who are immediately going to jump onto their keyboards and argue with me about that. SCIENCE, SCIENCE, SCIENCE I see blaring at me from my computer screen.
All day.
Every day.
Ad infinitum.
This is not a decision I have made lightly – this has been something that's been rolling around in my head since the pandemic began and it consumes a fair amount of my time. TOO MUCH of my time.
I want to be very clear: I am not an anti-vaxxer (although the Sydney Morning Herald once incorrectly named me one) – but I am definitely, DEFINITELY pro-choice!
'Freedoms' for some
These last few months when we were cast out until December 1, and then with no announcement, that was changed to December 15 (how can you not announce something like that, Dominic Perrotet? Just changing the date in press releases like it was ALWAYS December 15 is not an announcement – it is one more reason to hate the NSW Government) has been really hard.
I have missed out on a lot of things, particularly in the last few weeks.
I have missed things that meant a lot to me; things that were important to me, things that were important to my heart, important to people who are dear to me, important to my children. But, I have done what the government mandated and stayed at home. I've kept my mask on at ALDI and made sure I was 1.5 meters away from everybody else on the planet.
I am about to celebrate a birthday in captivity.
This is not a drill
Is there a pandemic? Of course there bloody is!
This is not a hoax – this is serious and very, very deadly and not in an awesome Indigenous way.
This thing can kill you.
People are dying – every day. 5,207,634 have succumbed to this virus's tentacles as of 10.09am on December 1 when I last checked. This is not a drill or a joke or a conspiracy or a trick of any kind, COVID and its variants are upon us and we are dying.
I do believe there is a risk of dying, of ME dying, and without going into details, the possible risk of what could happen to me if I get vaccinated (yes even the possible risk) to me, far outweighs getting COVID and most likely dying. Yes, I would probably be one of those statistics we hear weepy pollies announce each day.
I hear your sharp intake of breath. Don’t I care about dying? Yes of course I do, don’t be thick.
But A: there are actually things worse than death.
And B: why are we so afraid of death anyway? It happens to us all! (But that’s another rave…)
The needle worshippers and the bunnies
Among my friends and family, there are the double and triple vaxed needle worshippers – they were first in line to get that almighty jab and now they have their 'freedoms'. I have had pleading loved ones who really truly are fearful for my safety and only want what's best for me, begging me to be vaccinated. Thank you, I love you all x.
At the other end of the scale, I have friends, people who I love immensely, who are so far down the rabbit hole all I can see is their little fluffy white tail – hippity-hoppity.
I have been warned with everything from threats of me ending up gasping my last breath on a ventilator, to offers of Ivermectin [I’m not saying any of my friends have Ivermectin] and everything in-between has been part of my daily life for many, many months.
So, if it's been going on for so long, why am I coming out of the closet now? Why risk the hate mail that is bound to find its way into my inbox? Why risk the questions and the 'don't you care about your community' comments? Why write an article that will most likely see me suffer the wrath from BOTH sides of the fence?
The forces of evil
The forces of evil are co-opting a lot of really good people and it makes me sick to my stomach. Just sick!
I believe that we should have a choice. I disagree with any mandate on vaccination. I feel terrible for people who have been forced, that is coerced into being vaccinated otherwise they lose their job. I think this is a disgusting commentary on what Australia has become and you can scream ‘science’ at me all you want.
There is no science of love and understanding and compassion and having empathy with your fellow Earthlings and just plain not being a dick. The vilification visited upon some members of our community has been repugnant.
We have seen 1,000s of people marching for their human rights and I say: bloody good on them. If people feel strongly enough about things, then they should put their voice and their bodies forward – if you have seen my work in the past eight years you will know I am an advocate for people power.
What I am concerned about, (and this is the forces of evil bit) are the politicians who are pulling the strings behind a lot of this information and misinformation. Politicians who couldn't care less about you, or your baby, or your job, or your career or your vaccination status or your health. All they care about is swerving you away from the way you think now, and drawing you into the way they want you to think, for their agenda.
(P)resident evil
I can't even be bothered to school you in America's most recent ex-president. If you don't know what a dick he is, then there is no hope for you. (But I would advise you to look closely at many Australian politicians who supported him and now model themselves on him. GAH!)
We have our own resident evil. The intrusion of mining magnate Clive Palmer and his UAP ally, former furniture salesman and Liberal Craig Kelly, into the 'freedom' debate will likely result only in the increased division of Australian society. That's actually what they want – division is what all of this is about. This will result in a greater likelihood of the re-election of Scott Morrison, (BOO! HISS!) so that the fossil era can be extended at our collective cost. Remember 'This is coal, don’t be afraid’?
Those who are jumping on the Palmer-Kelly bandwagon could take some time out of investigating YouTube hippity-hoppity and spend at least a few minutes researching these dodgy characters before supporting them. Please. PLEASE!
Do you think Clive and Craig care about your health? They don’t. They want to get you onside in the hopes that your support and voting power will be swept up in their glamour to help them with their own agendas.
Will you REALLY let yourself be used that way?
Think global but vote local
The local elections are another great example of agendas.
Local council mayors and councillors have a very important job. It's a very big responsibility and a job I would never, ever want (yes, I hear y’all say I’d never get voted in any way because I swear too much – fuck yasall!)
Most of the time, they are doing their best. But sometimes they are not as honourable as they would have you believe, in the way that they get many things, up to and including votes-at-any-cost, by lying. And that's not uncommon.
Since the dawn of politics, people have been making promises they wouldn’t, shouldn't and have no intentions of keeping, by convincing people they have power that they actually don't.
Preying on good people who just want the best for their families and their communities, by telling outright lies, is another colour of evil.
Local mayors (and councillors) can lobby the state government. They can lobby the federal government. They can have an opinion on state and federal issues, they can have a very loud opinion – IN THE PAPER N'ALL – but a lot of it is just blah, blah, blah. Local mayors actually have very little to no power when it comes to state or federal government mandates about anything, including vaccination.
I’m just going to repeat that in case you skimmed over it in the quest for the end of this interminably, long–winded article: Local mayors and councillors have very little to no power or influence when it comes to state or federal government mandates about anything, including vaccination. And if they say they do, they are lying.
Ask them – ask them outright what power they have to change things.
If for some un-usual reason they do have power up the food chain, then that's bit dodgy and they need to declare that and be transparent before the elections. We don't want any puppets in our LGAs now do we?
Border, border, border!
The New South Wales – Queensland border is a perfect example.
Councils on both sides have been wanting to open up the border to help families and workers and to promote and support good physical, mental and financial health of the border communities. Local mayors, Goddess bless their cotton socks, have done everything they can to see their LGAs freed from this border mess.
Sad to say, but they huffed and they puffed and they huffed and they puffed and huffed and puffed. Nothing – nil, nada, nix.
Annastacia Palaszczuk and her cronies won't budge until if and when it suits them.
The ‘local’ part of local council is exactly that. Local.
Local councils and their mayors have power, though not omnipotent power, over local matters – local DAs, local water and sewage, local environment, local waste and Christmas decorations and local roads (did you hear that Councillors? I said ROADS). They have a lot of power LOCALLY and you should make your vote count for a good mayor and councillors who will look after your local interests.
They do not have power outside their LGA. They can disagree with mandates but they can't change them or overrule them for their peeps. They can't say 'we aren't doing that here'. They can have an opinion and if they are respected enough, they might draw some attention with that opinion, but they have no influence outside the shop.
Make your vote count at state and federal elections if you want to change mandates at the federal or state levels.
Back at the vax ranch…
Back to the vax – if you feel that you need to be vaccinated for your health, then more power to you.
If you feel that you need to be vaccinated to be of service to the health and herd immunity of your community, then in all sincerity: I thank you – I am that reason. I applaud you and am grateful to you for taking a hit for me and those like me.
If you are vaccinated and pro-choice I actually can't thank you enough for staying strong – your actions are a blessing to the unvaxed by not buying into the division, and a thorn in the side of the government at most levels, whose real agenda is to keep us divided, so we take less notice of the shit they are expecting us to shovel and 'oh look over there, a cute pink hippity-hoppity…!'
If you are unvaccinated – I don’t care two flying figs what your reasons are: it’s none of mine or anyone else’s bloody business. You don’t actually need a reason. It’s your choice and you don’t need to be explaining to anyone. Stick to your guns. And if you change your mind, stick to those guns too.
To those on BOTH sides of the 'argument' who have been hurt, slandered and treated badly in the name of this man not virus-made division, I am so, so sorry. If I were prime mistress, I would make understanding, compassion and empathy a national bloody mandate.
Tomorrow we go to the polling booths to elect our next local governors.
Don't forget to vote. Choose wisely.
As you were…
Eve Jeffery is the altered ego of the Tree Faerie
I am a Jab-berwocky:
A Jabberwock is a fictional character that can kill you,
a ferocious monster described in the nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.
This fearsome creature has jaws that bite, the claws that catch and is so terrifying, it is easily slain by the hero child – 'O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
This is how many see unvaccinated earthlings.
This Jabberwock, as illustrated by John Tenniel, 1871
and tweaked by the Tree Faerie.