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INDIVIDUALISM: At what cost?

| October 13, 2021 1:00 AM

I am looking forward to the COVID vaccine’s bonus benefits. Microchipped, it should be easier for my family to find me should I wander off. Magnetized, I should be better able to keep track of my keys. Glowing in the dark, I should be able to avoid tripping over things when I get up in the middle of the night to use the facilities.

Sarcasm aside, our world is faced with numerous serious challenges that defy simple fixes. Space constraints prevent enumeration but do allow commentary on root causes standing between us and solutions. Critical thinking and common sense are lacking in huge swaths of our society. This leads people to invent their own “truths,” at which point we are off the rails. How else do we have public figures and their minions pushing claims that Sandy Hook was faked (no one killed — everyone involved was an actor) or that the planes crashing into buildings on 9/11 were not real (projections and computer graphics)? That those outlandish notions even exist show how easily folks can buy into vaccine-related fairy tales such as those listed above. For example, VAERS data is quoted as if it is indicative of causation (it is not). Similarly, the Nuremburg Code is cited as applicable to the COVID vaccines (it is not).

Individualism is a valued principle and rightfully so. But what is won if in the course of protecting individualism the surrounding society is destroyed? Historically, being American has best been approached as a team effort.

MIKE HENGGELER

Coeur d’Alene