Letter to the Editor 11/25
Editor:
Quote from an ICU Nurse:
“I have a night off from the hospital. As I’m on my couch with my dog I can’t help but think of the Covid patients the last few days. The ones that stick out are those who still don’t believe the virus is real. The ones who scream at you for a magic medicine and that Joe Biden is going to ruin the USA. All while gasping for breath on 100% Vapotherm. They tell you there must be another reason they are sick. They call you names and ask why you have to wear all that “stuff” because they don’t have COVID because it’s not real. Yes, this really happens.
AND
I can’t stop thinking about it. These people really think it isn’t going to happen to them. And then they stop yelling at you when they get intubated. It’s like a (expletive) horror movie that never ends. There’s no credits that roll. You just go back and do it all over again.
Which is what I will do for the next three nights. But tonight, it’s me and Cliff and Oreo Ice Cream. And how ironic I have on my “home” Hoodie. The South Dakota I love seems far away right now.”
What does this dedicated nurse’s experience with her hardened Covid-denying patients have in common with Moses’ efforts to get the Egyptian Pharoah to let his people go? They both face(d) the rigid, un-moveable, entrenched positions and ideologies that make people unable to face and deal with anyone and anything that challenges their barricaded minds. They become HARD-HEARTED. Remember how Yahweh (God) sent 10, ever more painful plagues trying to soften Pharoah’s heart enough to change his mind? It took the final act of killing his only son to at least temporarily “soften his heart and allow the Israelites to leave.
I must admit that I am impressed at the power the successful propaganda of Trumpism has wielded over his followers to stick with and display unyielding loyalty to their cult leader, even in the face of their own possible death. But this simply illustrates one of the foundational attributes of cults – The protection of the leader is primary, even at the cost of the deaths of the group. We can’t underestimate the power of that kind of hold on the human psyche. We’ve seen it demonstrated throughout history with examples like the Jim Jones People’s Temple where the term, “drinking the Kool Aid” was coined and the “Heaven’s Gate” cult in San Diego with the appearance of the Hale Bopp Comet in 1997.
Now, paradoxically, with Trump’s loss in the election, the propaganda of his message of grievance that the election was “rigged” and “stolen” is even more powerful than before, making him even more “heroic”. Nothing inflames the ardor and enthusiasm of a movement than the martyrdom of its leader. When that occurs, anything is possible. I fear we are in for troubled times ahead.
William E. Conti, PhD
Honolulu, HI
