The American Anti-Vaxxer Covid Dead
A Dynamic Chronicle of Failed Sacrifices
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22201738 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ivan Strenski (0000-0001-7702-7891, University of California, Riverside, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 11-32 |
| Publication date | 2023-04-10 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Changing Societies and Personalities (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2587-6104 • E-ISSN: 2587-8964 |
| Publisher | Ural Federal University (PUBLISHER • RU) |
| DOI | 10.15826/csp.2023.7.1.216 |
| OpenAlex | W4377024043 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 19 |
Unlike earlier pandemics, where a “politics of blame” was directed against those who spread infection, the COVID pandemic in the United States has created occasions for the deployment of a “politics of commendation” for performing acts of sacrifice. Frontline healthcare workers have been celebrated for sacrificing themselves in service to their patients, even as critics have charged their being hapless victims of “social murder” at the hands of irresponsible medical administrators. Governmental officials, notably in Texas, have also recommended the elderly to refuse COVID care, die and thus sacrifice themselves selflessly for the benefit of the younger generation. Lately, COVID vaccine-refusal has been seen as an act of noble political sacrifice—typically to further individual liberty against the coercive power of the Federal government’s promotion or mandating of vaccination. Anti-vaxxers embracing the role of such political sacrifices, however, generally fail to realize this aspiration, insofar they are often just culpable of their own demise by neglecting public health advisories. Furthermore, the partisan politicization of their deaths militates against the normal recognition of their being sacrifices. Party political calculations have frequently demanded denial of the COVID origins of the anti-vaxxer deaths, and also effectively eliminated any normal attendant rites of reciprocation, memorialization or sacralization of the victims, typical of sacrifices, proper
Criminology · Demise · Denial · Health care · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sacrifice · Sociology · History · Law · Psychology · Vaccine Coverage and Hesitancy
Violence and the Sacred
Calculated Ageism
Worksites as Sacrifice Zones
Trump’s (mis)management of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US
The Interrupted Sacrifice and the Sanskrit Epics
The killing that is not killing
Epidemics and the Politics of Knowledge
Republicans, Not Democrats, Are More Likely to Endorse Anti-Vaccine Misinformation
Sacrifice and the Imperial Cult of Confucius
Introduction
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2024 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |