The Growing Rage Against Anti-Vaxxers and Anti-Maskers

I'm all for white-hot rage, but also worried. My sister is an anti-vaxxer, not so much based on principle as based on a deep desire for autonomy. Still, if we are going to get back to normal, we have to get on it, now, before this winter's coming peak:

We were willing to debate the efficacy of masks.

We agreed there should be balance between lockdown measures and economic interests.

We patiently accumulated evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective.

We kept our cool through every quack remedy and grifter treatment. 

We offered guidance to the confused and correctives to the misinformed.

We forbore ignorant assertions that the coronavirus was a hoax, bratty defiance of public health orders, puerile abuse of “freedom," looney vaccine conspiracies.

We did this all with fear, as we watched wave after wave of infections disrupt our lives and kill members of our families.

But now, as we suffer through a second summer of illness and death, we find ourselves confronted with a category of people whose behavior is despicable — the COVID obstructionists, the ones who not only refuse to protect themselves but actively prevent others from doing so. 

There's no point trying to understand them, no reasoning with them. They deserve no patience, no forbearance. The only reasonable response to these miscreants is anger. White hot anger.