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To the Editor:

In the Wednesday, June 23, edition, The Herald’s editorial staff published an article titled “What’s Wrong with Us?” in which they assert that all those yet to be vaccinated against COVID are Trump-supporters (insulting enough) who believe the virus to be a hoax, lazy conspiracy theorists who are afraid of microchips being implanted in us by the vaccine (which is a particularly stupid Trump-voter conspiracy theory).

I read the article at least five times, hoping to find the indicator that they did not intend to throw everyone in the same group together, or that they were only talking about unvaccinated people who actually think these idiotic things. Sadly, none such existed. We are all the same to The Herald.

We are not all the same, Herald. But since you claim we are let’s dive in. Warning: to President Trump supporters and uber liberals, facts are to follow. You may spontaneously combust from the stating of facts you simply don’t like. Seriously, stop reading.

The CDC, WHO and even the U.S. government’s websites have an abundance of resources and PDF files to verify the following information.

Fact 1 — COVID is real. I know, President Trump stupidly called it a hoax but it’s real and it has killed over a half million people in the United States.

Fact 2 — We don’t know from where the virus originated.

Fact 3 — No nation has developed a 100% effective vaccination, meaning you can still contract it and transmit it.

Fact 4 — Many, many doctors as well as CDC and WHO experts have stated very clearly that new variants are undoubtedly on the way.

Fact 5 — There is no long-term research data or statistics on side effects simply for the reason that the vaccines have not been around long enough to provide such.

Fact 6 — The vaccines available in the U.S. are on what the FDA calls “emergency authorization” use. This means that they are not fully approved yet; a truly reassuring thought.

If vaccinating is right for you, good, do it. If not, don’t. The world is that simple, Herald. You may feel assured or even smug in your attitude towards people who have not yet vaccinated. From the article on which you all collaborated it sounds like smug condescension. In that smugness you have reiterated a disgustingly detestable, 1984-type of philosophy which needs to be addressed — you can’t kill an idea. If the idea is false, then let it die its own natural death. When you try to kill an idea, for any reason; political, religious, laziness of the mind (the most applicable here), you unite that which you intend to defeat. If something is true and righteous, it will win in the end.

Because of people like those on The Herald’s editorial staff, our country is more divided than necessary. They disregard their obligations to informational objectivity to make themselves sound morally superior. No matter your political or vaccination status, we all should know that that dog just won’t hunt.

Tom Noehren

Farmville