In the last few weeks the media vomited up a barrage of “Vaccinated America is Angry at Unvaccinated America” stories.
This wholly artificial construct of identity politics (there is no vaccinated or unvaccinated America, there are a variety of different people making medical decisions for a variety of reasons) falls apart when the media deals with unvaccinated demographics that can’t be spun as conservative Trump supporters.
Politico has a very sympathetic piece about black people not getting vaccinated in Far Rockaway that’s all about blaming racism.
The New York Times piece is somewhat less atrocious, but still heavy on the spin.
Why Only 27 Percent of Young Black New Yorkers Are Vaccinated – As the Delta variant courses through New York City, many young Black New Yorkers remain distrustful of the vaccine – New York Times
The emphasis on the 27% number is a little odd. New York City data shows that 33% of black people 18 to 44 have gotten at least one vaccine dose.
67% presumably have not.
I’m not sure where the New York Times is getting that 27% and with any other demographic, the paper would be playing up the number who are not vaccinated, rather than the minority who are.
In interviews, dozens of Black New Yorkers across the city — an aspiring dancer in Brownsville, a young mother of five in Far Rockaway, a teacher in Canarsie, a Black Lives Matter activist in the Bronx, and many others — gave a long list of reasons for not getting vaccinated, many rooted in a fear that during these uncertain times they could not trust the government with their health.
Cutting to the chase, the people least likely to get vaccinated are
1. More likely to distrust the government and authorities
2. Feel less medically vulnerable
That encompasses a range of working-class white and black people. There’s been plenty of commentary from books to an SNL bit on the overlap there. The conclusion here is fairly obvious, but the media deliberately evades it, attacking Trump voters who won’t get vaccinated, while condescendingly patting black people who don’t get it on the head and trying to empathize with their plight.
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