Bloviation and cognitive dissonance do not newsgathering make

Dear Editor, 

I bet you’d agree that as a news organization, The Eagle has a duty to vet, correct, or debunk the content it publishes. I hope you’ll also agree that running Drew Hester’s opinion in the April 22 edition of The Eagle without applying those journalistic rigors or at least a response or editor’s note was a mistake.

Not only is Mr. Hester’s opinion logically all over the place, it contains several factual inaccuracies. The Eagle is the voice of Chadron State, but that voice is not above reproach. That voice is allowed instruction, correction, qualification, or criticism.

Hence, some correction, qualification, and criticism:

President Franklin D. Roosevelt called the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor “a date which will live in infamy.” On that day 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded. To call the virus at the heart of our current pandemic the “infamous COVID-19 virus” when it’s killed 3 million people (an estimated 377,883 of them Americans) is not as edgy-clever as you think.

It may be concerning to some that the college might require vaccination to return next year, but it is well within CSC’s rights to require vaccinations before enrolling in classes on campus. In fact, take a look at CSC’s current policy on immunizations, last updated in 2016: Students are required to submit proof of immunization for measles, mumps and rubella immunity before enrollment at CSC. 

Hester claims to believe we have a duty to protect our fellow people. CSC is doing its duty by requiring masks and vaccination(s) to prevent the spread of deadly disease on campus. Hester also hopefully exhorts his readers to do ample research on any vaccine before receiving it, but it seems his own research is woefully insufficient.

Most of our COVID vaccines are mRNA vaccines. Even a cursory look into what those letters mean from a vaccination perspective will show that injecting them into your body is NOT a “rather permanent ordeal.” The mRNA helps your body’s own all-natural, organic, gluten-free, god-given immune system to recognize SARS-CoV-2’s spike protein and better deal with it in the future. Then it literally disintegrates.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine was not recalled; its administration was paused while authorities gather further evidence. The potentially associated blood clots were not “caught” after 4 million doses were administered. According to the CDC as of April 12, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been administered in the U.S. The pause was initiated following reports that, within two weeks of getting it, six women developed blot clots, and one of them died. 

Shall we do the math? If we take for granted that the shots caused the clots, that’s 0.0001% of people who got the J&J shot in the U.S. That’s a provisional, unscientific no-clot success rate of 99.9999%. This is what’s referred to as the benefit outweighing the risks. The risk of developing clots is far, far greater from smoking, obesity, taking birth control, and catching the novel coronavirus.

Finally, Hester gripes about infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci having opinions about the pandemic and the myth of the ever-changing, flip-flopping, goo-goo, gonzo public health guidelines. 

The guidelines have changed and evolved based on various inputs and conditions that have changed and evolved. “Don’t mask because healthcare providers need to make use of our limited supply of masks” became “We’ve got plenty of masks and lots of infections, everybody better mask up.” Still, folks CHOSE to not follow the guidelines and further spread the disease. Vaccines promote immunity, but we are still asked to mask up because there are large swaths of our population who CHOSE not to or cannot yet get vaccinated.

Mr. Hester advocates for freedom to choose what he does and by inference what is done TO HIM. But in choosing the FREEDUMB of unvaccinated masklessness over compliance with simple, effective, and safe measures to limit the spread of a deadly virus, he and others like him are making choices that affect everyone around them.

Kevin Oleksy, 

Eagle Alumnus