Cruelty Is The Point: Why The Media Continue To Celebrate Deaths Of The Unvaccinated

Since the American people began showing resistance to government lockdown orders, the media have gone out of their way to highlight — and sometimes celebrate — the illnesses or deaths of those who opposed draconian government mandates. The most recent example is former Congressman Allen West, a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas, who announced earlier this month that he had been hospitalized due to the effects of COVID-19. The moment his tweets hit, anchors in the legacy media could hardly contain themselves.

MSNBC’s Joy Reid and her guests dedicated a full segment of an episode of “The ReidOut” to attacking West who, as a black conservative, upsets the narrative that black voters’ convictions uniformly mirror Reid’s. “Allen West, the Trump candidate for governor of [Texas], goes full on anti-vaxxer even as he lies in a hospital bed with COVID pneumonia … and live-tweeting his disdain for vaccine mandates,” she gibed. Reid’s guest, former DNC Communications Director Xochitl Hinojosa, also seemed bemused that Allen West “literally hospitalized as we speak, because he’s not vaccinated, and he has low oxygen levels.”

Reid proceeded to read the tweets West sent from his hospital bed in an over-the-top, mocking tone that made her seem at once ghoulish, juvenile, and unprofessional. West tweeted “I can attest that, after this experience, I am even more dedicated to fighting against vaccine mandates. Instead of enriching the pockets of Big Pharma and corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, we should be advocating the monoclonal antibody infusion therapy.” He added, “As Governor of Texas, I will vehemently crush anyone forcing vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State. There are far better protocols that individual citizens can utilize and decide for themselves.”

5/ I can attest that, after this experience, I am even more dedicated to fighting against vaccine mandates. Instead of enriching the pockets of Big Pharma and corrupt bureaucrats and politicians, we should be advocating the monoclonal antibody infusion therapy.

— Allen West (@AllenWest) October 10, 2021

Reid had company in the journalistic gutter. Later that evening. CNN’s Don Lemon said, “Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Allen West, known for being an anti-vaxxer, comes down with COVID.” Some criticism of West was manifestly inaccurate: Biba Adams of The Grio ran the headline, “Texas GOP figure Allen West vows to ‘fight vaccine’ from hospital bed with COVID”; yet the words “fight vaccine” — which are in quotation marks — do not appear anywhere