Matt, Pre-school Diploma  😀

And then, having received the vaccine, they go straight back to double masking, staying isolated, and shaming all who don't do the same that the vaccine changes nothing. If you truly believe the vaccine works, this makes no sense. If you don't, why were you so excited to get it?

This is obviously unscientific and seems irrational. Up until now, my theory has been that these most ardent zealots have completely lost touch with rational cost-benefit analysis and are effectively living "virtually," a meme and narrative based existence where selfie = truth.

Under this theory, the signal is the entire ballgame. Reality is never discerned. I still think this is a large part of the story, but it still bothered me how reality could be discarded so completely. The epiphany: I was looking at their decisions as rational, not religious.

I was using the wrong lens. COVID mania (Fauciism) is - as I have argued elsewhere - a godless form of religion, a cult. While it preaches a veneer of "The Science™," it is in actuality entirely faith-based. Looking at the attitudes to vaccinations this way, it all makes sense.

Look at what a vaccination involves for a true believer: 1) Typically performed by a credentialed professional after you confirm you want it. Usually at a predetermined day and time. 2) A source of pride and renewal, so much so that it often moves the believer to tears.

3) Is seen as an indispensable statement of faith by an adult. A rite of passage. Anyone in the faith who has NOT done it should, ASAP. 4) It is most satisfying as a public display of faith (hence the selfies), typically celebrated and congratulated by other flock members.

5) It is intertwined with promises of eternal life. 6) The rite of passage is NOT intended or expected to markedly change the daily actions of the believer, who is expected to continue to publicly be a shining beacon of the faith.

7) While the believer's faith (in this case belief in The Science™ made tangible in the form of a vaccination) is what saves, the believer's earthly works (in this case masks/distancing) will continue to reflect the faith, and may even intensify. 8) Faith without works is dead.

All eight points above describe, perfectly, two things: The attitude of ardent Fauciists towards vaccines, and Christian baptism. Thus, the implication of my epiphany: For true believing Branch Covidians, vaccination is a BAPTISM. Baptism by injection.

Viewed in this context, the seemingly irrational attitudes surrounding vaccination become intelligible. The lockdown and mask zealots DO believe, deeply, that vaccines work. However, they ALSO believe that a faith without works is a dead faith. Outward expressions must continue.

These outward expressions, of course, are the masks and enforced distancing. This is why the zealots so dearly resist letting them go, even post-vaccination. You are denying them the signifiers of their faith. This all explains the seemingly inexplicable fervor we are against.