[Today's blog post is a "reprint" of a posting by Rasa on Facebook -- The Management.]
I have a weekly meeting with Robert Anton Wilson's daughter, Christina, and today I showed her the meme that uses her dad's quote as anti-vaccine conspiracy propaganda – "The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly," with a picture of a healthcare worker taking a photo of himself getting the Covid vaccine. She sighed. Her first comment was that RAW was not "against" the medical profession. He was mostly railing against absurd conspiracy theories or pseudo-science, but he had a lot of respect for most of mainstream science, when it was actual science. I mentioned that the focus of The New Inquisition was primarily an attack on scientists who refused to accept or consider new or alternative views. She agreed.
Christina added that he would have loved to have had the polio vaccine, that was developed after he contracted polio, and that because of travel he took in his life, he took many required vaccines without hesitation. Because of the way he generally treated modern medicine throughout his life, she had no doubt that he would be fine with taking the Covid vaccine. A few months ago, she told me that she also thought he would have no problem wearing a mask, and would probably insist on others wearing a mask in his presence. She said he was always very careful with his physical health – one of the few ways he was "conservative" in his life.
RAW was not actually "cured" of polio by the alternative Sister Kenny method, but it did result in him not dying from the disease. He had a limp for his entire life, and in his last 20 years he had progressive pain, and eventually severe muscle failure, from the symptoms of post-polio syndrome. He was happy to take all kinds of patent medicines when needed, although, I have to admit that his favorite "medicines" were cannabis and Jameson Irish whiskey.
A couple months before his death, I took this photo of him and Christina. I didn't want to publish it anywhere, but Christina suggested I do, so I added the WAMM info to make it a meme he would have loved. The last time we talked, about a week before his death, he apologized to me because he didn't like me being inconvenienced by having to strain to understand his garbled speech. The post-polio syndrome made it increasingly difficult for him to talk. That nearly brought me to tears. I really loved that guy.
As I mentioned in another comment about the Covid vaccine meme . . . "the quote stolen for use in this meme was in reference to actual slaves having zero recourse for argument or rebellion. Taken out of context, the meme crassly negates the original intent. That doesn't seem honest to me."
-- Rasa
1 comment:
Iain Spence said:
I had a polio vaccine in the 1960s which nearly killed me. It was a triad scratch vaccine and I was a baby at the time. From what I was told later, the site of the vaccine developed into a red mark which then turned into a ‘red snake’ that wound around my body. I had to be bathed in cold water, on and off, all night, to reduce my temperature. I can only guess the scratch area had become infected, or less likely, I had an adverse reaction.
It had its upside though. I was on an island in Scotland at the time. When I was returning to the mainland, the Captain of the ferry asked my mother to come up to the bridge. We were to receive special treatment. By coincidence, he lived in the same tenement block as my family, in the flat next door.
As he later steered the ship into the port, he asked my mother to place my tiny hand on the wheel to help him. This wasn’t just an act of goodwill to help my tired, shaken mother. The ship had recently been launched, days after my birth. So the Captain saw it as a double symbolic blessing of sorts. He was delighted to bring the two of us together. Shortly after, he retired.
Years later, I cared for my mother when she was terminally ill. She was paralysed with MSA, which led to her death. As her primary carer, I was offered the flu jab twice and took both. On one occasion, the district nurse talked casually of a possible, slight reaction on my arm. I stupidly told her of my previous NDE as an infant and she became worried. So I joked with her, saying that I liked to live dangerously and not to worry. I had no reaction to the flu jabs.
I think I’m due my C19 jab around late March...nice to see Eric Wagner’s had his. Stay safe folks : )
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