ANDY FISH

ANDY FISH is a comic book artist

Monday, September 22, 2014

Should I Get a Flu Shot?






"What do you think about the flu shot?"

I've been asked that no less than four times in the past two weeks, now it's either because these people think I'm some sort of wise sage or more likely they are just trying to get me riled up.

DISCLAIMER: If you are sickly, kind of old or really young, you are dangerously at risk of DYING from the Flu if you get it.  Get that?  You get the Flu and you die-- so for those of you in those demographics maybe you should get it.

For the rest of us?

Nope.

I got it last year.

Why?  Because the news was jumping on it everyday saying how intense this new strain of Flu was going to be and that it was likely to either cause you two weeks flat on your back or the start of the Zombie Uprising or maybe both.

So I got the Flu shot when the Worcester Art Museum offered it to faculty.

And a month later I got sick.

And two months later I was in the hospital with an exploding gall bladder.

And Two months and one day later I was undergoing surgery.

Is it related?  I highly doubt it.

But I like to make EVERY decision on logic and common sense.

I opted to get the Flu shot last year because I gave in to the fear that I would get sick without it.

I didn't use logic.

Ask yourself this:  What does the government do well?

I would say confidently they know how to tax the hell out of people.  Gas tax 24c in Massachusetts right now, if you vote for Martha Coakley expect it to go up.

That's it.

The standing argument has always been they provide defense and fight wars pretty good.

To this I'd say nay.  I don't think we've actually fought in a war since WWII ended in 1945, we've been involved in half-assed police actions since then and we've won I think zero of these conflicts.  And this is no fault of our armed forces-- it's the fault of our elected officials.

Because we no longer have leaders.  We have elected officials.

No more Harry Truman's announcing "the buck stops here."  Instead with have a nation run by Mayor Larry Vaughn from JAWS announcing we won't close the beaches despite people being eaten by sharks because the Chamber of Commerce will get mad.

Leaders lead.

We don't elect leaders.  We elect people who try not to upset anyone--- including enemy combatants.  Which is why we can't win a single war, er police action.

Been to the DMV lately?  There's a reason there is not a best seller called HOW TO RUN YOUR LIFE by the Department of Motor Vehicles.  It's a box of misfit toys in miserable jobs sliding a license plate back and forth across a counter and making us sit and wait for the joy of paying $200 to register our cars.

So no, I don't advocate a flu shot for a normal healthy person because I don't trust the government to safely prepare an anti-toxin.  There are far too many strains for it to be effective and besides the fact if they can't slide a license plate to me in a timely fashion you think creating some kind of toxin they INJECT into your arm is going to go any better?

"The most frightening words in the English language;  I'm from the government and I'm here to help."  -- Ronald Reagan

Why is it in my generation (growing up in the 70s and 80s) didn't have peanut allergies?  We could whip out our peanut butter and jelly sandwich without three kids falling backwards off the cafeteria bench.  Wonder about that? 

We didn't have every fifth kid in our classes suffering from autism?  We didn't have parents wrapping us in bubble wrap and driving us from soccer practice to theater to basketball?  Growing up I had one rule-- the sun came up and it was "Go play-- and be back when the streetlights are on."

We've grown a nation of sick kids because we're too quick to vaccinate and medicate and slip a pill to change a bit of behavior.  Instead of being parents and not worrying if our kids like us we turn to modern medicine to diagnose an ill-behaved child as "special".  You know what's special about 90% of these kids?  They have shitty parents.

So I'll be passing on the flu shot this year, and what I will do is wash my hands 6-7 times a day.

I'll let you know how I make out.