29 X 2021: The new Moloch

In view of the stubborn refusal of parents to be vaccinated and to allow their children to be vaccinated, a friend wondered if parents have ever before been so careless of the well-being of their children. This question brings to mind the ancient cult of Moloch wherein parents would offer their children as human sacrifice to appease that savage deity.

Why won’t parents be vaccinated, won’t allow their children to be vaccinated? One could imagine some rare cases in which arcane religion might forbid vaccination, but I hardly think that it is spirituality that is driving this current revolt against common sense and good citizenship. Most parents behaving in this way are doing so as a sign of their loyalty to Donald Trump. He refused to take COVID19 seriously, and set the pattern for all his followers. He and his administration lied about the danger of COVID19, and contributed to the deaths of 742,000 (and still counting) Americans. His flippant attitude towards COVID19 continues to be the model for the attitude of his slavish mimics in the cult of Trump.

Why won’t they allow themselves to be vaccinated, thus putting themselves and all around them at risk? Why won’t they allow at least their children to be vaccinated, so as to protect their children and their children’s schoolmates from deadly disease? They refuse because they view cooperation in the national effort against COVID19 as a betrayal of Trump, or fear that others of the other Trump cultists would view them as traitors. Parents are ready to sacrifice their children to the Moloch that Trumpworld has become.