Does Love or Hate Work Better on Vaccine Hesitancy?
PS: Is P.S. I Hate You the new P.S. I Love You?
It’s hard to go about the mundane tasks of my day while the world is on fire. I worry about the Delta variant of the Coronavirus, I grieve for the people of Afghanistan, I wonder what I can do about the earthquake in Haiti and global warming. Everybody seems to be fighting with someone. I am afraid we are headed toward civil war.
Then I come across a story on Medium with the title Yes — Covidiot Deaths are Hilarious, and the world looks even uglier. The story was published on P.S. I Hate You, a new publication conceived after the demise of P.S.I Love You. PSIHY is “Dedicated to people who said, ‘fuck you world.’”
Earlier this summer we learned that the popular Medium publication P.S. I Love You was being defunded. This was one of my favorite places to find inspiration and quality writing. When I joined Medium, I aspired to have a story published there, and eventually, I did. How to Sexy Clean the Bathroom and Small Kindnesses Remembered were two upbeat stories I enjoyed writing. I was thrilled when they were published on PSILY and got claps. Now PSIHY is capitalizing on the name similarity and disseminating the opposite message.
Love is unconditional
“The world needs more love, not more hate,” is what I replied to the story taking glee in the death and suffering of people dying of COVID.
The response to my comment:
“If they loved you as much as you love them they would get the shot.”
Man, if that was good relationship advice, I’d have clean bathrooms and daily back rubs. But it’s not. Abusers use love as a weapon of control.
When I replied, “love is unconditional,” the person responded:
“So, if your uncle was Ted Bundy, you’d be like, yeah, Ted did some things, but he was family.”
I have better things to do with my time than argue on Medium so I said:
“Big leap from my unvaccinated sister to Ted Bundy”
To which she replied with her signature foulness and poor spelling:
“Ted Bundy was likely more intelligent than your sister, dispite the fact they both share an indifference for human life.”
End of discussion.
Convincing the vaccine-hesitant
I’ve written about why I am vaccine-hesitant but got the shot. I wrote a letter trying to coax my friends and family to join me.
And I tried to stay positive. Speak from the heart. Speak from a place of love.
There are a lot of reasons to be afraid these days. As Yoda says “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”
We need to hold our loved ones close. Especially those with whom we disagree. If we are going to survive together on this planet we need to figure out how to live with people we don’t see eye to eye with. I’m a big fan of the saying “We don’t need to think alike to love alike.”
What works to convince people?
I wish I knew how to convince vaccine-hesitant people to get the shot. Although it is not one-hundred-percent safe or one-hundred-percent effective, I believe it is our best chance for saving lives.
I do not know what will convince people to get vaccinated. I have not been successful with the people in my family. Is calling people idiots an effective strategy for changing their minds? I doubt it. And I am unfollowing the hater’s publication.
I choose love over hate.
Inspired by this experience, I’ve started a new publication. Please check it out.
A recent graduate of the Newport MFA and lifelong troublemaker, I’m a top writer in Reading on Medium. My poetry and prose have appeared in Brevity, Multiplicity, and Voices of the Valley Anthology.