One of the more bizarre byproducts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been the proliferation of unabashed schadenfreude among those who participate in various coronavirus mitigation methods — masking, social distancing, getting vaccinated — toward those who deliberately eschew those same practices ,only to catch the virus themselves. In these instances, the macabre inclination to cheer on the reaping of what someone sows for themselves only feeds into a broader sense of smug superiority, fueled by snuff film voyeurism and “told you so” gloating. It’s understandable — particularly given the communal stakes of a pandemic – but the end result is almost always a pivot away from empathy and toward the slippery slope of libertarian “fuck you, I’ve got mine” individualism.
Take, for instance, New York State Assemblyman Pat Burke, who this week proposed a deeply punitive measure that capitalizes on the frustrations of the COVID-wary against the COVID-indulgent: allowing health insurance companies to legally deny coverage for people who have purposefully not been vaccinated.
