By Birdie McClean
September 17, 2021
Nicki Minaj put out a tweet on Tuesday that caused a firestorm of reaction and put Trinidad smack down center of the global news. This is what she tweeted. “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied” 5:44 PM. Sep 13, 2021.
Medical scientists and specialists in the field immediately countered that misinformation, saying essentially that it was nonsense and unsubstantiated. Dr Fauci, the well-known physician-scientist and immunologist who is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in America, “responded to Minaj’s vaccine scepticism during a CNN interview on Tuesday, saying that it was a “resounding no” that vaccines cause reproductive issues.” “Dr Fauci, is there any evidence that the Pfizer, the Moderna, or the J&J vaccines cause any reproductive issues in men or women?” Jake Tapper asked Fauci. “The answer to that Jake is a resounding no. There’s no evidence that it happens,” Fauci responded. -Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 14, 2021
However while the medical and scientific fraternity rubbished her claim, Republicans, right-wing extremists, white supremacists and QAnon followers praised and glorified Minaj for her claim. Tucker Carlson of Fox News for example, who has the number one cable news show in America, and who has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center in this way, “Carlson probably has been the No. 1 commentator mainstreaming bedrock principles of white nationalism in [the U.S.]”, praised Minaj’s tweet. Carlson has pushed a number of extremists views on his show including, the “white replacement” theory, the need for voter suppression of blacks, browns and immigrants, and racist views in general. He is, one may argue, the most influential purveyor of white supremacist’s views. He also thinks the coronavirus and the vaccines used to prevent it are big hoaxes. Recently he has admitted that he lies on his shows to further his ideas. Carlson has praised Minaj’s tweet.
Tucker Carlson said on Tuesday: “Before we get to the next segment, we haven’t been able to figure out whether this show is broadcast in Trinidad. But if Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend is watching, or his former fiancée is watching, we want to hear your story. We’ll come to Port of Spain to see you.” On his Monday night show, Carlson praised Minaj for her tweet, saying her view “seems sensible.”
The white nationalism that Carlson propagates is a global ideology that has become almost mainstream in Europe, America and in many other countries, it has been taken up by right-wing extremists. Surprisingly they have allies among black, brown and other “non-white” folks. How can we understand this? White supremacists think that they are fighting a rear-guard action, a war really, against the rising tide of “non-white” peoples who are literally replacing them in Europe, America, Canada, Australia, etc. (the replacement theory), countries that were well established white countries. Immigration, both legal and illegal, has put an end to that. They are fighting to establish policies that will return those countries to white majority, in fact, to ideally white only countries. They believe that the demographic trends will lead to them being minorities. So they are fighting a war against those policies that encourage or at least don’t prevent those demographic trends. They believe that liberal policies, multiculturalism, immigration, voter rights for blacks, browns and other non-white peoples encourage those trends. So they are engaged in an all-out war. Their mission is to weaken liberal and progressive governments everywhere. They want to recreate the Weimar Republic of 1933, the state that existed before it was weakened and eventually taken over by the fascist Nazi state. So, they want to weaken liberal and progressive states. They have hit upon what they think is a fool-proof theoretical strategy to accomplish that.
They want to use the Covid 19 crisis to weaken the state. They want to sabotage the state in its attempt to manage the Covid crisis. Get your supporters to refuse the vaccine, spread false information about the vaccine, and the state, although it has the medical instruments (i.e. the vaccine) to get the pandemic under control, it will not be able to do so. The economy will suffer, businesses will suffer, workers employed by those businesses will suffer, and the state will be helpless to do anything about it. You will essentially paralyze the state. If they talk about mandates, then accuse them of dictatorial behavior, of authoritarianism. Of course, many people will get sick, many people will die, but that happens in all wars. There are the generals and there are the ordinary folks, the cannon fodder, frontline troops who go into battle and die, willingly. The generals are protected, they don’t die; in this scenario, they take the vaccine themselves but encourage the front line troops to refuse it. But that is the cost of war. The frontline troops believe in the war, they die for a cause.
So that is the nature of the Covid war. Weaken the state, bring down the state, extremism in the cause of what is good is justifiable. And what about their allies, the black, brown and other non-white people who support them? Ever since white supremacy started its march towards domination of the world, way back in 1492 (remember that year?), they have courted allies in the non-white world. That is how they defeated their non-white enemies.
They could not have conquered the advanced Inca, Aztec and Mayan civilizations without their allies from among those very civilizations. Divide and rule, that has been their motto. There are those who seek their own interests only and care little about their fellow citizens, they will sell them out for their personal advancement. There are those who even sold out their brethren as slaves simply for their own personal advancement. It is still happening. So, the right-wing extremists, the supremacists, will heap praises upon you when you do things that harm your own brethren. Nicki Minaj is just the latest in that long line of sellouts.
Did you know that the spread of infectious diseases was one of the main causes of the conquest of the indigenous civilizations of the Americas?
Birdie, let me first congratulate you on your ascension to writer status on this blog. We generate ideas when the presentation of topics challenge our imagination. You have shown that your information are always well researched and presented in a thoughtful manner. It is my hope is that your presence will feature subjects that are beneficial to enhancing our knowledge on topics that affect us all.
There is a saying that all publicity is good publicity. We know Nicki as an artiste and I’m sure she is adorned by the respect she gets from her fans. As a typical Trini, she imparted her story as she may have gotten it. But social media is NOT local. Nicki should have known that when she embarked on telling a story on COVID the likelihood of what she imparts would have generated a lot of interest. Unless she presented facts to augment her story, her statement would always be scrutinized before acceptance of her strange story. The story does contradict science and technology and while she may have been disappointed by the statements of some individuals, it did not sit well by those who are pushing the extinction of COVID.
Oh please Birdie…
Nicki did not drop a ball, she dropped a bomb.
CMO: No reports of menstrual changes after COVID-19 shots
by Charles Kong Soo Yesterday
Sun Sep 19, 2021
https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/cmo-no-reports-of-menstrual-changes-after-covid19-shots-6.2.1387264.fce7f65f6c
There are thousands of stories on this very issue, Birdie.
>Who says it’s no big deal if the Covid vaccine temporarily disrupts menstrual cycles?
Arwa Mahdawi
It’s about bloody time health experts listened to women
Could the Covid-19 vaccine have a short-term impact on your menstrual cycle? Thousands of women think so: ever since the vaccines became widely available, people who menstruate have been sharing stories about weird changes to their cycle following their shots. More than 30,000 reports of…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/18/covid-vaccine-changes-menstrual-cycles
So much to say, so much is happening… Dr. Rowley is in isolation after being ‘fully vaccinated’. His cabinet cannot ‘Operate after being Vaccinated’.. as the world looks on..
Anyway, all this White Supremacy talk… and you never mentioned that Madagascar ‘earned’, Well …
>MT: Covid-19: Madagascar among the least risk destinations
Friday, September 17th, | Mandimbisoa R.
Madagascar is among the countries where the risk of contracting Covid-19 is low, in category 1, according to the ranking of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Big Island is currently one of the 30 lower-risk destinations in the world in terms of health and tourism.
Madagascar has moved on from this pandemic and is on a rebuilding mission. All because of AFRICAN SCIENCE/MEDICINE (CVO, etc.)… Birdie.
Get familiar with institutions like, The Malagasy Institute of Applied Research (IMRA), Names like, Professor Albert Rakoto-Ratsimamanga (an African Prince). Pay attention to what is happening in Uganda with their Covid Treatments…
Massa Day is done… Birdie.
https://youtu.be/Qp7KB-rY1Aw
Birdie, u over analysed this whole bruraha. Nikki is speaking truth to power. Women who take the Astra Zeneca some said they did not see their period for 50 days…hmmm one lady said she bled for a day heavily after her periods came. Nikki is on to something.
Isn’t the problem obvious?
Here we have writers and commentators pontificating on medical issues on which they have no expertise.
The reporters and others not qualified should have allowed the medical professionals to deal with this matter and other matters related to the vaccines.
Trinidad and Tobago has approximately 500,000 people fully vaccinated. We need to get to about 700,000 people fully vaccinated to reach herd immunity. At that time we will be able to lift the restrictions on most activities and get back to normal living. T&T will not have to shut down businesses, schools, bars, beaches, places of worship and all the things that make T&T into T&T, and make life livable. Science can destroy us, or it can save us. It all depends on how we use or misuse science. Science has shown us how to make incredibly destructive nuclear weapons that can destroy the world many times over, it has enabled us to create means of transportation that gets us to where we want to go in a twinkling of an eye, and yet the very means of transportation has helped create global warming that can destroy us in floods and rising water. It is said that the tree of life gives us knowledge of good and evil, in Christian theology humankind was tempted to eat of the tree of good and evil. He did so and found that he was no longer innocently living in the Garden of Eden, he knew good and evil and had to decide which to choose. That is the existential condition of human beings today, they have to make decisions and in choosing they have to decide what is better, even what is better for me. Do people choose what is worse, what they think is worse. Even if someone decides to kill himself, is he not deciding that maybe that is better for him to die? Now people make decisions that are within a spectrum of purely altruistic, i.e. unselfish, at one end or purely selfish, at the other. They are deciding in a sense what is better. In Christianity there are two commandments or laws that are the essence of Christianity. Love thy God with all thy heart and love thy neighbor as thy self (Matthew 22). And in a sense they are said to be equivalent. To love thy God with all thy heart is to love thy neighbor as thyself. To love thy God is an act that applies to you as an individual, it’s that relationship between you and your God, to love thy neighbor as thyself is a social act, it brings you to a community. So at one time we are encouraged to see the connection between you as an individual and you as a member of a community. We have lost that sense of community you know. We seem to be isolated individuals thrown into a world in which we don’t seem to have any connections to others. We seem to have no care, our hearts seem frozen. Covid 19 has come along and in a sense has pointed out that isolation, it is almost as if Covid 19 has pointed out what we really are, isolated people living in a world that seems to be without care and love. Love and care are what makes us act ethical; they are what make us love our neighbor as ourselves. How can we love our neighbors if we don’t have any love in our hearts? The decision to vaccinate is a personal decision yes. But it is also a personal decision about those out there who also inhabit this earth. In this world doubts abound, we are bombarded by multitudinous amounts of information about any and every thing. A parent who loves their child will do anything for that child, will make sure that they protect them and keep them safe. That parent acts from love, not certainty or knowledge. And as St. Augustine said many years ago – believe so that you may know; ultimately he was taking about how better it is to choose love over selfishness, the Kingdom of God over the Kingdom of Man.
Sorry Birdie… I may be running a little too fast here… For clarity…
https://twitter.com/se_rajoelina/status/1312094084882993152
Here Birdie..
>NBC: Merck says experimental Covid pill cuts risk of death, hospitalization by 50 percent
If cleared, Merck’s drug would be the first pill shown to treat Covid, a potentially major advance in efforts to fight the pandemic.<
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/merck-says-experimental-covid-pill-cuts-risk-death-hospitalization-50-n1280536
And they are shameless eh Birdie, "First pill to treat Covid"?
Like we doh know about Madagascar's CVO+, Eh Birdie? Stuppes..
Later..
I guess that is the end of the Vaccine debate…
Thank you Nicki..