When Damar Hamlin was hit during an NFL game, the Buffalo Bills defensive player collapsed on the field. It was clear this was a very scary moment and after the ambulance took him to a near by hospital the game was suspended, later to simply be cancelled. But while prayers both on the field, in the stands and across social media began, there was another voice in the ether. The anti-vax conspiracy theorists, many who had not yet seen the hit, were proclaiming this was somehow related to the Covid 19 vaccination. Within a day people were saying he was dead and the NFL was covering it up. As time went on and we learned that Hamlin was recovering, the voices of the conspiracy theorists grew louder. When Hamlin attended the Bills' playoff game but didn't do an interview and was covered for the weather people people started repeating he was dead and they used a body double. This suggested that the NFL, the Bills, the sports media, and Hamlin's family were all attempting to hide the death of a young man. When pushed on it the conspiracy theorists would say it was about money. Somehow they were even able to suggest that President Biden was involved and a long planned trip to Ohio by the President was somehow part of the effort to keep the death quiet. Now that Hamlin is making public statements these people are even questioning his existence, calling the videos he is making deep fakes or using an actor. Hamlin is promoting getting trained in CPR and recognizing signs of heart distress and these people are attacking the videos.
The reason to them: The vaccine is killing people in large numbers but there is a large cabal stopping the news of this. They have no real evidence, so they make it up. What is worse is that anyone who dies at a young age are lumped into this. Watch any announcement of a death and there will be someone claiming it was the vaccine. It doesn't matter if the person had a long history of illness, was a likely suicide, or have clear indications of trauma that caused the death. This has dragged the names of people who lost their lives in tragic ways into their wild fantasy world. Most recently a 14 year old named Denim Bradshaw. Bradshaw was a young man at who was riding a bull at a rodeo and was dumped and stomped by the bull. The trauma caused his heart to stop. But the facts don't matter they added it to the so-called evidence that something is wrong.
What is the most disturbing it is that this is not driven by anything more than politics. It is a right wing driven narrative that populates social media and so-called news channels who are promoting lies and distorted data about the deaths of mostly young people. Bradshaw's death was a terrible accident but his friends and family have to see people attacking his parents for getting him vaccinated (even though no one knows if he was). Even worse was the story of a young athlete that died in an apparent suicide being talked about as a vaccine death.
When Hillary said half the people who supported Trump were a basket of deplorable she appeared to under estimate by a lot. He and the right wing noise machine have found that there is no real consequences of this kind of behavior. So I assume it will go on. I am glad to see Hamlin recovering from his accident, I am sorry for the families who have lost someone and hope they are comforted by friends. I also would hope that these people who promote this hurtful nonsense find a way to come back to reality. But that hope is slipping.
