It is 2021 and for some reason this is a controversial statement.

It seems the human species hasn’t had enough of separating people out as ‘dirty’ and ‘threatening’ when they don’t conform to larger group dynamics.

That’s exactly what vaccine passports do and that should be concerning for everyone.

I am not anti-vax

Before people get upset, let me be clear about my attitude on vaccines. I am PRO vaccine. I have all the Australian school shots, I got the whooping cough vax, I even recently got the flu jab so I could go and visit my grandmother before she died.

If you are elderly you should get the shot, if you have any risk factors you should get the shot. If you want the shot… You should get the shot.

If you don’t want the shot and you’re not sure why, here are the stats on COVID 19. If you aren’t taking it seriously, you should, because it is serious.

I’m not here to give medical advice, I’m here to argue against the opinions of bloviated windbags…

Creating a government mandated underclass is still not ok…

While I am pro vaccine, I am also anti-discrimination. Vaccine passports are an effort to enforce compliance by legalising discrimination. When you legalise discrimination you create hierarchies that make it harder for people in out groups to participate in society. Engagement with the social order breaks down and people within in groups start to view people in out groups as abnormal, dirty or dangerous.

So why is this not ok? Why should societies not create underclasses of ‘untouchables’?

The Dalit, the Jews, the Tutsi, the Armenians, people with HIV AIDS…

“Oh, but this is different!” Is the cry, “This is to protect people! These anti-vaxxers are threatening us, they are threatening our way of life, we don’t hate them we just don’t think they should be around other people. Maybe if we just removed them…”

So the argument goes until we reach the point where future generations ask, “but why did they let it happen?”

“Passports will make me feel safe”

You aren’t safe, anywhere you go, anything you do, you are not safe.

“Passports ensure my right to not be exposed”

You don’t have that right, viruses don’t recognise your rights and I really want to be clear on this, it’s the virus that infects you, not someone else. If you want protection…. get the shot!

Let’s say for a moment that you do have the right to not be exposed. Where does it end? Should you be able to sue your partner if you get a cold sore? Should we put children in the stocks when lice spread? Is catching the common cold akin to assault?

Theoretically I have a right to my own personal space, I find it confronting when someone encroaches on that space but I would hate to live in a world where I could call the police because someone gave me a hug.

“Passports are for private businesses. They can do what they want!”

Let’s say there is a supermarket, the only one in town. In order to gain access the owner asks for a history of your sexual health. In particular, if you have ever had an abortion. If you have had an abortion, you can’t come in. It’s a private business, they have that right. Right? Abortion, like vaccination, is a choice after all!

“Oh but abortion isn’t a virus.”

A medical history is private so that people can’t discriminate based on that history. This shouldn’t change based on what is in the medical history.

“Passports show that I’m selfless, you’re selfish”

People who don’t get the shot are not asking you to do anything at all. How is that selfish? Coercing someone into putting something into their bodies to make you feel safe. That is selfish.

We should applaud people who get the shot, good on you, it’s great. If you want the shot get the shot! But it doesn’t make you selfless. It makes you vaccinated.

“Passports are no different than getting a shot to travel”

This is such uppity beourgois reasoning. There is a slight difference between getting a polio shot so that you can rub up against topless pool boys in Costa Rica and making someone get a shot so they can go to the pub down the road. Only people who don’t have to think about money won’t see the difference.

“Passports will encourage Herd Immunity”

This is the strongest argument for vaccination. It’s why most people are comfortable with their kids getting the MMR shot but herd immunity doesn’t sell for everyone particularly when:

– The vaccines are highly effective but not completely effective

– Effectiveness for some vaccines falls over time requiring at least one booster

– There have been some cases of vaccine related complications. They have not been large, but are still concerning

These are not arguments that obfuscate the validity of getting the shot, they are just concerns, which are legitimate and which should be addressed not dismissed if people want to cut through and achieve the aim of herd immunity.

“Passports are not punishment, they are incentivisation”

Nope. There is a big difference between ‘free pints for the vaccinated’ and ‘fuck off if you’re not vaccinated’. Can you guess which one might be the incentive and which one might just make people angry and even less cooperative?

“Just get the shot already what’s the big deal?”

People should always have a choice about what they put in my body. This really shouldn’t even have to be discussed, but here is a video if you’re confused…

“Well then you get the consequences!”

Consequences are what happens when you decide to do something and as a consequence something happens. The consequence is not impacted by anyone else’s decisions, it is directly aligned with the action taken.

If you don’t get vaccinated and then you get coronavirus that would be a consequence of not vaccinating. If you don’t get vaccinated and someone punches you in the face, that is not a consequence of not vaccinating, that is someone else’s action. Let’s say the case is reversed, if you do get vaccinated and then walk out of the vaccination centre and get punched would that be the result of getting vaccinated? No, it would be a consequence of someone else’s actions.

If you support vaccine passports you support legal discrimination. You don’t get to support restrictions on other people’s liberty and then just dismiss the imposition as just a consequence of someone else’s actions. If you want to remove someone else’s rights, you are responsible, not them.

“But COVID is an exception, there are good reasons!”

Whenever humans take away the rights of other humans it is always with ‘good reasons’ and it is always in ‘exceptional circumstances’. Do people seriously think that our forebears were so incredibly dim that they couldn’t recognise authoritarianism when it slapped them in the face? No. Changes occurred slowly, crept into the culture and when an ‘exceptional circumstance’ presented itself the masked dropped and the authoritarians marched forward, ready to alleviate you of your fear.

Then, suddenly you have the prescribed, the others, the untouchables. People who the laws do not protect and who suffer for the majorities comfort.