The Cruelty of the ‘Self-Righteous’; a Milder Flu Season, Maybe? Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest

Indy Digest: Nov. 6, 2023

Cruel.

That’s the word that comes to mind when I read so much of the news these days. What’s happening in Israel and Gaza, on all sides … cruel. Economic policies where profit is the be-all, end-all, with no consideration of humanity … cruel. The legislation and rhetoric coming from a lot of right-wing politicians these days … cruelty, wrapped in warped religious justification.

For an example of the latter, let’s turn to NBC News:

A small-town Alabama mayor died apparently by suicide just days after a conservative news site published pictures of him allegedly wearing women’s clothes and makeup, officials said Sunday.

Smiths Station Mayor F.L. “Bubba” Copeland, who was also a pastor at First Baptist Church of Phenix City, fatally shot himself and was pronounced dead at 5:01 p.m. CT Friday, Lee County Coroner Daniel Sexton told NBC News in a statement. …

Copeland died two days after the 1819 News published a story with photos of the mayor donning women’s clothes and makeup.

“It is sad and disgusting how he was treated by” 1819 News, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., said in a statement Saturday. “We live in a mean, bitter world where the self-righteous tend to throw the largest stones.”

A representative for 1819 News could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.

That quote from Sen. Jones may be the best summary I’ve seen of the hate coming from so-called Christians these days: We live in a mean, bitter world where the self-righteous tend to throw the largest stones.

The layers of cruelty here are many. The decision-makers at 1819 News, including an editor who also works for Breitbart (which used to be led by Steve Bannon), chose to run this piece even though this aspect of Copeland’s personal life affected absolutely nobody, and the information had no actual news value. Once the story ran, people went on social media to attack Copeland, even though there was nothing wrong with what he’d done. And our society as a whole shares blame for creating a climate in which all of this cruelty apparently led Copeland to take his own life.

I spent a fair amount of time at the Independent’s booth at the Palm Springs Pride Festival on Saturday and Sunday. As I watched the diversity of attendees enjoying themselves, I kept thinking of Bubba Copeland, and how grateful I am that I live in a place where people have an easier time being themselves, when compared to so many other places. I counted my blessings for having friends and family who love me for being me, and would do so no matter what.

And I felt despair for the billions of people around the world who are nowhere near as lucky—and because of the cruelty swirling around all of us.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• It hasn’t been a great time for customers of banks these days. First off, The New York Times looks at the increasing number of customers whose accounts are being closed—often without warning and explanation: “The reasons vary, but the scene that plays out is almost always the same. Bank customers get a letter in the mail saying their institution is closing all of their checking and savings accounts. Their debit and credit cards are shuttered, too. The explanation, if there is one, usually lacks any useful detail. Or maybe the customers don’t see the letter, or never get one at all. Instead, they discover that their accounts no longer work while they’re at the grocery store, rental car counter or ATM. … This isn’t your standard boot for people who have bounced too many checks. Instead, a vast security apparatus has kicked into gear, starting with regulators in Washington and trickling down to bank security managers and branch staff eyeballing customers. The goal is to crack down on fraud, terrorism, money laundering, human trafficking and other crimes. In the process, banks are evicting what appear to be an increasing number of individuals, families and small-business owners. Often, they don’t have the faintest idea why their banks turned against them.”

• Meanwhile, many customers expecting direct deposits on Friday and today did not get them due to a glitch. CBS News says: “The Federal Reserve on Friday said the problem wasn’t related to a cybersecurity issue and that it had been resolved. But customers on Monday continued to report delays with direct deposits, reaching out to their banks on social media to report that their paychecks hadn’t landed in their accounts as expected. Wells Fargo and Bank of America referred questions to The Clearing House, a payments company that operates the only private-sector automated clearing house (ACH) system in the U.S. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, The Clearing House said that some ACH payment instructions were sent to banks on November 2 with masked customer names and account numbers due to ‘a processing error.’ Because the banks need that data to process incoming payments and post the money to customer accounts, those payments were delayed, it added.” Am I the only person who thinks that having only one private ACH system in the country is a problem?

• Our partners at Calmatters look at the prospects of a winter “tripledemic” of COVID-19, influenza and RSV: “Influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19 are circulating this fall, but not yet at the rate that worried public health agencies a year ago. As we approach the time of winter when these diseases usually peak, around December to February, experts warn that the patterns can change at any time and advise people to take precautionary measures, such as getting vaccines. … Public health experts generally expect a milder flu season this year. Last year was especially severe as social activities returned to normal and COVID-19 social distancing rules ended. Experts say that more than two years of staying at home and taking precautionary measures protected people from influenza viruses, but also reduced their immunity once they resumed normal social activity. ‘We are seeing pretty decent matches with the flu vaccine, which is going to help and we haven’t seen a big take off locally and nationally yet of the flu,’  said Dr. Marlene Millen, an internal medicine doctor at UC San Diego.”

• Related tangentially: ProPublica brings yet another example of how big pharma is often, well, terrible. The headline is: “How a Big Pharma Company Stalled a Potentially Lifesaving Vaccine in Pursuit of Bigger Profits.” The lede: “Ever since he was a medical student, Dr. Neil Martinson has confronted the horrors of tuberculosis, the world’s oldest and deadliest pandemic. For more than 30 years, patients have streamed into the South African clinics where he has worked—migrant workers, malnourished children and pregnant women with HIV—coughing up blood. … Once infected, their best option was to spend months swallowing pills that often carried terrible side effects. Many died. So, when Martinson joined a call in April 2018, he was anxious for the verdict about a tuberculosis vaccine he’d helped test on hundreds of people. The results blew him away: The shot prevented over half of those infected from getting sick; it was the biggest TB vaccine breakthrough in a century. He hung up, excited, and waited for the next step, a trial that would determine whether the shot was safe and effective enough to sell. Weeks passed. Then months. More than five years after the call, he’s still waiting, because the company that owns the vaccine (pharmaceutical giant GSK) decided to prioritize far more lucrative business.”

• In recent recall news: Tyson Foods is recalling 30,000 pounds of dino-shaped chicken nuggets because metal may be involved. CNN says: “The recall, announced on Saturday, is for 29-ounce plastic bag packages containing frozen, ‘fully cooked fun nuggets breaded shaped chicken patties,’ according to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Those bags have a ‘best if used by date’ of September 4, 2024, and were sold in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin. There has been ‘one minor oral injury’ associated with consumption of the nuggets, according to the USDA, but no other reports of harm so far.”

• And finally … the latest weird product shortage involves … milk cartons? Yep. The Associated Press reports: “The tiny, half-pint cartons of milk served with millions of school lunches nationwide may soon be scarce in some cafeterias, with districts across the country scrambling to find alternatives. The problem is not a shortage of milk itself, but the cardboard cartons used to package and serve it, according to dairy industry suppliers and state officials. Pactiv Evergreen of Lake Forest, Illinois, which bills itself as ‘the leading manufacturer of fresh food and beverage packaging in North America’ acknowledged in a statement Friday that it ‘continues to face significantly higher than projected demand’ for its milk cartons.”

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