“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”-First Amendment to the Constitution
After the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in early 2021, the vast majority of Americans have experienced pressure to get the shot. The majority of this pressure perpetuates from peers, but media influence is prevalent, and in an era of constant stimulation from technology the media is constantly bombarded with vaccine-related content put out by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Commercials, billboards, posters, and the psychological reward of receiving an ‘I got my COVID vaccine shot!’ stickers portray only one opinion projected by the federal government, which is high pressure to receive the vaccine. Recent examples of this are lottery tickets and scholarships given out to a random few who have registered as having their vaccine.
(bouldercounty.org)
Regardless of whether or not someone chooses to get a vaccine, Americans are watching firsthand their government sliding down the slippery slope of disregarding dissent from its citizens as there is what could even be considered a 'mob mentality’ of people pressuring others to get vaccinated. This is a direct violation of the first amendment to the Constitution because it leaves no room for the minority, the anti-vaxxers, to express their opinions and choose whether or not to receive it.
The government has overstepped boundaries and broken trust even further with the anti-vaxxers by requiring not only hospital workers- now all federal employees are to get the vaccine by November 22, with few ‘legal exceptions.’ (federalnewsnetwork.com) ‘Anti-vaxxers’ are portrayed by the media as ignorant and selfish solely for not getting a vaccine. In a recent The San Diego Union-Tribune article titled “Anti-vaxxers can have their say, but let the majority rule,” (sandiegotribune.com) the minority is bashed for simply disagreeing with the government’s decisions and are not able to exercise their constitutional right to express their opinions freely and with respect, even though they are the dissenting minority.
(theatlantic.com)
This has made its way down to the corrupt ‘little brother concept’ or using private business to put out government propaganda. While social media sites are private businesses, the federal government still utilizes private businesses, specifically social media, to influence the population through posts and ads (nbcnews.com). Even in my Instagram feed, posts written by people who are discouraging people from getting the vaccines are covered and labeled as ‘false information.’ I have yet to see a pro-vaccine post put out by the CDC to be censored. There is reason to be skeptical about this, because what scientists are finding of COVID-19 changes often, and the CDC’s ads and posts, even if they are just a few days old, can also be misleading based on recent findings.
(reddit.com)
Ideas circulating in the media influence how Americans see their rights to express their opinions, even when they disagree with the government, by portraying only one opinion- even though not everyone gets the vaccine.
So far, only 51% of Americans have been vaccinated (usatoday.com), but the federal government proposes a different story. With the federal government forcing workers to be vaccinated under President Biden’s ‘Path out of the Pandemic’ (whitehouse.gov) agenda, tensions are bound to arise, feeding the cycle of the government trying to discreetly quell the minority opinions.
(deseret.com)
Unfortunately, as healthcare and government workers decide to keep or lose their paycheck based on a mandate, they are simultaneously giving up their right to speak freely against the government for overstepping its boundaries. By speaking out and even outright disagreeing with the government, people's rights - the cornerstone of democracy is protected, but coercing the minority into silence foreshadows future violations of the first amendment of the Constitution. Instead, while sitting back and watching the minority’s rights become less important, simply because they disagree with the government, the majority is bound to lose theirs in the future by allowing the government to quell the minority.
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/
https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/
https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/
https://www.deseret.com/u-s-world/2021/3/30/22356763/fake-coronavirus-vaccine-cards
https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagram/comments/echws6/what_even_is_this_fact_checking_a_meme_in_a/
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