In a story that takes up a sizable portion of its front page, The Washington Post brings us the travails of one unvaccinated Italian man—a professional chamber musician who, due to his refusal to abide by Europe's ever-growing vaccination mandates, can no longer "check into a hotel, eat at a restaurant or get coffee at a bar." You are free to interpret the story as you wish. On one hand, it provides a gentle and sympathetic view of a phenomenon that many modern Americans do not fully believe in, namely the existence of Italy. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine anybody in this country or any other was piping up with won't somebody think of the over-eccentric chamber musicians?
Or maybe it's a reminder that American anti-vax whiners have no freakin' idea how pampered they are. We're in the middle of a new world war, this one against an emergent virus that has killed millions and which we probably could have stood a chance against, if humanity spent a little less time inventing new ways to be incompetent and ridiculous. Europe's chamber musicians can't even get a damn cup of coffee without being asked to show their "Green Pass," the proof of vaccination required to get on public transportation or enter many buildings or, well, get coffee. American vaccine resisters can do pretty much whatever they want, and don't even need to wear a mask.
All right, so here's the deal. "Eccentric" cellist Claudio Ronco doesn't want to get vaccinated, and he has a lot of reasons for that that range from the mention of "hydroxychloroquine" to "alternative methods" to Nazi passport documents (Ronco identifies as Orthodox Jew)—but it boils down to being an eccentric and thinking eccentric things about medical issues he knows nothing about. Unfortunately, our front-page cellist hero lives in Venice, one of the top tourist destinations on the entire flippin' planet. Venice has tight pandemic rules and you have to show your Green Pass to get on the city's water taxis no matter how talented or eccentric you pride yourself on being, so Ronco had enough difficulty traveling that he was forced to temporarily move to a home in the Italian hills where you don't need water taxis to get around.
Oh, and everyone around Ronco is pretty damn sure he should just get vaccinated and get on with his life, but Ronco instead appears to be being performative enough in his public insistence not to care that he's been shedding fans and friends and sure, okay, that's gonna happen. But because Ronco is Italian (and from Venice, no less) this is all much more artistic and sweeping and better-written than the American versions of the same story would be. The Washington Post tells a slightly meandering story of an eccentric Italian cellist who can no longer take the water taxi through the Venetian canals.
We get the American version from The New York Times every third day or so, except the person being profiled is typically a self-employed realtor from New West Bumblebrook who is incensed that they're not allowed into the town brewpub and who, when asked, says that it's because Bill Gates is putting nanochips in all our medicine and now she has to go to the farm store to get the livestock versions.
Yeah, doesn't sound nearly as ennui-filled or drenched-in-sunset-reds without the water taxis, does it? I'm sure Europeans think our crowds of unmasked "Let's Go Brandon" shouters are pretty damn eccentric themselves, though.
I mean ... okay? Sure? Guy doesn't want to get vaccinated, guy finds out that DURING A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC, LIVING IN A WORLD-RENOWNED TOURIST TRAP living your normal life is going to get increasingly uncomfortable if you're not willing to do the one thing that will help prevent you from dying. Italy doesn't want any dead cellists, thank you. They have a whole great bunch of them already—you can't go ten paces in many parts of Europe without tripping over the bones of a long-dead cellist. It doesn't matter how old or historic your cellos are, the country has a lot of problems and a lot of budgeting to do and nobody is interested in paying to haul your eccentric corpse out of your apartment because you once saw a guy tout hydro-chloro-whatever and now believe it, rather than any of the things that medical science has found to be far more helpful, is the solution the rest of the planet is refusing to see.
But it is more than that. Our cellist, being a cellist, wants to travel all around Europe for his concert gigs—without being vaccinated. Our cellist, being a cellist, wants to be able to gather paying crowds into chamber music places to hear chamber music things—without being vaccinated.
And he's living his current lonely and spartan life because "let's have unvaccinated traveling performers flit from city to city gathering new crowds of people in each place DURING A PANDEMIC" sounds objectively like one of the worst ideas anybody ever had. It is near the top of the bad idea pyramid. Even with vaccination passports it sounds like a terrible idea that should probably just not happen until the surges stop surging, but being allowed to do it while actively refusing to be vaccinated puts it up at the very top of that pyramid, in the place where the creepy glowing eyeball usually goes.
Buddy, no. Just no. And Washington Post, giving space to an eccentric eccentric who is eccentrically depressed about his eccentric life choices having consequences is sending weird signals, here. Did somebody just want to expense a trip to the Italian countryside or the Venetian canals? It's that, isn't it.
Can you imagine what would happen if our own federal government instituted a "Green Pass" requirement insisting that you needed to be vaccinated before taking the bus, or getting on a plane, or even getting a coffee? There'd be civil war. Ron DeSantis and the new private militia he's trying to start up would be on the frontlines, stripping people's masks off and spitting in their mouths in order to fight tyranny.
"You'll impinge on the travel plans of chamber musicians over our dead bodies," they'll yell. "Without the cello, no freedom exists!"
I don't know here. I think we're all very tired and a little punchy, and it's hard for anything to come into sharp mental focus. But the Post notes that "for people like Ronco, the choice is to get inoculated or face exclusion," and the most natural response would seem to be ... yes? Pretty much? That is in fact the trade being made here, as nations ask their citizens to fight a pandemic that has killed millions and some of those citizens respond with a low, resonant grunting noise?
Or maybe it's a reminder that American anti-vax whiners have no freakin' idea how pampered they are. We're in the middle of a new world war, this one against an emergent virus that has killed millions and which we probably could have stood a chance against, if humanity spent a little less time inventing new ways to be incompetent and ridiculous. Europe's chamber musicians can't even get a damn cup of coffee without being asked to show their "Green Pass," the proof of vaccination required to get on public transportation or enter many buildings or, well, get coffee. American vaccine resisters can do pretty much whatever they want, and don't even need to wear a mask.
All right, so here's the deal. "Eccentric" cellist Claudio Ronco doesn't want to get vaccinated, and he has a lot of reasons for that that range from the mention of "hydroxychloroquine" to "alternative methods" to Nazi passport documents (Ronco identifies as Orthodox Jew)—but it boils down to being an eccentric and thinking eccentric things about medical issues he knows nothing about. Unfortunately, our front-page cellist hero lives in Venice, one of the top tourist destinations on the entire flippin' planet. Venice has tight pandemic rules and you have to show your Green Pass to get on the city's water taxis no matter how talented or eccentric you pride yourself on being, so Ronco had enough difficulty traveling that he was forced to temporarily move to a home in the Italian hills where you don't need water taxis to get around.
Oh, and everyone around Ronco is pretty damn sure he should just get vaccinated and get on with his life, but Ronco instead appears to be being performative enough in his public insistence not to care that he's been shedding fans and friends and sure, okay, that's gonna happen. But because Ronco is Italian (and from Venice, no less) this is all much more artistic and sweeping and better-written than the American versions of the same story would be. The Washington Post tells a slightly meandering story of an eccentric Italian cellist who can no longer take the water taxi through the Venetian canals.
We get the American version from The New York Times every third day or so, except the person being profiled is typically a self-employed realtor from New West Bumblebrook who is incensed that they're not allowed into the town brewpub and who, when asked, says that it's because Bill Gates is putting nanochips in all our medicine and now she has to go to the farm store to get the livestock versions.
Yeah, doesn't sound nearly as ennui-filled or drenched-in-sunset-reds without the water taxis, does it? I'm sure Europeans think our crowds of unmasked "Let's Go Brandon" shouters are pretty damn eccentric themselves, though.
I mean ... okay? Sure? Guy doesn't want to get vaccinated, guy finds out that DURING A WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC, LIVING IN A WORLD-RENOWNED TOURIST TRAP living your normal life is going to get increasingly uncomfortable if you're not willing to do the one thing that will help prevent you from dying. Italy doesn't want any dead cellists, thank you. They have a whole great bunch of them already—you can't go ten paces in many parts of Europe without tripping over the bones of a long-dead cellist. It doesn't matter how old or historic your cellos are, the country has a lot of problems and a lot of budgeting to do and nobody is interested in paying to haul your eccentric corpse out of your apartment because you once saw a guy tout hydro-chloro-whatever and now believe it, rather than any of the things that medical science has found to be far more helpful, is the solution the rest of the planet is refusing to see.
But it is more than that. Our cellist, being a cellist, wants to travel all around Europe for his concert gigs—without being vaccinated. Our cellist, being a cellist, wants to be able to gather paying crowds into chamber music places to hear chamber music things—without being vaccinated.
And he's living his current lonely and spartan life because "let's have unvaccinated traveling performers flit from city to city gathering new crowds of people in each place DURING A PANDEMIC" sounds objectively like one of the worst ideas anybody ever had. It is near the top of the bad idea pyramid. Even with vaccination passports it sounds like a terrible idea that should probably just not happen until the surges stop surging, but being allowed to do it while actively refusing to be vaccinated puts it up at the very top of that pyramid, in the place where the creepy glowing eyeball usually goes.
Buddy, no. Just no. And Washington Post, giving space to an eccentric eccentric who is eccentrically depressed about his eccentric life choices having consequences is sending weird signals, here. Did somebody just want to expense a trip to the Italian countryside or the Venetian canals? It's that, isn't it.
Can you imagine what would happen if our own federal government instituted a "Green Pass" requirement insisting that you needed to be vaccinated before taking the bus, or getting on a plane, or even getting a coffee? There'd be civil war. Ron DeSantis and the new private militia he's trying to start up would be on the frontlines, stripping people's masks off and spitting in their mouths in order to fight tyranny.
"You'll impinge on the travel plans of chamber musicians over our dead bodies," they'll yell. "Without the cello, no freedom exists!"
I don't know here. I think we're all very tired and a little punchy, and it's hard for anything to come into sharp mental focus. But the Post notes that "for people like Ronco, the choice is to get inoculated or face exclusion," and the most natural response would seem to be ... yes? Pretty much? That is in fact the trade being made here, as nations ask their citizens to fight a pandemic that has killed millions and some of those citizens respond with a low, resonant grunting noise?