Nicki Minaj, Will You Marry Me?
September 17, 2021
Relax everybody, I’m just kidding. First, bigamy is illegal in North Carolina, and I don’t want to move to Utah. Second, I’m very happy with the current Mrs. Thompson. Finally, I doubt Nicki would say “yes.” One could say she has a lot of “balls” in the air right now.
For those of you who don’t know, Nicki Minaj is a 38-year-old rapper who recently had the temerity to question whether the COVID-19 vaccine is as safe as we’ve been led to believe. Her reason for questioning the vaccine is, shall we say, not the best. Apparently, a friend of her cousin experienced impotence and swollen testicles after getting the COVID-19 vaccine. The experts deny that these phenomena are potential side effects of the vaccine. I’m not a doctor, so I’ll leave that ball in someone else’s court, so to speak.
Because of the unusual allegations, Nicki is not the best spokesperson for the vaccine skeptics. However, we’ve all heard the adage: you go to battle with the army you’ve got, not the army you want.
At this point, I must lay a bit of groundwork. I am not an anti-vaxxer. If you fall into one or more of the categories that put you at elevated risk from COVID-19, consider getting the vaccine. However, for folks that are not at high risk, it is something that needs to be considered carefully. For healthy children and young people, taking the vaccine does not make sense to me.
Nicki Minaj simply pointed out that we don’t know a lot about this vaccine, and that it is reasonable to be skeptical. We are not obligated to treat Anthony Fauci as though he is Moses coming down the mountain with the Ten Commandments of COVID-19. Fauci is simply a man. He’s a man who has been wrong a lot and has lied to the American people on more than one occasion.
However, Nicki’s skepticism is only part of the reason I’m glad she’s out there. I’m glad she’s out there because she’s got . . . courage (yes, I resisted the bad joke).
When someone questions conventional “wisdom” these days, you see a usual pattern emerge. It works like this. Some celebrity questions something they are “supposed” to believe. Social media types go crazy. CNN talking heads ridicule them. They are effectively told, “You’ll never work in this town again.” Within days the contrarian celebrity wraps him or herself in sackcloth and ashes and apologizes profusely for having the nerve to question what “everybody knows to be true.”
Nicki Minaj got slammed when she questioned the vaccine. She even got the attention of the White House. What has she done in the face of the bullies trying to silence her? She has doubled down. She stands by her claim that it should not be considered treason to evaluate the pros and cons of the vaccine. She doesn’t care that the rich and powerful are coming after her.
I can only hope this inspires others to think independently, and to stand up in the face of the ruling class, so-called experts, and cyber bullies.