They say that ignorance is bliss and they are totally right. I've always known that our society in Bulgaria is messed up on numerous levels, but it was fairly easy to ignore the majority of the problems as they weren't exactly in my face. I guess you could say I was living in a bubble, that shielded me from most of our grim reality. Then COVID-19 came and it changed it all...
It turns out I'm living in a country where almost everyone's a "medical expert" (of the anti-vaxxer variety), and where every attempt to introduce measures against the spread of COVID-19 is interpreted by the majority of the population (the anti-vaxxers), as curbing their freedom. As a result we now can claim the following glorious "achievements":
It turns out I'm living in a country where almost everyone's a "medical expert" (of the anti-vaxxer variety), and where every attempt to introduce measures against the spread of COVID-19 is interpreted by the majority of the population (the anti-vaxxers), as curbing their freedom. As a result we now can claim the following glorious "achievements":
- lowest rate of vaccination in the European Union (only 25%)
- highest rate of mortality in the EU
- highest rate of idiots on social media in the world, spreading false information about vaccines and their safety
While, COVID-19 has somewhat subsided in most of Europe, Bulgaria is now dealing with a massive 3rd wave.
After our government totally failed on the vaccination front (knowing their constituents, no one wanted to press the matter before the upcoming elections), they were finally forced to adopt more "drastic" measures - meaning requiring a "green certificate" (proof of vaccination or a recent COVID-19 test) to visit restaurants, bars, cinemas, etc. And then all hell broke lose... Turns out that almost everyone in our country is a total idiot! Even Gregory House would be shocked the intellectual prowess displayed by some people here:
- Vaccines will cause any number of deadly deceases, infertility, and maybe even make you a slave of Bill Gates. Some people claim that the RNA vaccines will change their DNA and they'd rather preserve the purity of their body... Apparently, those were the worst vaccines that were ever invented. As I said - it seems everyone here's a medical expert.
- Lots of people claim they already had COVID-19, but they can't prove it. They also claim their natural immunity negates the need for a vaccine, but they can't prove this either.
- The typical Bulgarian is convinced they are smarter than the people from all the developed countries, where mass vaccination programs were successfully carried out. They believe other countries made a grave mistake, but because Bulgarians are smarter, we will thrive. No comment here.
- Some anti-vaxxers started to compare their present situation to the Holocaust in WW II. They went as far as using the star of David as their avatar on social media as a sign of protest. For me, that's just insane!
- Most politicians rallied against the new rules (even if they have been successfully applied in most of
- Europe for a while). Must be a good for their election campaigns.
- Business owners said they didn't fire their vaccinated staff, because they were respecting everyone's freedom. Batshit crazy!
- The anti-vaxxers claim that they don't understand how being against the vaccines is bad for the society. Go figure!
It pains me to see that even that even intelligent people, who I've known for a very long time, are behaving in a very irrational way these days. I spend way too much time on social media and I often can't believe what I'm reading there. It's often so absurd, that I'm wondering if this some form of extreme sarcasm or something. Sadly, however, that's not sarcasm - people genuinely believe all their bullshit. As do the majority of people around them.
Probably I shouldn't have been too surprised, though. Our people are infamous for being selfish, short-sighted, and having no respect for rules whatsoever. Here's one classic example for you - smoking indoors was formally forbidden in Bulgaria over a decade ago, but the vast majority of restaurants, bars, and clubs still allow it. Why so? Well, no one bothered to enforce the rules and restricting the "freedom" of customers to do what they want would be bad for business (according to the businesses). Fuck this shit! I guess I thought with COVID-19 people would be a bit more reasonable, as their lives were at stake, but it turned out this was nothing but wishful thinking.
Anyways, for me one thing is quite clear - it's impossible to ignore the level of stupidity in Bulgarian society at this point. Sadly, COVID-19 made this painstaking clear. If we manage to survive this crisis I'll seriously start contemplating relocating somewhere else. The dumb and the free can have our country all to themselves.