NJDOH asks you to "Think About Other People" as germs. Zach Bush offers another perspective.

The New Jersey Department of Health’s new ad campaign for Covid and RSV shots stays true to its pattern of othering:

If you’re wondering, Should I get my Covid shot?, think about other people…

… and their icky repulsive germs.

And get your shots, “because people sneeze.”

This isn’t new. The NJDOH has already spent tens of millions on fear and shaming to gain vaccine compliance.

It’s a far cry from Zach Bush and his perspective on the healing of humanity:

What exactly is the virome?

What’s emerging from the current science of the virome as we start to understand this pool of genetic information that’s in the air, water and soil systems that we refer to as the virome, this is the ecosystem if you will of genetic communication. So this is how bacteria, fungi and multicellular organisms communicate as to what’s happening in their environment and offering up opportunity for adaptation to the greater good. And so viruses are the method by which we participate in the dance of life, whether we’re a bacteria or a human. And we’re exuding these things all the time as genomic updates, genomic opportunities for adaptation and biodiversification.

It’s these simple interactions with nature that we so often forget about. Human life is re-infused every breath we take. Every beat of our heart connects us to a deeper biology on the planet. And these trees have been doing it much longer than we have. And we are disconnected so often with our breath, now isolated inside of cars and office buildings. We’re missing this opportunity for reengagement, until we remember to breathe. In the breath of nature we reconnect to this vast ecosystem that is evident around us. The sheer diversity of plant life around us, the mosses that are contained on a tree trunk, speak to something deeper. The bacteria and the fungi beneath the surface, not just of the bark, but of the soil, that would produce such an extraordinary organism such as a tree. And that we get to interact with this is this extraordinary gift of life on planet earth.

I just want to bring the hope back into every patient I see… with the message that Mother Nature is asking for our embrace again. Mother Nature is literally reaching out with her arms, ready for a deep hug, a deep reconnection to who we are so that we can understand our species and our purpose within the context of this rich diversity around us rather than the isolation that we find ourselves in too often.

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One of my favorite things about being alive is the opportunity to give each other hugs, because what you’re literally doing is bringing yourself into the sunshine of another human being. Because that field emanates far beyond the physical body. And this is my favorite thing about being alive as a scientist right now…

Two of the most powerful ways to lower your field almost instantly are again human emotions. And one of them is fear and the other one is guilt. And so this is an interesting look at our last eight months of this panic, as the 2 tools that are always exercised is, first fear, you’ve got to be afraid of this virus, you’ve got to be afraid of this… and if that’s not powerful enough, guilt. If you don’t wear a mask you’ll make somebody else sick. Your grandma might die because you don’t wear a mask…

I believe that humanity’s original wound is that we saw ourselves as separate from nature.

I believe that we are the greatest technology expressed by nature so far. Why did we discover and develop the electron microscope? Why did we make the Hubble telescope? It’s a spiritual experience that’s better than any cathedral I’ve ever stepped into is looking at the beauty, through human eyes, of the cosmos. And in the microscope looking at the beauty of a single cell. And so was our technological journey ultimately to supercharge our five senses into seeing the full beauty of this planet so that everything would change? The very matrix by which we live, breathe, think and imagine within is here to shift in this moment. If we really see the universe for all its beauty it will shift completely. Every atom will change.

So… should we look at each other as icky germs or opportunities to grow and evolve?