u/Horror_Moose3462

i need to vent about how far we've regressed as a society with regard to community care and ableism.

i would not be surprised if there were some overlap between this community and fans of caleb hearon's podcast, even though he doesn't seem to be covid cautious.

anyway--i was watching the latest episode where he interviews pauline chalamet and at 2:45 she goes, "i'm a little sick so i have my kleenex here. i hope you're not a germaphobe?" "no" "ok good. i don't think i'm contagious... since covid people are weird about sick, like when you have a little cold you're not supposed to do anything" and he starts laughing like it's such a funny statement?

at this point, i'm desensitized enough that i don't blink at covid denialism in media, but equating covid caution to hypochondria and automatically laughing at people like us who are just trying to survive and maintain what we can of our health is too gross, especially in a space that's typically left-leaning.

luckily i went to the comments and did see some other people who also found this abhorrent (because i bet a decent number of his fans are actually still covid cautious). caleb's politics are otherwise good--i appreciate a lot of what he has to say about fat bodies and his support for tenants' unions and speaking out against ICE on the red carpet--but this glaring area of ignorance (or lack of empathy?) is disappointing.

anyone else have experiences like this and struggling to accept how people treat covid these days? it really feels like ableism has gotten worse, especially as so many young people have been becoming disabled due to long covid.