This series documents stories from the Herman Cain Awards subreddit, tracking the COVID mis- and disinformation on Facebook that is leading to so many deaths. Today’s cautionary tale took out his mother on his way out the door.

Meet Bob.

Bob lived in Kentucky, posted mostly about Kentucky sports, Cincinnati Bengals, Kyle Rittenhouse, how much he hated LeBron James for being “racist,” and shit like this: 

He was exactly what you’d expect out of Mitch McConnell’s home state, including serious substance abuse issues. He couldn’t have been much older than 30, and he didn’t like vaccines. 

Not gonna lie, I kinda chuckled, because this is the best example of right-wing projection I’ve ever seen. Not even a year later, it’s conservatives literally doing this. I mean, “My body, my choice” sign? Swap out “corona virus is racist” with “Don’t take away my right to die of Coronavirus” and we’re pretty much on point. 

Kinda seems like this one peaked already, huh?

Bill Mitchell! I was wondering where he went, and was pleased to see that he’s been permanently banned from Twitter. Deplatforming works!

I’ll spare everyone my tired schtick of the number of commercial flights that would crash every day, if their survival rate was 99.5%. 

Actually, I won’t, it’s just one sentence: Out of 115,000 daily commercial flights, that would be 575 crashed flights. I sure wouldn’t get on a flight with those odds. Neither would these jokers. 

AMERICA MAKES THE BEST VIRUSES!

Um, maybe not. 

OLD PEOPLE DYING IS FUNNY.

It’s this passage from 2 Chronicles 7:13-15:

Scrawling “PAY ATTENTION CHILDREN” on a Bible in red ink isn’t terrifying or culty at all. 

Still, there’s something about this meme that stuck with me. More later. 

No one commented on Cracker Jack. People who have a problem with it are totally free to petition the Cracker Jack company to change their name. 

Incidentally, here’s the origin of the name:

Let’s compare that to the origin story for Aunt Jemima: 

Ewww. How about Uncle Ben? 

Remember, this is the same guy hyperventilating about wearing a mask, in a party that is currently crying about books depicting slavery and trying to pass laws prohibiting white people from feeling “discomfort.” 

Fox News. 

OANN.

Newsmax. 

Sigh. 

When did “wolf” become shorthand for “ignores all evidence and thinks they know better than the experts”?

900,000 dead and counting, so I can think of something else that happens every time a bell rings. 

A lifetime of “demons,” and two months sober. I don’t think it “goes without saying” that his mom died of “a broken heart.”  We know from comments that both Bob and his dad/step dad had tested positive for COVID, and they all lived together. 

Let me bring back that Bible from up above: 

He posted that October 2020. He died a little over a year later, after 2-3 months of having “found God.” At that time, there was both a raging pandemic, and he was an addict of some kind, whether alcohol or drugs doesn’t matter. He seemed keenly interested in notions of addiction, even posting stuff like this: 

Ironic that when it dealt with an issue he was keenly interested in, suddenly the CDC had good information. He didn’t question the CDC’s addiction numbers. He didn’t demand people “do their own research” to skew the numbers in some different direction. He didn’t deny drug addiction was a deadly scourge on our country. He just accepted it. It was part of his experience, and Fox News wasn’t yelling at him that it was fake news. 

If only COVID was as apolitical as drug addiction. 

He should’ve listened to the CDC on COVID. He was a big Bengals fan. He would’ve been alive to watch Cincinnati’s football team play its first Super Bowl in 34 years, like his vaccinated brother will do next week. 

He did go unexpectedly fast. He was posting football stuff a week before his death. He was asking if anyone had a cheap clothes washer for sale. He died the day after the Bengals beat the Kansas City Chiefs to advance to the championship. He was undoubtedly deplorable, but I do hope he got to watch that game, got that last big of joy before he succumbed to the mis- and disinformation plaguing conservatives.

Maybe it was just a brainless repost. He certainly did that a lot. But I want to believe it was something more.

He was suffering addiction, that evil, while the country raged with COVID, an epidemic. Maybe he did clean himself up, somehow thinking it would clear up COVID. Breaking addiction is a difficult struggle, so 2-3 clean months was real progress. Maybe he had truly turned a corner. And if so, despite his “Let’s Go Brandon” bullshit, I’m sad he didn’t get to see it through.