President Donald Trump, his administration, and his allies continue to accuse the media of promoting hysteria even as the pandemic that has taken over the United States claims over 93,000 cases and 1,400 deaths.
Of course, the virus does not discriminate according to party or ideology, and so inevitably it is bound to victimize those who have parroted the line from the President and his administration that the media is blowing the pandemic out of proportion.
One such man, Virginia pastor and musician Landon Spradlin, sadly passed away of the virus on March 25 in a North Carolina hospital—two weeks after sharing a Facebook meme that accused the media of "mass hysteria" while comparing the number of deaths from the current pandemic to the deaths from the H1N1 flu, which occurred during the Obama administration.
Spradlin said in a comment on the post that while the virus was real, the main issue was that
"...the media is pumping out fear and doing more harm than good."
Heartbreakingly, Spradlin's daughter, Judah Strickland, wasn't able to say goodbye to him due to precautions taken by healthcare workers to avoid possible contagion.
Strickland said:
"I said 'look, I haven't seen my dad in almost six weeks. Please let me go see him. And she [hospital worker] said 'look under any other circumstances we would, but this is uncharted territory for us.'"
Many laid the blame for Spradlin's death squarely at the feet of certain lawmakers and media entities.
People mourned the life that may have been preserved had those in power communicated accurate information.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Spradlin's family. You can donate to it here.
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u/Duskymoonlight/Reddit