Certain media outlets and Donald Trump, et al. sure are having a fun time fake-worrying about Hillary Clinton in light of her pneumonia news. But wherefore the surprise? We’re acting like Hillary Clinton going to work while ill is a Worrisome Anomoly. In fact, it is very common. Maybe you haven’t gone to work with walking pneumonia, but according to a survey conducted by NPR, a majority of American adults reportedly go to work when they have a cold or the flu. That means if you’re reading this, congratulations, you probably have something in common with Hillary Clinton. Also, you might want to pop some zinc if you’re in one of those offices where everyone is coughing and jovially/pathetically calling their ailment “the plague.”
There’s also a gendered aspect to this (because OF COURSE there is) best encapsulated here:
It’s possible Hillary didn’t think to alert everyone to her illness b/c like most women since the dawn of time, she works when she’s sick.
— Katie Klabusich (@Katie_Speak) September 11, 2016
Do you know how many women work themselves to the point of exhaustion because it’s just what we do?
Neither do I; most don’t say a word.
— Hanna Brooks Olsen (@mshannabrooks) September 12, 2016
Who among us does not know a working woman with Hermione tendencies who’s worked herself into a protracted illness—and then through it? If you think you don’t, it’s probably because the women you know are experts at downplaying it. It is my personal suspicion that Hillary Clinton, a woman who has spent nearly her entire adult life being publicly denigrated by hateful grim-faced men with odd personal vendettas against working mothers, is one of these women.
And then, of course, there is this, from the always on-point Sara Benincasa:
This is the very first time I’ve ever seen any Republicans take an avid interest in a woman’s health. Beautiful work, team!
— Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) September 11, 2016
Ah, yes. In this light, the GOP’s concern-trolling re: Clinton is especially galling. While Donald “Menacing Whisper” Trump is the festering head on the infected ingrown hair that is the Republicans’ awful presidential ticket, let’s not forget that his running mate, Mike “Legislate Your Uterus” Pence, is the man who made trying to defund Planned Parenthood A Thing.
If they truly cared about any woman’s health, perhaps they wouldn’t devote so much time and energy to sabotaging every woman’s access to basic health care. Alas, while pneumonia is unpleasant but treatable, the GOP’s case of misogyny seems like it’s here to stay, and there’s only one person who can lance that ingrown hair, which is the grossest way I’ve ever described Hillary Clinton’s bid for the presidency. Here are some instructions, Hillz. Godspeed.
Except pneumonia doesn’t cause seizures many months before you contract pneumonia.
I really dislike when people come to work while sick. Because that’s how other people get sick. I’ve had jobs where, when a bunch of people are working while sick, I call in sick even though I’m healthy.
Totalitard: I have a bridge to sell you!