In this episode of Try to Control Your Shock and Amazement…

Remember how the Democrat Party and left-wing media sock puppets did their damnedest to scare the bejesus out of us over COVID-19, including quadruple-vaxxed Joe Biden — who, along with “Dr.” Jill, has contracted COVID at least twice — hysterically warned the unvaxxed about their coming “winter of severe illness and death” that never came? And the draconian lockdowns? Me, too.

Contrast all of the above with the relative lack of specific hysteria over the monkeypox virus. So, why the liberal media’s difference in reporting on monkeypox vs. COVID? We know the answer to that question, as well.

As we reported in late August, CNN — AKA: The Most Trusted Name in News™ — went to painstaking lengths to completely ignore science while incredulously declaring: “Monkeypox is not a sexually-transmitted infection.” In addition to the blatant lie, CNN also forgot to stress that monkeypox cases overwhelmingly occur within the gay and bisexual men communities.

As we reported in early August, while the “mainstream” media has been remiss in reporting known scientific facts about the sexually-transmitted virus and downplaying or ignoring the most important facts about monkeypox. According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, the virus is indeed continuing to spread across the country, but 98 percent of those infected are either gay or bisexual men:

We report 528 infections diagnosed between April 27 and June 24, 2022, at 43 sites in 16 countries. Overall, 98% of the persons with infection were gay or bisexual men, 75% were White, and 41% had human immunodeficiency virus infection; the median age was 38 years. Transmission was suspected to have occurred through sexual activity in 95% of the persons with infection.

So what’s up with the lapdog media? Simple: The left is terrified of stigmatizing the gay and bi-sexual communities by reporting the “rest of the story” about the primarily sexually-transmitted disease.

Now, NBC News “science writer” Benjamin Ryan is bemoaning the heroic sacrifices [sarcasm] made by “gay men” over the fear of monkeypox in an article titled, How monkeypox spoiled gay men’s plans for an invincible summer, in which he laments, “Queer men across the U.S. talked to NBC News about the dates they never went on, the sex they never had and the gatherings they avoided due to the viral outbreak.”

Here’s how Ryan kicked off the piece, lamenting the plight of “queer men” from the outset:

For many gay and bisexual men, the sprawling and chaotic monkeypox outbreak has upended a summer that was supposed to be a well-earned opportunity — following the peak of the Covid crisis — to finally have some fun and revel with their gay brothers without the threat of viral infection hanging over them.

Not to nitpick, Mr. Ryan, but it wasn’t just gay and bisexual men who were looking forward to a summer free from the left’s draconian COVID lockdowns and mandates. But alas, Ryan noted, after Memorial Day, the GBTQ community’s dreams of “fun and reveling” were dashed.

Soon after Memorial Day, however, these men, as well as transgender individuals and other queer people — GBTQ for short, because lesbians’ monkeypox risk is remote — were met head-on with harrowing reports about monkeypox’s often devastating and disfiguring effects on the body. Next came anger and frustration over what queer activists characterize as the Biden administration’s fumbling initial response to the outbreak.

So Ryan set out to query gay and bisexual men about their feelings as a result of the unfortunate turn of events. “Over 100 gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people responded to an NBC News online survey, Ryan wrote, “seeking to learn about how monkeypox has affected their lives.”

What this diverse cross-section of the community most had in common were missed opportunities. They wrote about sex they never had, dates they never went on, and gatherings with friends they avoided.

Not to sound uncompassionate, but other than sex, why couldn’t those at risk have done the other things Ryan said they missed out on?

Michael, 42, explained:

Sex isn’t just a frivolous pastime. For many of us, sex has serious meaning, sex is one of the things that makes life worth living.

So how did Michael — who works in education react? Defiantly and angry:

I am not changing my behavior with an attitude of cheerful, take-one-for-the-team compliance. Instead, I find the situation fearful, miserable, and diminishing. I am experiencing this outbreak as a serious setback to something that is very important to me, namely sexual freedom.

Guillermo Rojas, 29, a Mexican citizen and public administration graduate student in New York City, told Ryan that life as he knew it “halted.”

Life has sort of halted. This was supposed to be the great summer that everything went back and opened.

So what has “halted” for Rojas, specifically? He was more than happy to share the details:

I’ve stopped going to sex parties. “I also stopped having sex with people who live off their OnlyFans. I additionally stopped cruising at the gym, I did not continue to go to Fire Island, and I stopped attending orgies.

Oh, the injustice! Oh, the humanity!!!

“I’ve stopped going to sex parties,” he said… “I also stopped having sex with people who live off their OnlyFans. I additionally stopped cruising at the gym, I did not continue to go to Fire Island, and I stopped attending orgies.”

Tragic

https://t.co/ZKCNueh4XK via @nbcnews

— ColoradoAlexReborn (@ColoradoAlexCon) September 7, 2022

J.J. Ryan — presumably no relation to the NBC News reporter — a bisexual trans man “assigned” female at birth, “spent the height of the Covid pandemic transitioning.”

“I felt like I was just surviving before. I wasn’t really living,” said Ryan, 34 of his “pre-transition life.” “So I was really excited to get out and live my life — for this to finally be my ‘hot boy summer.’” Instead, he said, he has sadly “sharply reduced” his sexual exploration.

As was the case with COVID and any other virulent disease, RedState has reported factually on both COVID and monkeypox — including an emphasis on those most susceptible to contracting either or both, as in the following related articles.

CDC Issues Eye-Opening Monkeypox ‘Safer Sex’ Guidelines, Exposes Their Shriveling Credibility

New York City Whines to WHO, Insisting the Term ‘Monkeypox’ Is Discriminatory

‘Cover up Your Bumps’: California State Senator Encourages Gay Orgies During Monkeypox Outbreak