ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AMY CONEY BARRETT, ANTHONY FAUCI, ANTI-SCIENCE, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BILL STEPIEN, BLOOMBERG, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN’S HOUSPITAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CNN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, CORONAVIRUS, COSTCO, COVID-19, CRAIG SPENCER, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID ABRAMS, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, EDUCATION, FACEBOOK, FASCISM, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HYPOCRISY, JENNY FAUST, JOE BIDEN, KAYLEIGH MCENARY, KRISTI NOEM, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MELANIA TRUMP, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOUNT RUSHMORE, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NANCY PELOSI, NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NAZI PARTY WEIMAR REPUBLIC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, NYU SCHOOL OF GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETER GLICK, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, RELIGIOUS FANATICISM, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, SALON, SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, STEPHEN MILLER, STUDENTS FOR TRUMP RALLY, SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TARGET, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE DISCOURSES, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA RALLY, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WONKETTE
COUNT THE STUPIDS: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on October 16, 2020 at 12:18 am
There are at least seven reasons why so many Americans refuse to wear a mask.
First: A feeling of solidarity. According to David Abrams, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at NYU School of Global Public Health: People who don’t wear masks may see it as a sign of solidarity, as if they are taking a stand against authority.
Second: If liberals do it, it’s fascistic. Many mask protesters accuse those who wear masks of being fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
Third: They have utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. They claim stories of such deaths are mere “fake news”—the term Donald Trump uses to dismiss any news stories that highlight his mistakes and criminality.
Fourth: Republicans disdain education in general—and science in particular. In March, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
Fifth: Religious Fanaticism: Many fundamentalist Christians believe that their faith in Jesus will protect them against COVID-19. They continue to attend services indoors in defiance of warnings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that such meetings are dangerous.
A female member of the Solid Red Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, told CNN: “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’m covered in Jesus’ blood. I’m covered in Jesus’ blood.”
Sixth: Hypocrisy. Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the Right has demanded that even women who are pregnant due to rape or incest carry the fetus to term.
Yet now that Right-wingers are being asked to wear masks in public—to protect themselves and others from a deadly plague—they’ve suddenly discovered the mantra: “It’s my body!”
Seventh: Identifying with Donald Trump. The President has made it clear that his followers don’t wear masks. And they have fallen into line, refusing to mask up even in crowded, indoor arenas where infection is most likely.
Yet even in states where wearing a mask is mandatory when venturing out in public, many people refuse to do so. Fights have erupted before mask-less and mask-wearing customers—and sometimes store employees—who asked them to put on a mask before entering.
- Two men were arrested for felony battery after starting a fight with employees at a Los Angeles Target store over wearing masks inside the store.
- A woman entered Curbside Eatery in La Mesa, California, without a mask, pulling her T-shirt over her face. When the owner told her to mask up or leave, the woman yelled: “This is ridiculous! You’re discriminating against me!’ and threatened a lawsuit.
- In a Costco in Fort Myers, Florida, a masked man asked an unmasked customer to wear a mask. The unmasked man screamed that he was being harassed: “I feel threatened!”
So: How should those who refuse to wear a mask—and thus threaten the lives of others—be dealt with?
Ideally, President Trump should issue a mandatory emergency order requiring everyone to wear a mask when out in public. But Trump cannot admit to error—let alone one that could cost him votes among his most fanatical followers. So that’s not going to happen.
Governors, mayors and business owners need to fill the leadership void. They should issue emergency orders mandating the wearing of masks in public. And these orders should be forcibly backed up by the following:
- Stop stressing that wearing a mask will protect others from “you.” Most people don’t care about strangers. Emphasize that wearing a mask will protect “you and your family” from others.
- Don’t hand out tickets to mask-evaders. They will simply ignore them—or write them off as a cheap price for going without a mask.
- Major retailers should hire professional guards to handle mask-evaders—who should be turned over to police.
- Police should arrest everyone not wearing a mask in public and jail them—without bond—until the plague is over or a vaccine is found.
- These inmates should be lodged together—and away from those who are not infected with COVID-19.
- Police should create tip hotlines for reporting mask-evaders—and offer rewards for tips that lead to arrests.
- The media should publicize these arrests and jailings—to warn other potential mask-evaders.
- Right-wingers who openly carry firearms and threaten violence should be arrested and imprisoned under State and Federal anti-terrorism laws.
It was the failure of German police and courts to abort Right-wing violence during the Weimar Republic that led to even greater violence through the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.
Laws are useless if citizens believe they are unfairly or unpredictably enforced. As Niccolo Machiavelli warns in his classic work, The Discourses:
…Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it. If their evil disposition remains concealed for a time, it must be attributed to some unknown reason; and we must assume that it lacked occasion to show itself.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
Bureaucracybuster's Blog
ABC NEWS, ABORTION, ADOLF HITLER, ALTERNET, AMERICABLOG, AMY CONEY BARRETT, ANTHONY FAUCI, ANTI-SCIENCE, AP, BABY BOOMER RESISTANCE, BILL STEPIEN, BLOOMBERG, BRIGHAM AND WOMEN’S HOUSPITAL, BUZZFEED, CBS NEWS, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION, CHRIS CHRISTIE, CNN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, CORONAVIRUS, COSTCO, COVID-19, CRAIG SPENCER, CROOKS AND LIARS, DAILY KOZ, DAVID ABRAMS, DEMOCRATS, DONALD TRUMP, DRUDGE RETORT, EDUCATION, FACEBOOK, FASCISM, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, HARPER’S MAGAZINE, HYPOCRISY, JENNY FAUST, JOE BIDEN, KAYLEIGH MCENARY, KRISTI NOEM, MASKS, MEDIA MATTERS, MELANIA TRUMP, MIKE PENCE, MOTHER JONES, MOUNT RUSHMORE, MOVEON, MSNBC, N95 MASKS, NANCY PELOSI, NAZI GERMANY, NAZI PARTY, NAZI PARTY WEIMAR REPUBLIC, NBC NEWS, NEWSWEEK, NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI, NPR, NYU SCHOOL OF GLOBAL PUBLIC HEALTH, PBS NEWSHOUR, PETER GLICK, POLITICO, POLITICUSUSA, RAW STORY, RELIGIOUS FANATICISM, REPUBLICANS, REUTERS, SALON, SCIENCE, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, SEATTLE TIMES, SLATE, SOCIAL DISTANCING, STEPHEN MILLER, STUDENTS FOR TRUMP RALLY, SUPREME COURT, TALKING POINTS MEMO, TARGET, THE ATLANTIC, THE CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE, THE DAILY BEAST, THE DAILY BLOG, THE DISCOURSES, THE GUARDIAN, THE HILL, THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NATION, THE NEW REPUBLIC, THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE VILLAGE VOICE, THE WASHINGTON POST, THINKPROGRESS, TIME, TRUTHDIG, TRUTHOUT, TULSA RALLY, TWITTER, TWO POLITICAL JUNKIES, U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, UPI, USA TODAY, WONKETTE
COUNT THE STUPIDS: PART TWO (END)
In Bureaucracy, History, Law, Law Enforcement, Medical, Politics, Social commentary on October 16, 2020 at 12:18 amThere are at least seven reasons why so many Americans refuse to wear a mask.
First: A feeling of solidarity. According to David Abrams, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at NYU School of Global Public Health: People who don’t wear masks may see it as a sign of solidarity, as if they are taking a stand against authority.
Second: If liberals do it, it’s fascistic. Many mask protesters accuse those who wear masks of being fascists. This is a hallmark of Right-wing politics—accusing their opponents of being what they are themselves.
Third: They have utterly rejected the rising death-toll caused by the virus. They claim stories of such deaths are mere “fake news”—the term Donald Trump uses to dismiss any news stories that highlight his mistakes and criminality.
Fourth: Republicans disdain education in general—and science in particular. In March, an NBC News poll found that only 30% of Republicans said that they would actually listen to the advice of doctors to stay away from large, crowded areas to avoid Coronavirus.
Fifth: Religious Fanaticism: Many fundamentalist Christians believe that their faith in Jesus will protect them against COVID-19. They continue to attend services indoors in defiance of warnings by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that such meetings are dangerous.
A female member of the Solid Red Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, told CNN: “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. I’m covered in Jesus’ blood. I’m covered in Jesus’ blood.”
Sixth: Hypocrisy. Since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, the Right has demanded that even women who are pregnant due to rape or incest carry the fetus to term.
Yet now that Right-wingers are being asked to wear masks in public—to protect themselves and others from a deadly plague—they’ve suddenly discovered the mantra: “It’s my body!”
Seventh: Identifying with Donald Trump. The President has made it clear that his followers don’t wear masks. And they have fallen into line, refusing to mask up even in crowded, indoor arenas where infection is most likely.
Yet even in states where wearing a mask is mandatory when venturing out in public, many people refuse to do so. Fights have erupted before mask-less and mask-wearing customers—and sometimes store employees—who asked them to put on a mask before entering.
So: How should those who refuse to wear a mask—and thus threaten the lives of others—be dealt with?
Ideally, President Trump should issue a mandatory emergency order requiring everyone to wear a mask when out in public. But Trump cannot admit to error—let alone one that could cost him votes among his most fanatical followers. So that’s not going to happen.
Governors, mayors and business owners need to fill the leadership void. They should issue emergency orders mandating the wearing of masks in public. And these orders should be forcibly backed up by the following:
It was the failure of German police and courts to abort Right-wing violence during the Weimar Republic that led to even greater violence through the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party.
Laws are useless if citizens believe they are unfairly or unpredictably enforced. As Niccolo Machiavelli warns in his classic work, The Discourses:
…Whoever desires to found a state and give it laws, must start with assuming that all men are bad and ever ready to display their vicious nature, whenever they may find occasion for it. If their evil disposition remains concealed for a time, it must be attributed to some unknown reason; and we must assume that it lacked occasion to show itself.
Share this:
Like this:
Related