This Land
Are Non-Vaxxers and Anti-Maskers Just Too Damn Selfish?
by David Corn August 7, 2021
As COVID-19 surged in Louisiana, the state reinstituted mask mandates. Rogelio V. Solis/AP
As COVID-19 surged in Louisiana, the state reinstituted mask mandates. Rogelio V. Solis/AP
We’re not supposed to shame non-vaxxers and anti-maskers. Public health experts say that’s not the best way to encourage the reluctant, the resistant, or even the indifferent to do the smart thing for themselves and everyone else. But with this ongoing surge of COVID-19 driven by the Delta variant, it’s mighty tough not to scream at the shot-eschewers and mask-deniers, “You’re being selfish.”
This kind of frustration has been spreading. Two weeks ago, Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, huffed, “It's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It's the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.” (She forgot to mention Fox News and some of her fellow GOP governors, most notably Florida’s Ron DeSantis.) This week, as he reimposed a mask mandate, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards of Louisiana—where low rates of vaccination and a spike in COVID hospitalizations have yielded a severe crisis for the state’s health care system—exclaimed, “If you’re a citizen out there...and you’re thinking, ‘Man, I just don’t want to do this,’ what public health expert are you consulting? What epidemiologist are you talking to? What data are you looking at?...Do you give a damn?
That’s a good question for those unwilling to wear masks or be jabbed: Do you give a damn?
At the same press conference, Dr. Catherine O’Neal, the chief medical office of Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, pleaded with Louisianians to don masks and obtain a shot. In a passionate statement, she noted hospitals and other health care facilities have run out of beds. Not just for COVID patients. That not only means trouble for those stricken by the virus, but for anyone with an urgent medical need. People in farming or motor vehicle accidents cannot get the treatment they need. “We are no longer giving adequate care…to anybody,” she sadly said. And vaccinations alone will “not get us there fast enough, and we will lose our friends and our colleagues,” O’Neal noted. “But if we put on our masks, as we’ve done through the last several surges, we will see a decrease in hospitalizations again and that will give us time for the vaccinations to work.” She begged her neighbors to use face coverings and seek vaccinations: “We need you to open our beds for us.”
O’Neal’s appeal, like those we’ve heard from the start of the pandemic from public health experts, is just one of many that have gained urgency—mostly in the red states socked by the current tsunami of COVID. Some Republican governors like Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas have broken from the pack; he declared this week that he regretted having signed a bill that banned state and local mask mandates. But one only need to look at Florida, which accounts for more than 20 percent of the cases nationwide, to see why many still feel justified in flouting public health advice.
DeSantis has made it illegal for local businesses, cruise lines, and school districts to compel mask-wearing or demand proof of vaccinations. Rather than side with medical professionals from his own state who have urged more stringent measures to thwart this latest wave, DeSantis has sent out fundraising letters accusing the “radical left” of “coming for your freedom.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had a good take on this conservative celebration of “freedom” over common-sense science: “When people on the right talk about ‘freedom’ what they actually mean is closer to ‘defense of privilege’— specifically the right of certain people (generally white male Christians) to do whatever they want.” DeSantis and others are exploiting a pandemic to score (and exploit) the most simplistic, if not infantile, ideological talking points: Let’s tell the elites, the Democrats, and all the arrogant-think-they-know-best destroy-America crowd that you’re not the boss of me.
Even when Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who is running for Arkansas governor, encouraged people to get vaccinated, she simultaneously attacked “Dr. Fauci and the ‘because science says so’ crowd of arrogant, condescending politicians and bureaucrats.” The anti-Faucists are right to resist because science says masks and vaccines work? How can we take these people seriously? This is not a debate, it’s a tantrum—and one with deadly consequences.
The disgusting and cynical Republican effort to turn COVID countermeasures into a cudgel against the libs has been sheer opportunism, not principle. Yes, conservatives have always claimed to celebrate individualism over collective action. But we make laws and take steps all the time to advance and protect communal interests. No one is “free” to drink and drive, as Krugman notes. You are not at liberty to burn hazardous waste in your backyard. With COVID, the “freedom” to say eff-you to masks and to reject the vaccination affects more than the all-mighty individual: It imperils local health care operations, threatens those citizens who cannot be vaccinated, and allows the virus more running room. And more transmission—even among the vaccinated—enhances the odds that the aggressive virus will mutate further, perhaps into a form that the current vaccines can’t touch. So those people who continue to refuse to mask up or be vaccinated, who don’t have bona fide medical reasons, are screwing the rest of us. Dr. O’Neal was too polite to say that.
Given the phony and demagogic politics fueling much of the opposition to vaccinations and masks, it’s difficult to feel sympathy or respect for the resisters. In a recent issue of his newsletter The Weekly Dish, conservative commentator Andrew Sullivan cautioned against badgering the unvaccinated: “Endless, condescending nagging won’t help.” He also disparaged talk of new mask mandates and other measures. “I’ll wear a mask indoors if I’m legally required or politely asked,” he wrote. “But I don’t really see why anyone should. In a free society, once everyone has access to a vaccine that overwhelmingly prevents serious sickness and death, there is no reason to enforce lockdowns again, or mask mandates, or social distancing any longer.” Sullivan’s main point was that brutal reality—increased hospitalizations and death for the unvaccinated—will more likely persuade people. In other words, let them watch their loved ones suffer and die, and they’ll figure it out.
We have seen a host of unvaccinated deathbed regrets, and states with low vaccination rates are experiencing an uptick in vaccination rates, but the mask wars are still being waged by DeSantis and others. And as Dr. O’Neal explained, given that the vaccinated can become infected and spread the Delta variant in hotspot areas—and also less hot areas—mask-wearing remains a powerful tool in beating back the virus before it wrecks health care systems, and worse, becomes more lethal. Cajoling, nagging, shaming, bribery—we should do whatever it takes to encourage more shots and more mask-usage where it is needed. By all means, let’s find the most effective ways to direct people toward better choices. But at the same time, we can judge our neighbors who won’t participate in the common defense of our nation and its people. We are free to do that.
Are the resisters being selfish? Tell me what you think. Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.
If you’re enjoying This Land, please help spread the word by forwarding this to your pals, colleagues, and family, and let them know they can sign up for a free trial of This Land here.
Dumbass Comment of the Week
Newt Gingrich was a pioneer. As a do-anything-to-get-ahead Republican back-bencher in the House in the 1980s, he counseled his fellow Republicans to demonize their Democratic opponents. Call them “traitors,” “sick,” “bizarre.” As I’ve noted, he laid the foundation for Donald Trump and the GOP’s modern-day politics of hate. And it worked. His tribalist demagoguery landed him in the House speaker’s chair, until his own hypocrisy (he was cheating on Wife No. 2 with future Wife No. 3 while leading the impeachment charge against President Bill Clinton) led in part to his downfall. Gingrich never went away, and he enjoyed a resurgence of influence and attention during the Trump administration as a huge champion of the now former guy. Still, he reached a new low on Fox News this week, when he essentially promoted the “replacement theory” long identified with white supremacists—that is, the notion that elites in this country are scheming to bring immigrants into the United States to dilute and overwhelm good ol’ white Americans. Gingrich bloviated:
What is hard for most of us to accept is that the anti-American left would love to drown traditional, classic Americans with as many people as they can who know nothing of American history, nothing of American tradition, nothing of the rule of law. I think that when you go and look at the radical left, this is their ideal model, to get rid of the rest of us because we believe in George Washington, or we believe in the Constitution.
“You will not replace us” (or “Jews will not replace us”) is a white nationalist slogan. With this comment, Gingrich was dressing up and spreading a sentiment long advanced by conspiratorial racists.
Mailbag
In a recent issue, I noted that I had a hard time rewatching The French Connection, given its depiction—and seeming acceptance—of police brutality and racism exhibited by tough-guy detective Popeye Doyle, played by Gene Hackman. And there was a robust response. Replying to the question I had posed—can you still watch your favorite old movies?—actor John Cusack tweeted: “Yes you certainly can. Many artists use art as a hammer to shape the world that could and should be—and many just as righteously to show the world as it is (or was)—in all its truth. Ugly beautiful—ambiguous. Popeye Doyle was not a hero. Was a character. Protagonist.”
And there was plenty of mail on this. Reginald Laing wrote:
You're one of my absolute favorite political commentators, but your essay on cringing at scenes in French Connection is an example of the idiocy of viewing all art through a political lens. Do you dislike any piece of narrative art with an antihero? Art for art's sake, my man.
Kris Weinschenker pointed out:
I watched The French Connection a month or two ago and recall having the exact same reaction you had. I often watch reruns of Black Sheep Squadron on the Heroes and Icons network and it's the same thing with "Japs" and "riceballs." There was even an episode with George Takei trying to play a sympathetic Japan officer.
Knox Hughes had this to say:
First, a dissent. The French Connection. I think it’s a great film to watch now BECAUSE of those scenes. Did they not happen? Was Mark Fuhrman never cross examined in the OJ trial? Are they not happening in 2021? Yes, in the world of ‘71, that scene is commonplace & no one kicked up a fuss at the time or was offended—well, no one that was white, most likely, did —but it’s that, that makes it so powerful. Because of that, something that is so truthfully, realistically accurate is included in the film. I fully believe Popeye Doyles existed on every force throughout the land. Probably. Often. Still do...
Enough of my dissent. To MY movie: [National Lampoon’s] Vacation...What I find hard to watch in old movies is perfectly encapsulated in Vacation. All of it is crisp. The chemistry between actors is perfect. Chevy Chase is electric. And yet…? Right after they leave Chicago, they take a wrong turn in St Louis and drive straight into the worst stereotype of black “hood” life where everyone’s a criminal, a hustler, a hooker and a pimp. The scene exists for no narrative reason... The ONLY reason it exists is to make the Griswolds “white” and to make a joke about how black people are all criminals. Add to that the scene at the end when Chevy Chase asks the ONLY other black character, a security guard at WallyWorld, to imitate a dog...??? Oof.
It's been a long time since I watched National Lampoon’s Vacation. I do have a fondness for Chevy Chase because when I was named Junior Achiever of the Year for Westchester County during high school—that’s another story!—he was at the awards dinner and was kind to me.
Other correspondents nominated other tough-to-watch films. David Holden mentioned an obvious one:
My first choice would be John Ford’s The Searchers starring John Wayne and a host of other stellar actors I still think it is great and would watch it again and again. Parts are now very painful to watch with is array of different racial stereotypes as well as other things we would likely not see in a movie made today. One lesser but perhaps now increasingly annoying trait is the old habit of many westerns of making the hero or a close to hero character a noble ex-Confederate. But, in the end, it does confront John Wayne’s character's many flaws. It is a compelling story and it is extremely watchable as a visual experience. It is a story, not a documentary or an instruction manual for how to be an admirable person. Treat it accordingly.
Patricia Briggs wrote:
48 Hours with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte recently showed up in my Movies to Watch. I decided to rewatch it. I could not. It was truly cringeworthy.
Anne Cullen emailed:
My husband and I had a similar conversation about the shelf life of movies we used to like but make us uncomfortable now. Have to say that all the John Hughes movies I loved as a teen are unwatchable now—the rape jokes, racism, and general misogyny are cringeworthy indeed.
James Allar said this:
There’s too many to count. Try the old Micky Rooney/Judy Garland musicals. Great until you hit the blackface routine, then it’s goodbye forever. So many 1930s movies have the shuffling, grinning black (“negro” cringe) shoeshine boy or luggage attendant, and the maids, of course, and you realize that’s all the representation blacks were going to have, their careers made from playing nameless, dialogue-less stereotypes...Then there’s the non-Egyptian Egyptians in The Ten Commandments, which actually holds up as a blockbuster, and fares much better than the extravagant The King & I, with the superb Yul Brynner pretending to be Siamese (Occidental cringe), heavily made-up whites as the secondary characters and extras, and a special cringe for Deborah Kerr’s Anna, who is SHOCKED when she encounters a bare-chested Siam official (savage cringe). West Side Story is unwatchable with Anglos playing Puerto Ricans and singing about their “ugly island, island of tropical diseases.”...Thank god for The Wizard of Oz.
It’s difficult for me to turn my back on West Side Story. That score! And we will see what Steven Spielberg does with it when his remake is released this December:
The mail also brought in a correction from Claude Scales:
I was thrilled that you quoted my letter in My [sic] Land today. Two small corrections: (1) there's an "e" at the end of my given name; and (2) it wasn't Black 47 that Hilly banned from CBGB, it was Larry's and Pierce Turner's predecessor band, Turner & Kirwan of Wexford.
Finally, the last edition of This Land included this item:
Two days later I drove by the same spot, and the Confederate flag was gone. Impact journalism?
Want to appear in the next Mailbag? Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.
MoxieCam™
You will believe a dog can fly.
Read Previous Issues of This Land
August 3, 2021: When “worse than Watergate” is really worse than Watergate; Apple TV+’s “comedy” Physical is no comedy, but it’s worth watching; This Land in Photos (West Virginia); and more.
July 31, 2021: Can you still watch your favorite movies?; Dumbass Comment of the Week; Mailbag (more on Lennon versus McCartney); MoxieCam™; and more.
July 29, 2021: Is a country music star encouraging more January 6-like violence?; a civil rights hero more people should know; and more.
July 27, 2021: Are Republicans going to sabotage police reform that doesn’t even go far enough?; how to put a senseless murder to good use; how sober is Liz Phair?; and more.
July 24, 2021: Has Paul McCartney finally won me over?; Dumbass Comment of the Week; Mailbag; MoxieCam™; and more.
July 22, 2021: My bizarre encounter with Rep. Jim Jordan—and why Speaker Pelosi was right to bounce him from the 1/6 committee; celebrating and grieving with musician Steve Earle; and more.
July 20, 2021: The time a Republican president did the right thing to stop an epidemic; Trump’s big narcissism fail; Nelson Algren and Norman Podhoretz; a new psychedelic Beatles-esque tune; and more.
July 17, 2021: Why the Guardian’s Trump-Russia bombshell—dud or not—doesn’t fully matter; Dumbass Comment of the Week; why Bosch works in spite of Bosch; MoxieCam™; and more.
July 15, 2021: Does President Joe Biden really stand with the Cuban people?; the time I really pissed off the Cuban regime; J. Edgar Hoover vs. MLK; one of the best movie reviews of all time; and more.
July 13, 2021: A coming referendum on Donald Trump; a suggestion for Hunter Biden; a new book on how the super-rich screw us all; and more.
July 10, 2021: Why the Republicans are right to be terrified of the new House committee investigating the 1/6 attack; Dumbass Comment of the Week; Joni Mitchell’s Blue 50; and more.
July 7, 2021: How The Summer of Soul counters the GOP’s season of hate; a debate on the recent UFO report; Garry Trudeau, American Dostoyevsky; MoxieCam™; and more.
July 3, 2021: Donald Rumsfeld, Christopher Hitchens, the Iraq War, and me; the perils of taking a home DNA test; Dumbass Comment of the Week; a Springsteen story; and more.
July 1, 2021: Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and perjury; Adam Serwer’s new book; Cézanne’s crime scene; and more.
June 29, 2021: How the new UFO report is bad news for UFO believers; my own UFO tale; HBO Max’s Hacks; an anti-racist anthem; and more.
June 26, 2021: Is Josh Hawley dumb or evil? (The answer is not both); Dumbassery that encourages mass “executions” in the United States; renowned guitarist and songwriter Richard Thompson’s new tour and new book (and his claim regarding the best strings arrangement ever on a popular song); MoxieCam™ (before and after photos!); and more.
June 24, 2021: How an alleged 1/6 conspirator who called for executing Trump’s foes hooked up with a prominent Republican Party official; new Los Lobos; and more.
June 22, 2021: Why the GOP is pushing “political apartheid”; Ted Cruz wins Dumbass Comment of the Week; recommendations for an Apple TV+ series and a book on the curious origins of the universe; the first Clash tour of the United States (and being trapped in a van driven by a punk on acid); MoxieCam™; and more.
Got suggestions, comments, complaints, tips related to any of the above, or anything else? Email me at thisland@motherjones.com.
Mother Jones
This message was sent to example@example.com. To change the messages you receive from us, you can edit your email preferences or unsubscribe from all mailings.
www.MotherJones.com
PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.