COVID Mask "Controversy" The Essence Of GOP's Ignorance, Lies And Proud Denial Of Reality
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Grant Woods, the former chief of staff to the late Sen. John McCain (R), told CNN’s Ron Brownstein: “If the Republican Party wants to continue to push in the direction of being anti-education, and they want to be the party of … the bigoted, then they are going to go down the drain in the Southwest, because that’s not what the Southwest is.” Nothing says anti-education like making refusal to wear a mask a defining symbol of your movement.
The irony of the mask defiance is that the mask is actually a symbol of personal responsibility, previously claimed as a Republican value. The Democrats have snatched that away faster than you can say PPE. At his daily news conference, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) proclaimed that wearing a mask is “cool” and unveiled the winners of a state contest to create a public service announcement urging mask use. “Government this, government that,” he said mocking the notion that the pandemic is fought by government. “Forget government. This whole trajectory is decided by people. It’s personal behavior.” The value of personal responsibility —government must leave us alone so people will do the right thing! — has now become a (capital “D”) Democratic value.
In essence, Republicans tell anyone who believes in basic science that they are chumps and stooges of the elites. That is not a great message to attract suburban mothers, high-tech millennials or older Americans who are especially vulnerable to contracting the virus. In one sense, mask repudiation is no different than Republicans flaunting their climate-change denial. But here, the defiance of consideration for others and rejection of science is visible without them uttering a word; the harm they would inflict on others is immediate and, in some cases, fatal.
A new USA Today/Ipsos poll shows that “1 in 5 teachers say they are unlikely to go back to school if their classrooms reopen in the fall, a potential massive wave of resignations.” The majority of teachers are women. They have not lost their love of teaching; they are understandably afraid. And they are not alone. “A separate poll of parents with at least one child in grades K-12 finds that 6 in 10 say they would be likely to pursue at-home learning options instead of sending back their children this fall.”
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https://climatecrocks.com/2020/05/28/when-did-facts-become-optional/#more-60206
