Freedumb vs. Public Health
Who knew that the freedom to be stupid and arrogant is a thing?
(CNN) - On Thursday, Mitch McConnell was asked about the sluggish Covid-19 vaccination rates among his fellow Kentuckians -- and why he believed it to be the case.
"I'm perplexed by the reluctance of some to get vaccinated, totally perplexed," he said.
Perplexed, eh?
Let me help!
Maybe just maybe -- and I am spitballing here -- the relentless efforts by former President Donald Trump and his Fox News cohorts to question the severity of the coronavirus, scoff at medical guidance on mask-wearing and cast the whole response to -- and vaccination for -- Covid-19 as an issue of freedom as opposed to one of public health might have something to do with it?
Uh yeah.
Someday soon, some poor historian/journalist/masochist will take a seat in front of their laptop. It’ll represent the first step in trying to parse the history of the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, they’ll try to determine who was responsible for the virus becoming such a deadly worldwide catastrophe.
Will they determine that greedy, corrupt, and egomaniacal political leaders who refused to recognize their screw-ups dropped the ball? Will they be able to identify inflection points at which someone might have curtailed the spread of COVID-19? Will they understand that the most powerful nation in the world had the worst possible leadership at the worst possible moment?
History is rarely chronicled well or accurately in the heat of the moment. It’s too easy (though not altogether inappropriate or inaccurate) to examine the pandemic now and assess blame. Some of that may be spot on, but history benefits from the dispassionate investigation and examination of events and decisions.
The time will come when it will be possible for those so inclined to examine the events, decisions, mistakes, and faux pas of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll assess blame and credit. They’ll identify the lessons we can, should, and must learn so that something similar doesn’t happen again.
Most Americans will, of course, ignore the lessons that should be learned and continue to act as if nothing happened. Never mind that somewhere north of 600,000 of our fellow citizens (and more than four million worldwide) have perished, in large part due to ignorance, arrogance, and the predominance of the cult of selfishness.
How do I know this to be true? How can I be so cynical? To me, it isn’t cynicism; it’s realism. Since the pandemic’s onset, the forces of darkness have performed as expected. Pundits like Tucker Carlson have built their brand on dezinformatziya, shameless lies, and the willingness to say and do whatever it takes to attract clicks and eyeballs (and thus inflate their bank accounts):
"In this country, we control our own bodies. They are always telling us that. But no. Suddenly, the rules have changed. On the question of the corona vaccine, our leaders definitely are not pro-choice. Their view is do as you are told and don't complain. No uncomfortable questions. Those are not just suggestions, they are rules and Silicon Valley aims to enforce them."….
Carlson's anti-vax rhetoric has only grown more heated since.
The truth, of course, is that the only people in America who “control our own bodies” are Conservative White males. Because, by their estimation, Almighty God granted them the power and authority necessary to rule.
In the beginning, when Republicans set out to politicize everything, there was little, if any thought, give to unforeseen consequences. So, when then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that his top priority was to ensure that Barack Obama was a one-term President, he wasn’t thinking beyond his self-interest. He wasn’t considering what might happen more than a decade later, when a deadly virus would lay waste to America.
And he wasn’t considering that his rhetoric and actions would so thoroughly cleave the country “red” from “blue” that America would be living two very different and distinct truths.
McConnell didn’t understand that angry White Conservative males would come to so thoroughly resent and hate those not like them that it would poison any hope of public comity. How could he understand? He’s an angry White Conservative male himself- though he has little about which to be upset. One of the most powerful men in America, he’s married to a wealthy Chinese-American shipping heiress and wants for nothing. Even with Republicans currently in the minority on Capitol Hill, the federal government doesn’t so much as belch without McConnell’s knowledge and consent.
McConnell declaring with no sense of irony that "I'm perplexed by the reluctance of some to get vaccinated, totally perplexed," is just about the most disingenuous thing imaginable. Mitch McConnell is perplexed about little that happens in political Washington- because he’s usually the puppeteer.
Yes, “the relentless efforts by former President Donald Trump and his Fox News cohorts” are primarily responsible for that reluctance, but McConnell has worked diligently to support those efforts. He’s been able to do this because, as a Senator with no soul or conscience, it’s never been about public service. It’s ALWAYS been about what’s best for Mitch McConnell.
Given all of that, it should come as no surprise at all -- to McConnell or anyone else -- that you can track Covid-19 vaccinations rates by the percentage of the vote Trump won in 2020.
In states he won big --- Idaho, Oklahoma etc. -- vaccinations rates are running well under 50%. Where Trump lost overwhelmingly -- Vermont, Massachusetts -- vaccination rates are some of the highest in the country.
In short: You can literally overlay the 2020 map on the current vaccination map and have an almost-perfect match. Blue states have the most heavily vaccinated populations; red states have the least vaccinated populations.
McConnell knows all of this….
Trump, with a major assist from the likes of Carlson and others -- though not all -- at Fox News turned vaccination against a virus that has killed more than 600,000 Americans into a political issue. And no, it didn't have to be this way. The vast majority of Americans get a tetanus shot or an MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine without a word of protest.
Less perplexed now?
There’s nothing difficult to understand about why America is where it is today, nor why upwards of 600,000 of its citizens have succumbed to COVID-19. So, yes, we should leave it to historians to dissect the events of this pandemic and discern what lessons reside within those events. Still, we must recognize that some have used this time to build their brand.
An entire political party- the GOP- has chosen to build its appeal and camouflage its desire to destroy American democracy by painting COVID-19 as a Liberal hoax.
If that isn’t pathetic, inhuman, and sickening, I don’t know what would be.
Eight decades ago, what we now know as America’s “Greatest Generation” responded to a menace that threatened to destroy the world. Between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, the future of the world was at stake. Yet, Americans recognized the threat, came together, and did what was necessary to defeat Hitler and Hirohito.
America wasn’t a perfect union, but it was good enough when the need arose.
Without the sacrifices made by the “Greatest Generation,” America wouldn’t be what it is today. That happened because Americans from all walks of life identified a common enemy and agreed that defeating it was Job One. As a result, between 1941-45, virtually the entire country made defeating Germany and Japan its top priority.
Americans recognized the threat and pulled together in a shared effort to protect their country and their way of life.
I find it difficult to imagine that happening today. Now that we live in an era that considers selfishness and self-interest to be the highest, best, and ONLY values, I can’t help but wonder what history will say about us.
We can’t even agree on what represents the truth, so how could we hope to identify a common enemy? Sadly, COVID-19 provided that opportunity, and we failed miserably.
Call us the “Below-Average Generation.”