The great Alexandra Petri on the organized, right- wing Republican protests against stay- at- home orders (just in states run by Democrats, naturally):
I am here to make my voice heard. I am not actively in favor of the virus, but I think there might be good people on both sides of this people-virus question. So I am going to assemble in such a way that my leaders will have no choice but to listen and that through my negligence, more people will die. You might say I’m doing my part. Thankfully, at least, the president agrees.
The problem? On the grounds that there “is a pandemic” and it "is not safe,” I have been briefly deterred from going about my life in exactly the manner I would like. Can you believe this? No, I will not hold. I am here, banging on the window, like the heroes in a zombie film. Listen, I know my rights. I know that among them is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but I don’t care about the first one.
Given the choice of saving thousands of lives, including, possibly, my own, or getting to buy a can of 730C-2 Sandstone Cove paint now rather than later, I will not hesitate to choose the latter. Do not ask me how many lives I would trade to avoid minor inconveniences, or you will see what a sea of bodies I would be content to wade through to my morning coffee. If I’m willing to die, that should be enough for everyone. No one — as I have established during COUNTLESS interactions with customer service professionals — is worth more than me.
The entire op/ ed is a great must- read, surgically skewering the hypocrisy, stupidity, pettiness and self- absorption of these "party of life/ spread the virus" assholes, that almost perfectly mirrors that of their Dear Leader.I just want nothing about my life to change, including my indifference to the lives of others. So please stop demanding that I bend to the will of the people or their elected officials. The last time I checked, this was a democracy.
Meanwhile, let's see whose actions the public really supports (click to enlarge):
BONUS: Michigan's stellar Governor Gretchen Whitmer had a succinct reply to the alt-right, COVID Donnie mob that collected in Lansing to protest the state's shutdown: “It’s better to be six feet apart right now than six feet under.”
BONUS II: The assholes are determined to kill you, and they have Trump's ear.
(Photo: Sub- moron zombies protest in Columbus, Ohio. Joshua A. Bickel, Columbus Dispatch/AP)
