Conservative Mask Defiance Is Now Disrespect For the Dead
By: Walter Rhein
Tags: Politics, Republicans, Covid 19, Health, Coronavirus

Conservative Mask Defiance Is Now Disrespect For the Dead

It hasn’t been a tragedy, it’s been a massacre

Photo by Max Bender on Unsplash

We’re now at the point in the Coronavirus pandemic where many people you know have suffered personal losses of friends and family. These preventable deaths seem less a tragedy and more a massacre due to the fact that Trump’s odious and delusional followers seem steadfastly committed to doing everything they can to ensure as many people contract the virus as possible.

Our fellow citizens are grieving, some openly, some quietly. We’re dressed in black and tears are streaming down our faces. Meanwhile, mouth-breathing conservatives continue to eschew masks, beat drums, and scream, “screw your feelings snowflake!” Then they turn around and have the nerve to demand courteous debate.

The appalling thing is that when you’re provoked to the limit, and you call one of these people out on their irresponsible, repugnant behavior, they are likely to deny your reality, act offended, and shame you for daring to cast them out of your life. Our nation has descended, and I’m not sure we’ve hit bottom yet.

We could have stopped it

The blame for the utter failure of the United States to get the Coronavirus pandemic under control rests solely with the entitled attitude of defiant, idiotic, science-denying conservatives. Even to this day they refuse to wear masks, they challenge legal stay-at-home orders, and they gather in groups to guarantee further spread.

Now, many of us are sitting at home with family members buried deep in the earth enduring a loss that can never be restored. The situation has gone from a plea to save those who are most vulnerable, to a whole population of fractured souls who have been stripped of the things they held most dearly in life.

Conservatives, ignorant as usual, blunder on in their steadfast belief that they must be in the right.

Science deniers asking for scientific proof

Over the last few months, I’ve expelled from my life a number of people that I’ve known for over a decade. They most often come after you on Facebook, where they feel compelled to share completely deplorable sentiments openly and often.

Yesterday, I blocked an acquaintance who insisted that there is no scientific evidence that masks work. Why do they even use that word? You can show them the scientific evidence and they’ll just berate you for it, or deny it, or cite some idiotic YouTube channel as evidence that you’re wrong. I have a science degree. I’m a licensed Physics teacher. Yet, the conservative dope from high school who failed all his classes insists that he knows better than I do.

I’m tired of them. I don’t have the energy to debate anymore. I just block them. I want them out of my sight so I can take the time to grieve for the losses to humanity and heal. It’s nothing more than a request for some personal dignity. But even that request is something that the average conservative has the decency to respect.

Dude, you blocked me? Shame on you!

I wasn’t in the mood to write, “Please wear a mask because I’ve lost someone.” I’m running out of the energy required to be patient. I’m on empty. I’ve been on empty for more than four years. I’ve said “please” many times, and the barking, spittle-hurling, hysterical response is virtually guaranteed. The moment you are courteous, they double down on their inherently vile, offensive nature.

These people don’t have any shame. They pounce on vulnerability. They think it’s a joke. You can tell them, “I feel you are a threat to my children, you need to stop. Do not advance. Stop. If you continue to advance, I will hold my ground!” Yet they keep coming. Dumb smile on their face. Like a bully, there’s no other recourse than to lay them out. They keep advancing until you punch them in the mouth. Then they recoil and point a finger and cry and wet their pants and label you abusive.

It’s only when they feel like they are the abused party, that feelings suddenly matter. Then, suddenly everything that came before is irrelevant. They’ve had their tail stepped on. In their eyes, you’ve exposed yourself as the ultimate evil.

The person I blocked

The person I blocked sent messages that shamed me for daring to block him.

Shame. It’s a good word. It’s the major tactic that they rely on. They want to shame you. How dare you banish them from your presence. They think you should have to sit there and listen to their entitled nonsense like they have some kind of right to force you to hear it.

Where is the sense of shame for infringing on a moment of personal grief. “Oh, you can’t blame me for that, I didn’t know!”

How could you not know? Look around! Look at the numbers! The whole country is dying…but, oh, yeah, you just deny it so it’s not true.

You deny everything. You deny Trump is a crook. You deny climate change. You deny out of control spending. You deny that the rich exploit people. You deny that health care in our country is corrupt. You deny that religious leaders enable predatory priests. You deny that poor people work hard and are trying to make a better life for themselves. You deny that immigrants are honest and hard working. You deny that the majority of wasteful government spending goes directly to the rich. You deny that Biden won the election. You deny racism. You deny misogyny. You deny that the Earth is round. You deny that we need clean water to drink and fresh air to breathe. You deny that women love their children. You deny the suffering you cause. You deny the evil that your party and your political beliefs perpetuate. You deny children were killed at Sandy Hook. You deny that the children that were killed at Sandy Hook even existed. You deny the pain you spread. You deny that you are the aggressor. You deny that when you are hurt, you receive what you rightfully had coming. You deny reality and you insist that you’re always the victim.

It’s pathetic.

I’m not debating anymore

I left the message from my expelled friend to linger in digital purgatory overnight. There were three messages on two different platforms. I must have gotten to the guy.

But what kind friend ignores it when you repeatedly say the Trump administration has attacked your children? When the president tweeted “white power” it emboldened racists and my family saw aggression as a direct result? He didn’t care. He flew his Trump banner proudly. What kind of friend is unmoved by an account of an assault on your kids? They stumble into the space between a papa bear and his cub and they’re blindsided when they get mauled. How self absorbed and stupid do you have to be?

I wrote back, “I’ve lost loved ones to Covid. It pours salt in the wounds when people say they won’t wear masks. I’m not inclined to debate it. I hope you and your family stay healthy.”

It was kinder than it needed to be. The cut comes from the fact that it’s the last thing I’ll say to the guy. I don’t feel inclined to give him the chance to apologize because he’ll just write back and accuse me of lying. I don’t have any need or reason to sit and listen to that.

Down the rabbit hole

Meanwhile, in the background, Trump is still laboring to overturn the results of the election. We are not out of the darkness yet, and I, for one, won’t breathe easy until Biden is sitting upon the chair of power.

We keep descending. So many people in our communities are pulling down their masks and revealing a face of such utter evil and selfishness that it’s going to be nearly impossible to achieve a level of basic civility, much less friendship with them ever again.

We’re past the point of theories and we’ve moved into the realm of hindsight. We can look back at the mistakes our country has made and see that it was conservatives insisting on the wrong course of action at ever disastrous turn. Going forward, we must do everything we can to silence them. They are incapable of self-reflection. They are wrong in all things. We don’t have a nation that that enjoys the benefit of spirited debate between opposing philosophies. Instead, there is an ongoing battle between reason and madness.

Madness doesn’t deserve a seat at the table. Don’t let anyone try to insist that it does.