Pandemic demands unity, not intimidation

This post was published in the Wilson Times May 22, 2020

WHAT is the matter with us?

We, meaning everyone in this country, indeed, everyone on the entire planet, is in the midst of a global pandemic. To stop the deadly pandemic, we’ve been told, will require a concerted effort by everyone. We’re all in this together.

You’d be hard-pressed to believe that if you’ve read recent news about public reaction to the relatively modest efforts to slow the spread of the disease and, ultimately, eliminate it as a public health danger. We are asked to remain at home as much as possible, to keep apart from other people when we do go out, to wear face masks that will protect the wearer and others from contracting the virus.

But instead of unity and mutual concern, we’re getting threats, intimidation and threatened or actual violence against people observing pandemic restrictions or asking others to do the same. Consider these recent examples:

° Public health rules and restrictions have led to demonstrations against the laws and rules that apply to everyone in the effort to stop the spread of the virus. But in many places, protesters emphatically carried assault rifles and wore tactical gear to these protests, including some protests in Raleigh, where state law prohibits display of firearms at demonstrations.

° Protesters against public health laws in Michigan flaunted military-style rifles as they tried to force their way into the state capitol’s legislative chamber.

° When an employee at an Oklahoma City McDonald’s told a visitor that the dining area was closed (in accordance with public health restrictions) and only takeout service was available, the visitor initially left but then returned with a pistol and shot and injured three teenage employees.

° A security guard at a Flint, Mich., Family Dollar store was less fortunate. He was fatally shot by a customer he had asked to wear a face mask, in accordance with store policy.

° When a park ranger in Austin, Texas, told a group of visitors that they needed to keep a six-foot distance to prevent spreading the corona virus, one of the men in the group shoved the ranger into the lake.

° Two weeks after the armed intimidation in the Michigan capitol, demonstrators carried a doll dangling from a hangman’s noose. Some protesters suggested Gov. Gretchen Whitmire should be hanged. One demonstrator chanted, “Hang Fauci; Hang Gates; Open all the states.” (The latter invective apparently referred to Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had been falsely accused of deliberately spreading the virus.)

Throughout these atrocities, law enforcement has been mostly absent. Raleigh police, for example, chose not to enforce state law against carrying firearms to a protest or counter-protest.

In Michigan, protesters tried to intimidate news reporters who came to cover the event. Chants of “Fake News is Not Essential” were shouted. One reporter was closely followed by a protester, who ignored requests to keep a safe distance, saying to the reporter, “No, I’m fine, I’ve got hydroxychloroquine,” the malaria drug President Trump had touted as a cure to COVID-19.

It has been reported that some right-wing extremists see not wearing masks as a sign of courage or contempt, regardless of their choice’s impact on the health of others.

What is the matter with us?

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