Wednesday, June 17, 2020

"NO MASK DAY" DOESN'T SEEM LIKE A BIG DEAL, SO FAR

I spotted this paragraph in an NBC News story about the mask culture wars:
On social media, dueling hashtags specifically tied to masks have emerged: #MaskItorCasket for those who are pro-masks, and #NoMaskDay for those who want to do without — and plan to do just that in cities nationwide this Saturday.
Saturday is going to be a nationwide No Mask Day? Really?

Well, yes and no. There's a campaign to make No Mask Day happen nationwide, but it seems to be the work of a small, Connecticut-based right-wing group called CT Liberty Rally, which has been denouncing the state's lockdown (and Democratic governor) for a while now.



The founder of CT Liberty Rally, identified on the group's Facebook page as Jonathan Milon Johnson, is a registered libertarian from New Britain, Connecticut. CT Liberty Rally has been part of the Reopen movement, but it doesn't seem to be taking in wingnut welfare money -- Johnson posted a GoFundMe for the group last month and raised only $25 of his $1000 goal.

The group does a fair amount of whining online:



When the group isn't whining, it's holding protests that try to force shop owners to suspend their safety protocols.



The good news is that this isn't a mass movement yet. But it's representative of a widespread attitude in America, and it largely explains this chart.



It's not just Trump. It's the plutocrats and GOP officials who've pushed the idea of reopening without adequate testing and tracing or reductions in transmission, and it's ordinary citizens who consider it a violation of the Constitution to enact public health measures, or do anything that they consider an inconvenience.

I'll leave you with CT Liberty Rally's Facebook banner:



I'm not the first one to say this, but I wonder if they regard "No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service" signs to be unconstitutional tyranny.

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