Current president Barack Obama It is not an unusual or one-off situation to hold a birthday party amid the nationwide surge of COVID-19. In many cases, it is not the rules that anger American taxpayers, but their countless exceptions—and these exceptions always seem to benefit them.
In many cases in the United States, especially during these plague years, citizens find themselves bound by a very detailed set of rules. At the same time, these rules seem to be plagued by exceptions, especially for “political correctness.” Discussing them honestly is usually taboo.
Take my own state of Kentucky as an example, a relatively loose purple state. Today in Kentucky, Anyone enters Regardless of the COVID vaccination status, the state building must wear at least one mask and maintain social distancing. For most of 2020, all so-called non-essential businesses—gyms, hair salons, nail salons, spas, concert venues, entertainment facilities, and even doctor and dentist offices—are closed.Governor Andy Bashir Prohibition of gatherings More than 10 people, all U.S. laws and regulations without exception
But almost immediately, as large-scale demonstrations and riots swept the country, there were exceptions to the propaganda of “refuge in place” and “only one life saved”. One of the most memorable features of 2020-as much as our need to stay indoors all day-is the mass street protests after our deaths on May 25. George Freud. 15 to 26 million people Separate At these public gatherings; at the height of the pandemic, many citizens are out all day.
Many of the country’s leading infectious disease experts suddenly started Encourage Leaving home to protest. More than 1,200 public health professionals signed a letter, Full text reprinted go through CNN, Supports the George Floyd protests and appeals to elected officials not to use concerns about COVID as an “excus” to shut down any protests.
The signing doctor said: “We do not condemn these gatherings for the risk of spreading COVID-19.” In fact, these are “critical to national public health” because they challenge another real threat to the United States: “The prevalence of white supremacy Lethal force”. Perhaps most notably, the doctors limited their support for the protests to left-wing events: “This should not be confused with a tolerant stance on all gatherings, especially protests against stay-at-home orders. These actions are not only against public health interventions, but also against public health interventions. It is also rooted in white nationalism and runs counter to respect for black life.”
understood.
David MCNEW/AFP via Getty Images
Not surprisingly, in the face of such open double standards, many citizens have gone beyond cynicism and turned to contempt for “professional knowledge” and the law. For the many taxpayers I live in, there is no doubt that the pure hypocrisy of taxpayers across the country is stupid, and it is still true.
After almost a year, not much has changed.With the proliferation of “Delta”, paranoia about COVID has once again risen, and the papers are full of suggestions on double cover-ups and severe criticism of anyone who refuses to be vaccinated, including from economist (“Republican anti-Vaxx delusion”), Bloomberg (“Anti-Vaxx is logical Republicans‘Irrational’), Washington post (“Republicans released deadly vaccine hesitate”), and Atlantic Organization (“Delta is ruining the summer, this is the fault of the anti-vaccine”).
But, again, there are obvious logical loopholes in the narrative. These are not worth discussing, but citizens can hardly avoid noticing them. The “put on two masks and stay at home”-style regulations seem to never extend to a lucrative million-person festival like Lollapalooza, which has just been held in Chicago—although some people have expressed concerns about being in the more popular Sturgi There was a lot of criticism at the Sri Lanka bicycle rally.
Despite the current surge in the number of undocumented crossings across the southern border and 18% of immigrants have recently left border patrol facilities, there are few statements about the potential impact of illegal immigration on the number of COVID cases in the United States Test positive For COVID-19.
Perhaps most notably, mainstream media’s almost univariate focus on MAGA conservatives as anti-vaccineists ignores the same or higher unvaccinated rates in most minority communities.Among black Americans-few people know the word “Tuskegee”, not the name of the university-only 38% Even received a dose Any coronavirus vaccine. (A witty conservative like Will Chamberlain went viral on the Internet Twitter Pointing out that vaccine passports can be said to be a de facto form of isolation, the Mayor of Boston famously compared forcing minorities to “show their documents” with slavery and similar “annoying parts of American history.” )
Sadly, there is evidence that the real reason people are so hesitant to vaccinate is the credibility crisis of medical institutions, which sacrificed credibility for political purposes. The impact of COVID hypocrisy on citizens may take some time to subside. No one likes to take orders, but few people really object to following meaningful consistent rules.who Do The objection is to follow seemingly illogical rules and make dozens of exceptions to the rules preferred by one or another political faction.
The outrage caused by this hypocrisy is related to the results of a recent survey that only 52% of Americans are CDC, Only 29% of Americans (much less conservative) trust the national media, and exactly 9% of us Congress.
To solve this problem, leaders may only need to return to some very old and simple standards: make consistent rules based on actual experience, and then apply them fairly to everyone.
Wilfred Riley is an assistant professor of political science Kentucky State University.
The views in this article are those of the author.
