thomas leverett weblog

kool aid

I just read an article that made me mad, about the politicization of social distancing. It appears we liberals do it more than conservatives. It appears that it is an article of faith on the right that social distancing is a lib trick to bring Trump down and ruin the economy. Therefore, conservatives should keep their state open, go to church on Sunday, and keep on keeping on.

I am here to tell you that it is not in our interests that only conservatives get the virus, keel over, and leave this world. It is not in our interests for conservatives to bring it home to lib family members, either, or take it to the nursing home where they work. Some of these places are very sensitive, and one essential worker is all it takes - pretty soon everyone's got it, and it doesn't discriminate - it doesn't care about your political views.

i find it incredible that conservatives, as a bloc, would be more likely to value the economy over their health; I find that ridiculous, even. I also feel that the vast number of young people you see at the beaches, and at virus parties - well, they could be either red or blue, as recent tracking shows. I have heard some people say that they don't care if all the Trumpers just go to rallies and give each other the virus. But I find that ridiculous too. Why would we want anyone to get the virus?

I call on everyone to do the intelligent thing and don't get the virus. Then do the intelligent thing in November so that we can get out of this mess. But finally, stop looking at health itself as political - if you have to do something stupid just in order to prove your ideological worth, you are hankering for the wrong ideology. That's kind of like taking kool-aid, now, isn't it?

posted by tom @ 3:31 PM