Friday, August 06, 2021

In The Spotlight

There's one thing about COVID that's undeniable. It puts stupidity in the spotlight. Eugene Robinson writes:

This is the GOP’s pandemic now. Cynical and irresponsible Republican politicians have created an environment that is killing Americans who shouldn’t have to die, swamping hospital systems with desperately ill patients, and generally ensuring that the pain and disruption of covid-19 are with us longer than they need be or should be. And they’ve done so in their own self-interest.

Stupidity seems to be the one thing that unites Republicans. And Florida governor Ron DeSantis is Exhibit A:

Public enemy number one is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is transparently trying to position himself as a contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. DeSantis has signed legislation barring local governments from imposing covid-19 restrictions and prohibiting businesses from requiring that patrons be vaccinated. He has fought to prohibit cruise ships sailing from Florida ports from mandating vaccinations. And though he supposedly supports local control over public schools, DeSantis has threatened to withhold state funding from districts that require students to wear masks.

This week, Joe Biden asked him to "get out of the way." DeSantis has no intention of doing so. Texas governor Greg Abbott is also with Stupid:

 Abbott vows that “in Texas there will not be any government-imposed shutdowns or mask mandates. Everyone already knows what to do. Everyone can voluntarily implement the mandates that are safest for them, their families and their businesses.”

Both men talk about "personal responsibility." It's a good line:

Their basic message: Your body, your choice, nobody else’s business.

But that’s not true. Those who make the “personal choice” not to be vaccinated or not to mask up in appropriate settings are also making a choice to put others at risk. They can spread the coronavirus not just to other unvaccinated individuals, but also to those who can’t get vaccinated; those for whom the vaccines are less effective; and vaccinated people who might themselves not get seriously ill but could potentially pass the virus to more vulnerable members of their households.

Call it what it is: Stupidity. That's what's in the spotlight.

Image: thehill.com

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Stupidity lets them off far too easily. Abbott has a law degree from Vanderbilt; DeSantis from Harvard. These are not stupid men, these are sociopaths. They don't care how many of their supporters die so long as they can advance their own careers. The good news, however, is that DeSantis at least is tanking in the polls, just like his idol Trump did. Texans, however, still haven't figured out that Abbott is trying to kill them - now that's stupidity!

Cap

Owen Gray said...

Stupidity has nothing to do with I.Q., Cap. But it has a lot to do with tunnel vision.

The Disaffected Lib said...

1980. Imagine how people would have reacted to this back before half the American population lost their minds?

Owen Gray said...

It was a different time, Mound. But, in 1980, Ronald Reagan became the first celebrity president.

Trailblazer said...

Rights overshadowed responsibility many years ago.
The world hs not been the same since.
TB

the salamander said...

.. Watching the asinine.. Is like 'Watching The I Infectors' to the Joe Jackson song 'Watching The Detectives' - just substitute one word. We are now very deep into the current era of very dangerous political animals. I watch the American Deception (or delusion) with interest it's a guide to 'conservative' politics in Canada.. a fast arrival 'for telling'

Mound's comment has veracity.. Ignorant thugs like De Santis or Abbott would have never been elected in days gone by, as a credible honest candidate would have wiped the floor with them. And there are more and more like them

In Canada, the likes of Doug Ford, Jason Kenney, or a Christy Clark.. Moe, Palliser same deal. The journalism of the day would have sunk their ships before they sailed instead of them getting 4 year guarranteed contracts with option for renewal.. or they might have ended up in prison. I won't bother going into the detail other than 'the situation is volatile'

It's not just the forests that are burning - it's the reality that Canadian Democracy actually is on a ventilator. I'll hold my breath till September and/or December to really see what Kenney & Ford have wrought. We have the gift of vaccines & good science that fell from heaven but in general, the current crop of pretendo 'leaders' are a scurrilous clot of corrupted thugs & their parties & a Mainstream Media that was captured and sold out, a rise in evangelicism, overpopulation, and it's a matter of time until environmental refugees simply flood to Canada and the US in attempts to survive.

We simply cannot survive the overall situations .. It's like overloading a lifeboat and all drown or the sharks get them

Owen Gray said...

When the focus is "me", TB, who cares about "we"?

Owen Gray said...

It's remarkable, sal. We have developed the vaccines. But our political intelligence is stuck in the Stone Age.