Americans have gone anti-face mask crazy and are bucking national safety protocols with threats of defiance and acts of actual violence.
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In light of the continuing coronavirus pandemic, states across the country have enacted mandatory face mask rules while in public in order to stop the spread of COVID-19. The move has prompted stores and commercial businesses to post signs informing customers they must wear a mask on the premises or else be denied entry.
Sadly, not everyone has been willing to comply with the new safety measures.
A Colorado man was asked to leave a Costco after arguing with a store employee, saying he didn’t need to wear a mask because “I woke up in a free country.”
In upstate New York, a Walmart shopper was so angry about being asked to wear a mask that she spit on a store employee. The woman also claimed to have the coronavirus.
In Michigan, a security guard working at a local Family Dollar store was shot and killed by a customer who refused to wear a mask while inside the store.
Illinois State GOP Rep. Darren Bailey was forcibly removed from a House session last week after ignoring the mask rule around his colleagues. A Kentucky convenience store also went so far as to post a sign that read: “NO Face Masks allowed in store. Lower your mask or go somewhere else. Stop listening to [Democratic Kentucky governor Andy] Beshear, he’s a dumbass.”
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Additionally, Americans took to beaches and swimming pools over the Memorial Day weekend and celebrated by the droves in bold defiance of social distancing guidelines.
Not surprisingly, the vast majority of those refusing to wear masks are also Donald Trump supporters who are politicizing the face mask requirement above the interest of safety. Not only have they adopted the same anti-face mask policy they see Trump and Mike Pence flaunting while in public, but they’ve also bought into the conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is a Democratic hoax designed to hurt ‘The Donald’ in the 2020 election.
Such beliefs have prompted the anti-face mask crowd to incorrectly claim the mask policy is a threat to their constitutional rights and that they are within their power to file lawsuits in order to get their way.
“It’s complete nonsense,” said constitutional law and first amendment lawyer Dan Barr who added that because companies and businesses are on private property, they have every right to set their own code of decorum such as the classic “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service” rule.
“When people say they have the right to not wear a mask they may as well say they have a right to not wear clothes,” Barr said. “They certainly have a right to not wear clothes in their home, but no one would say you could walk in naked into a Walmart or Costco because it’s your constitutional right to do so. “
When violating the policy of business on private property, Barr made it clear that people are violating the business’s rights.
“It’s strange when people say I have a constitutional right to not wear a mask while ignoring the rights of private property owners,” Barr added.
Interestingly, the anti-face mask controversy prompted an emotional response from a Republican politician, who urged the public to throw away their partisanship in the interest of public safety and simply do the right thing.
“I would really love to see in North Dakota that we could just skip this thing that other parts of the nation are going through, where they’re creating a divide — either it’s ideological or political or something — around mask versus no mask,” Gov. Doug Burgum said Friday during a news conference in Bismarck. “This is a, I would say, senseless dividing line,” he continued while pleading with the public to dig deep within themselves to find empathy and understanding.
“If someone is wearing a mask, they’re not doing it to represent what political party they’re in or what candidates they support,” he said as his voice began to waver. “They might be doing it because they’ve got a 5-year-old child who’s been going through cancer treatments. They might have vulnerable adults in their life, who currently have Covid and they’re fighting,” he added. “You should look at them and say that person’s wearing a mask because, for them, there’s additional risk in their life.”
I want to borrow a thought from Rod Dreher at TAC and tweak it a bit with my own words {…} to try to articulate my own thoughts on the madness currently unfolding in America. [Celebration of a particular evil, or suppression of a particular good, is {NOT} sufficient cause to damn Our entire civilization, or (less grandiosely), the social order. {However, WE who truly love this country and are genuinely Thankful for the sacred Gift of Life should understand that} the good things about Our civilization were purchased dearly, and are {significantly} more Fragile than we think.] When you mix Arrogance and ignorance with rampant narcissism and nihilism, then add depraved callousness and indifference to those other toxic ingredients the result is what WE…and the entire world…watched unfold in America this past weekend. Memorial Day weekend, no less…smh! WE are a nation of at least 320 million people. And yet, WE’re allowing a clear Minority… Read more »