A Weekend of “My Freedom First,” Reminiscent of San Francisco's Spanish Flu Anti-Mask League
People concerned about getting their nails done and hair cut took to the streets over the weekend. They were a motley bunch, a mixture of racists, anti-vaxxers, surfer dudes, and Trumpanistas who would say they don’t fall into either category.
Columnist Will Bunch calls them Branch Covidians. Enjoy that kool-aid while you can, kids. History shows there’s a sad ending coming.
They are following the lead of a man incapable of empathy, being manipulated by grifters, and making a mockery of real American values.
From the Union-Tribune coverage of a downtown event:
The “Freedom Rally” drew at least 200 people — many carrying American flags, posters and wearing Trump 2020 hats. Most were not wearing masks or practicing social distancing. An unknown number of additional protesters chose to stay in their vehicles and drove by honking and waving U.S. flags from their windows.
Protesters demanded that businesses, schools, churches, parks and beaches be reopened. Many expressed that the coronavirus was “a flu” and pointed to the low number of positive cases in the region and state.
Many of these actions around the country come from a narrative that says opposition to stay at home orders is rising. Effing Fox News broadcast interviews with the same Michigan protester on Tucker Carlson, Jeanine Pirro, and Fox & Friends.
ABC News broadcast headlines saying opposition to various health and safety measures was building coast to coast.
https://twitter.com/VanceUlrich/status/1252029648042516480?s=20
Here's a snip from the Union-Tribune's coverage of an Encinitas event:
Crista Curtis, a Cardiff resident who organized Sunday’s protest, said “the last straw” for her was when Encinitas last week closed the Coastal Rail Trail, a popular walking path.
She said she organized the protest mainly to call for the reopening of beaches and trails, but she also thinks more businesses should be allowed to reopen, such as beauty salons.
“I can’t get my eyebrows waxed one-on-one? I can’t get my nails done?” she said. “I don’t see the point of all businesses being closed.”
Curtis was recently in the news for helping to lead opposition to a homeless parking lot in Encinitas.
Public opinion polling shows support for the national lockdown ranging as high as 91%. That kind of a majority wouldn’t usually be found saying for the Earth being round. A poll in Los Angeles indicated that 71% of conservatives support these measures.
It’s taken very little research to discover that many of the websites and social media event pages are all linked to a very few groups.
Groups like :
Americanfirearmscoalition.org, idahosaa.org, iowapla.org, lyindandawson.com, ohiogunowners.org, raginamy.com, secondamendmentpolitics.com, sixbrothersdisasterrelief.com, vetoredflags.com, wisconsinfirearmscoalition.org
And almost every state has a site named reopen [insertname].com, all with the same basic Google registration info.
I’m not saying this is a conspiracy. (Led by Russia or anybody else.) What we have here is a nationwide assortment of like minded extremists rooting for a “boogaloo,” namely social unrest that causes the government to collapse. Mostly, they’re motivated by racism. Some are motivated by a fake religious ideology called dominionism, which wants to replace government with a religion-based entity.
The Washington Post found links between extremist pro-gun activists and various protests:
A trio of far-right, pro-gun provocateurs is behind some of the largest Facebook groups calling for anti-quarantine protests around the country, offering the latest illustration that some seemingly organic demonstrations are being engineered by a network of conservative activists.
The Facebook groups target Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, and they appear to be the work of Ben Dorr, the political director of a group called “Minnesota Gun Rights,” and his siblings, Christopher and Aaron. By Sunday, the groups had roughly 200,000 members combined, and they continued to expand quickly, days after President Trump endorsed such protests by suggesting citizens should “liberate” their states.
The Dorr brothers manage a slew of pro-gun groups across a wide range of states, from Iowa to Minnesota to New York, and seek primarily to discredit organizations like the National Rifle Association as being too compromising on gun safety. Minnesota Gun Rights, for instance, describes itself as the state’s “no-compromise gun rights organization.”
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We’ve been here (with this ignorance) before, by the way. They called themselves the Anti-Mask League.
National Public Radio’s Tim Mak dug up some info on San Francisco’s Anti-Mask League’s actions during the1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.
To make a long story short, after an initial wave of infections began to abate, people rushed to public places. Then the disease returned with a vengeance. But these “fine people” held a rally with 2000 people to protest a health department order making masks mandatory. The results weren’t pretty.
Ultimately San Francisco was one of the American cities hardest hit by the Spanish Flu. Los Angeles, which had no public resistance to mask wearing, got off much better.
https://twitter.com/timkmak/status/1251946385789931521?s=20
A liberal version of the My Freedom First movement?
Others, who would be horrified at the idea of being lumped in with the above-mentioned types, took to the media and/or social media recently to urge authorities to open up parks and beaches.
A few local politicians, namely Councilwoman/Mayoral candidate Barbara Bry, City Attorney candidate Cory Briggs made the point that sun-loving San Diegans needed some outdoor space.
They might have picked a better time to voice those concerns. Just sayin’
Given the poor example of people flooding Florida’s beaches after restrictions were eased, and the obvious unwillingness of the “freedom” crowd to participate in social distancing measures, I have to say the time hasn’t come to open up anything yet.
Does anybody think the woman among the San Diego MAGA protesters who likes to make videos of herself coughing on unsuspecting Walmart shoppers is going to respect six feet of separation?
How about the guy in downtown San Diego who decided that appropriating the yellow star symbol used by the Nazis to identify Jews as part of his freedom protest cares one wit about the safety of anybody else?
I get it. For some part of every day, I too, resent the restrictions we’re living under.
I made a commitment to do my body better in 2019, and a large part of my success (40 lbs!) came from long walks in parks and beaches. Navigating the cracked sidewalks, dog poop, and non-mask wearers around North Park isn’t quite as satisfying.
I have a father in a nursing home, a ninety-something mother living alone, and am a head and neck cancer survivor, meaning my breathing is already compromised. Unless I get seriously ill, I’m not able to see the medical professionals I depend on to keep my systems functioning properly.
I see the heroes of this epidemic who take a big chance everyday; the doctors and nurses who work so long the masks on their faces cause bruises; the grocery store workers, the first responders, along with countless others who persist in their duties.
I am inspired by their dedication to others.
Key to reopening is the ability to test for the virus. And we are not there yet.
https://twitter.com/tedlieu/status/1251550982720204802?s=20
President Trump has shown more empathy for the handful of stupid MAGA protesters than he has for the grieving families of the 40000+ dead.
A post entitled We came together in the greatest act of human kindness in history. Of course Trump had to destroy it at Daily Kos on Sunday, put it succinctly:
A leader looks at the best impulses of their people in a crisis, and they celebrate, encourage, and support those impulses. A president cares about protecting their citizens above all else.
Trump is neither of those things. Trump is an abusive despot, out of his depth, incompetent and unqualified.
May history record that, when millions of Americans came together, unselfishly, in the greatest act of human kindness in history, Trump saw a threat to be destroyed.
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