Expect to Be Harassed for Wearing a Mask - They Can’t Help Themselves
Last week U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle signed off on a ruling ending the mask-wearing requirements on public transportation mandated by the Biden administration.
Never mind that the Trump-appointed judge was not the best choice from the point of view of most regular people. The American Bar Association’s (ABA) rated her as “not qualified” for her position in 2020 upon being nominated, because her eight years of experience didn’t include “trying a case, civil or criminal, as lead or co-counsel.“
The district court judge reinterpreted the law to take away CDC's power – to say the CDC could not impose a mask mandate, regardless of how serious the public health threat might be. Her ruling centered where the word “sanitation” found in the Public Health Service Act from 1944 had be interpreted to include wearing masks.
The Biden administration has faced criticism for not making a hair-on-fire run to the appellate courts to challenge the ruling. It turns out, though, that taking a second to consider the potential consequences of a ruling upholding the law was a good idea.
It’s a wonderful thing when there are people in government with both reading and critical thinking skills, unlike the governor’s staff of a certain state who decided to declare war on a cartoon mouse.
When the Justice Department finally announced they would appeal the decision, they were criticized for not also asking for an immediate stay until such time as appellate courts had a chance to review the case.
Losing the appeal on this decision would have the effect of one judge setting a legal precedent for future actions in the face of health emergencies by the CDC.
The strategy for government’s response to this ruling also dates back to the 1940’s, from a Supreme Court decision holding that if certain conditions were no longer in effect, ruling on an attempt to challenge a court decision was moot.
The CDC's mask requirement on planes, trains and other modes of transportation is set to expire May 3. Without a mask mandate in effect the justice department can move to wipe that decision off the books and dismiss the lawsuit leading up to the ruling.
This leaves the generally accepted opinion about the CDC’s powers in place, should another health emergency occur. While the right thing to do in this case would be to have congress pass a law further defining CDC’s powers, the reality is that nothing bigger than post office name changes has a chance of being enacted at this point.
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Having made opposition to wearing a mask the cornerstone of the right wing 2022 organizing effort, it’s more than likely for the 8 million Americans who are immunocompromised, along with those who have made the personal choice to wear a face mask, that harassment from bottom feeders of that movement will feel the need to harass individuals who mask up.
After all, any group that thought harassing nurses and doctors, some of whom were working 12 hours a day, seven days a week in ICU during the height of the pandemic, was a good idea certainly isn’t going to balk at yelling or making fun of cancer patients wearing a mask.
I encountered some entitled individual who felt the need to exercise that “freedom” last week outside the Target in Mission Valley. It was not a memorable encounter; I didn’t even bother to tell anybody about it. Given that I am incapable of vocalizing, I wasn’t able to give him the satisfaction of an argument.
With Tucker Carlson and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urging people to confront mask wearers, and citizens who exercise their First Amendment rights harassing children on the way to school, this behavior is entirely predictable.
This nastiness shouldn’t surprise anybody, given the arguments anti-vaxx/anti-maskers have bought into.
If you believe any part of the campaign to attribute COVID-19 to George Soros and Bill Gates, currently being pushed at MAGA rallies by Ret. Lt. Gen Michael Flynn or the rumor about 5G internet service causing the illnesses, you’ve already been trained (maybe I should say “groomed”) to think you are morally superior to non-believers.
This sense of superiority –a common attribute among cultists– gives people an out from feeling empathy. A Hidden Brain podcast I recently listened to discussed the processes surrounding the contradiction between empathy and loyalty, two fundamental moral guideposts.
Host Shankar Vedantam –whose insights into the human condition always challenge me– used the example of a cop being asked by fellow cops to pull a heist. The agonizing described over having to make a choice between doing the “right” thing and the bonds the cop felt with people he’d broken bread with made for a great episode. Obviously it impressed me enough to include it in this analysis.
The more I think about the divisions facing our society, the more I believe that people’s sense of empathy has been ground down by entertainment that values destruction over construction. This thought is not meant to dismiss the classism, sexism, and racism structurally inherent in our economic, social, and political systems –they are all real forces.
The people being used and encouraged to disproportionately drive polarization in the United States are not oppressed minorities, but rather some of the most powerful, most privileged, wealthiest people who’ve ever lived. They enjoy more freedom and opportunity than virtually any prior generation of humans, all while living under the protective umbrella of the most powerful military in the history of the planet. Damn few of them have any appreciation for that.
I just think that the easy-to-achieve sense of being an unhappy placeholder with no moral values makes people easier to manipulate.
So, what’s the solution to this empathy deficiency, you say?
You can’t call people names or mock their beliefs in one-on-one situations; it only hardens their resolve. And I think the word “hard” may be the thing we should focus on in contemplating our actions.
Problems become more solvable once they are identified, and I hope I’ve done that here.
Beyond that observation, I think a robust discussion is necessary.
Here’s Jamelle Bouie, at the New York Times
Democrats have notably not delivered on many of their promises. The bulk of President Biden’s agenda is stalled in Congress, and the White House has been reluctant to the point of timidity when it comes to the use of executive orders to achieve its goals. But even if that were not the case, this posture toward the culture war would be a mistake. These are not just attacks on individual teachers and schools; they don’t stigmatize just vulnerable children and their communities; they are the foundation for an assault on the very idea of public education, part of the long war against public goods and collective responsibility fought by conservatives on behalf of hierarchy and capital.
These are not distractions to ignore; they are battles to be won. The culture war is here, whether Democrats like it or not. The only alternative to fighting it is losing it.
And here’s a shero from Michigan
We already know about things like using a “truth sandwich” to refute misinformation. We should be aware of the long-standing organizing principle that people’s stomach* is one path to their thinking.
(*Not in the sense of bringing people into a tent and making them listen to a sermon before getting fed. Instead look to the organizers of the Amazon distribution center on Staten Island that offered free pizza on the way in or out of work.)
The hardest part of this political attitude will be putting our own empathy up front in the face of hate. I’m not talking about letting Proud Boys wail on picketers; punching a Nazi is always refreshing. (Sorry, gang, there are limits to my non-violence)
I certainly don’t mean going for “third ways” as paths to political coalition building. Nope. The trick is to make people realize (in one on one discussions) where their best interests lay. That’s the tricky part, the part where empathy on our part must trump any sense of moral superiority.
I hope I’ve got you thinking. And wear the damn mask if it makes you feel safer.
Email me at WritetoDougPorter@Gmail.com