The Right Wants a Fight
Anti-maskers, vaxxers, Critical Race Theory critics, transphobes, 2020’s sore losers, and the border wall blame types all have one thing in common these days: the aura of violence surrounding their actions.
It’s undeniable. Yet we’re too polite to call it out.
As Jeff Sharlet found after traveling the country, visiting rightwing churches & individuals:
What the Right wants, fundamentally, is a fight…
Which, of course, is a core principle of fascism, albeit in its rapidly mutating, inchoate American form: A longing for redemption through violence. So trying to finesse policy differences or even “cultural” differences (read: white supremacy self-aware or not) isn’t noble, or pragmatic; it *misses the point.* The point, of much of the Right now, is conflict for its own sake, a belief that fighting will make them whole again.
Lest anyone think the police will be there to prevent violence or arrest offenders, consider this NBC7 story concerning members of the San Diego Police Department chatter on an online forum where a police sergeant allegedly claims he and a growing number of officers have vowed to "never take the vaccine, be tested or wear masks -- unless by choice." The post calls on hundreds of officers “willing to risk it all” to fight city and state pandemic-related rules.
And the attitude expressed certainly fits in with SDPD officers regularly being seen in public not wearing masks, along with openly being sympathetic with anti-mask protestors at Rady Children’s Hospital last week.
How is it that a seven year old wearing a mask to school becomes part of a communist takeover? How is it that people willing to eat fast food or smoke cigarettes or take undocumented suppliments come around to thinking that a vaxcine is a threat to fertility, or a plot to inject 5G chips, or Bill Gates wanting to take over the world?
These threats seem real to some folk, and they feel they must respond to them. Hence the big talk and menacing demeanor of all these “grassroots” movements. The spin and the lies these groups are based up are being churned out by entities more interested in preserving wealth than scientific method.
Investigative reporters have traced funding for the vaxxer movement to many of the same organizations/individuals active in climate change denial campaigns.
Like the eruption of Tea Party protests in 2009, many of the protests have the outward appearance of spontaneity, yet are tied through common funding streams and networks.
In the case of what President Donald Trump has called the “liberate” movement, one major thread tying the groups together is the State Policy Network (SPN). SPN, a network of state-level conservative think tanks advancing pro-corporate agendas, has received money from the likes of the Koch family, the Devos family, the Mercer Family Foundation, and others.
An anti-mask/vaxxer protest included fights led by Proud Boy gang members and individuals arrested for participating in the Jan 6 Capitol insurrection in Los Angeles this weekend. And it wasn’t just counter-protestors and reporters getting caught up in the violence. A group of teenage Latino skateboarders (unconnected with the protests) passing by were also harassed.
A dad at Sutter Creek Elementary School in Amador, CA, irate over mask mandates, beat up a teacher and sent him to the hospital on the first day of school this week. At a Tennessee school board meeting, anti-mask parents waited in the parking lot to verbally assault and threaten medical professionals who’d shown up to give testimony, warning them that “we will find you.”
Virus-linked hospitalizations across the United States have quadrupled in the past month, to nearly 80,000, according to The Washington Post’s rolling seven-day average, and hospitals in Florida and Mississippi warn they’re out of beds and staff.
Hospitals are hiring extra security and warning medical personnel not to dress in scrubs/white coats as they come and go from work. Multiple incidents have been reported in which both healthcare officials and individuals have been subject to violence due to COVID-19 misinformation, often coupled with racism.
Yelp and Google pages for restaurants requiring masks or proof of vaccination are being hijacked by one-star reviews from people living in a different state than the one the restaurant is in. Violent messages and comments on Instagram and Facebook by anti-vaxxers are accusing the restaurants of discriminating against them. Some even compare vaccine requirements to racial discrimination.
https://twitter.com/JesseLehrich/status/1425126236171423744?s=20
In Los Alamitos, rumors of critical race theory drew a far-right crowd to protest outside a school board meeting. Members of the crowd included a notoriously anti-LGBT activist, as well as someone who advocated murdering “communists” via helicopter, and someone who shouted that a gay counter-protester couple was helping eradicate “the white race.”
In Nashua, New Hampshire, fears of critical race theory and masks drew uniformed Proud Boys holding signs condemning critical race theory to a school board meeting. Moderators had to turn off the microphone on a non-parent ranting about masks..
Sometimes violence isn’t even mentioned, but a lie outrageous enough to provoke violent reactions is circulated by public figures like Carl DeMaio. His Reform California group has sent a letter to Coronado residents claiming that teaching the “extreme and dangerous” Critical Race Theory is on the agenda for an upcoming Coronado School Board meeting.
After attending DeMaio’s rally on August 16th, I’m sure there will be enough riled up citizens to make the August 19th school board meeting a shitshow.
No such thing is on the agenda, according to Karl Mueller, Coronado Unified School District Superintendent. “The statement is completely false.”
Election officials around the country are quitting in the face of threats. Research by the Bipartisan Policy Center and the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University included a survey of election officials, with one in three saying they felt unsafe in their jobs and one in five concerned about death threats.
https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/1426235453389295618?s=20
All of the examples I provided today are just a taste of what’s going on.
What is important to remember is that these very afraid people want you to be afraid. People staying home out of fear and watching KUSI is a victory for them.
Our best defense against these attempts to foster mayhem is to make sure that the people we elected are forced by public opinion to do the right thing. Mayor Todd Gloria needs to go public with an ultimatum about the brewing rebellion in the SDPD.
Let's get the Governor to call in the National Guard if the cops are so hung up about getting a jab that they’re not willing to do their job. (And, oh yes, VOTE NO IN THE RECALL.)
Public opinion surveys show that Americans want to do the right thing. We’re just not loud enough about it some of the time.
Every stinkin’ politician needs to be forced to go public and do more than wring their hands.
I’ve yet to see a convincing counter demonstration (in the sense that the truth became dominant in reporting) against these masker/vaxxer/racist/homophobes. Being a “street fighting man” isn’t really being a man at all. A battle between brutes might get “won” by one side or the other; winning means doing the right thing and not being afraid.
There is a time and a place for decent people to stand up to evil; to show solidarity in the face of intimidation, to protect communities in danger, and to show the contrast between good and evil.
Humor (not making fun of individuals) aimed at their issues could be an effective counter message. A blow up sign with Mad Magazine’s Alfred E Newman with the tagline “What Me Worry?” is one such idea if you feel the need to pay attention to for vaxxers.
San Diegans shut down a rally staged by racist George Wallace in 1968 by simply chanting (and refusing to stop) every attack he uttered on stage.
Wallace: “Here’s two four letter words you hippies don’t know: Soap and Work.
Crowd: “Soap and Work!” repeated for five minutes.
He cancelled the rally after half an hour.
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