One of the hallmarks of modern conservatism is that its fundamentalist belief in “individualism” means that its adherents simply don’t care about anything unless it happens to them personally. We’ve seen this time and time again when right wing politicians vote time after time against funding for disasters that happen to others or suddenly taking an interest in research for a particular disease once it happens to one of their family members.
Recall that right wing men in congress even said that they didn’t believe health care plans should be required to cover maternity care since they don’t get pregnant. They like to wail about socialism and complain that liberals are collectivist drones, but it really isn’t about that. It’s about the Golden Rule: do unto others and you would have them do unto you.
Here’s a good example of the phenomenon:
The White House has become known as a super-spreader location after several large gatherings that have disseminated COVID-19 to President Donald Trump and his staff, a slew of Republican elected officials and now a member of the Massachusetts Republican Party executive board.
WHDH news reported that after attending a holiday party at the White House, vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee Tom Mountain tested positive.
“People would just leisurely and gingerly take off their mask to mingle, to schmooze,” he said about the White House Hanukkah party on Dec. 10. “I don’t even think some people wore masks the entire time. And again, I was guilty as anyone else. I just wasn’t wearing a mask.”
Trump has spent the better part of the coronavirus pandemic refusing to wear a mask, despite experts saying it helped stop the spread of the respiratory virus. While Mountain said he can’t be certain that the party was the source, the timeline suggests it is.
“Well, lets put it this way, when I went down to Washington, D.C. for the White House Hanukkah event, I was perfectly fine, and three days later after that event, I was in the hospital at Brigham and Women’s ready to be put on a lifesaving ventilator,” he told WHDH.
To make matters worse, four of his family members also caught the virus off of him.
Mountain wasn’t a big mask-wearer, but having the virus changed that.
“I was one of the naysayers,” he said. “I am no longer a naysayer.”
He’s now begging anyone celebrating on New Year’s Eve to wear a mask and “stay as far away from people as possible.”
I guess it’s good to have testimonials like this. It’s better than nothing. At least he’s encouraging people not to do what he did, now that he’s experienced it personally. But it shouldn’t have taken that. It’s not as if there isn’t a ton of information, data and evidence that has shown us exactly what the consequences of spreading this deadly virus are.
But it’s frustrating. This man took the risk for himself which is his right. But he spread it to four of his family members and probably to strangers as he traveled. And I just don’t understand why anyone thinks that’s their right as well.
It’s Happy Hollandaise time here at Hullabaloo. If you’d like to drop a little something in the old Christmas stocking you can do so here (or at the P.O. box shown in the sidebar):