It’s about using this moment to destroy public education

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos laid out his conclusion that opposition to school mask mandates isn’t about masks, it’s about an attempt to end public education. School boards across the country see their meetings, previously sparsely attended, now full of people screaming at them, demanding they not require masks nor require vaccination, even though those are two simple steps to protect against the virus.

But if the people behind these verbal and physical attacks seemed unfamiliar to board members, it’s because they are. Not only are these meetings being crammed with people who have no students or stake in local districts, they’re following scripts for creating disruption and fear that were crafted on a national level. Because this isn’t just about blocking masks, it’s about using this moment to destroy public education. ... That these men would immediately shift to violence is completely in line with the behavior seen at schools and school board meetings across the country. That’s because what’s happening in school board meetings isn’t a spontaneous movement of local parents concerned over the nonexistent threat posed by masks, it’s a coordinated attack by right-wing “think tanks” and media that have been coordinating this assault for months, driving home messages that masks are signs of oppression, not tools in blocking the spread of disease. Those messages make it clear that those coming to make threats don’t have to be a parent, and that if they don’t know what to say, they will be told. ... Conservative groups, including white supremacist militias, are bringing in people to disrupt local school board meetings and to generate fear among board members. ... The goal is to overwhelm these meetings, making ordinary school business impossible to conduct, as well as making board members fearful about staying in their positions. ... That doesn’t look like conservatives being concerned about masks. It doesn’t look like conservatives being upset about vaccines. What it looks like is conservatives seizing this moment to assault school boards and make the operation of public schools difficult, if not impossible. Schools will come out of this situation starved for cash by restricted funding and a series of fines. School boards will emerge fearful and fractured, as well as finding themselves subject to concerted efforts to replace members with MAGA hardliners. The whole of public education will emerge battered and diminished.

In a second post Sumner wrote that hurricanes and diseases are a tragedy, but are not evil.

Evil is when someone displays indifference or experiences pleasure in the face of suffering. The worst sort of evil comes when empathy and consideration are replaced with a perverse joy, one that doesn’t just refuse to acknowledge someone else’s pain, but takes pride in dismissing the thought that others deserve consideration.

Sumner’s examples are about states and school boards that ban mask mandates. Putting on a mask is about social responsibility. It is taking action to protect yourself, your family, and everyone in the greater society. Evil is pretending social responsibility does not exist. Michael Harriot, a black man writing for The Root, noted that when news articles say people did something they usually mean white people.

Every Black writer or journalist can tell you a story about when they were accused of “race-baiting” or “being divisive.” White journalists don’t have to face that same critique—not because they don’t talk about race—but because they almost never talk about the white race. White people are just “people.” The concept has become so accepted that the utter mention of white people is not just unnecessary, it’s considered divisive. For instance, almost every media outlet in America has reported on the protests and antipathy against mask mandates. It is one of the biggest stories in the news. However, if objective journalism existed, wouldn’t it be more accurate for outlets to point out that the anti-mask movement is composed almost entirely of white people?

More examples: People arrested for the Capitol attack are 93% non Hispanic white. People ranting about Critical Race Theory aren’t just parents, they’re white parents. Why is LeBron James inundated with questions of social justice and Tom Brady is not? Why are TV shows with predominantly black actors marketed as a “black show” and shows with all white casts not marketed as a “white show?”

There is nothing controversial about pointing out factual evidence. In fact, one could argue that withholding or obscuring the most common characteristics of the people who hold these views actually enables them to maintain their power.

Marissa Higgins of Kos reported public health leaders in Idaho enacted a Crisis Standards of Care Plan. It allows hospitals in northern and central Idaho to base care on who is more likely to survive. If the care team determines a patient is less likely to survive, care may be reduced to keeping them comfortable and pain free until they recover or don’t. It didn’t have to be this way – see masks and vaccine. Clearing out old browser tabs today. Here’s one from Mimolette, crediting her friend Avi:

The irony of antivaxers saying they “don’t want to be part of an experiment” without realising they are now the control group.

Higgins also reported that 40 election workers in eight battleground states have reported 100 incidents of threats of violence or death. These threats were made during a time that Republican officials still claim the 2020 election was stolen (it wasn’t) and while these same officials work to make voting harder and give more power to poll watchers. In a tweet that’s been in my browser tabs for a month Sarah Posner said much the same thing and included a link to an article in the Washington Post. Posner wrote:

I cannot emphasize enough what an emergency this is. Public servants, health care workers, ordinary citizens--the very fabric of our society and our democracy--are under attack by crazed conspiracy theorists and bad actors looking to make a buck on division and hate. How much longer are we going to tolerate this? It's not only dismissed, but *encouraged* by one of our two political parties. It's a goddamn bona fide emergency

I haven’t been following Sarah Kendzior lately and haven’t been reading her Gaslit Nation podcast transcripts. The reason is simple – I can feel overwhelmed. So while I’m cleaning out browser tabs I’ll mention her Twitter thread from early July with choice quotes from that week’s podcast, titled The United States of Exxon.

On Dem refusal to prosecute criminal elites for Jan 6: "There is an instigator and an accomplice, and after six months if you cannot clearly see the complicity of the accomplice, it’s because you do not want to." "What kind of a country does not defend itself against an open attack against its own Capitol, an attack where bombs were planted and the attackers openly declared their intent was to murder members of Congress?" "What kind of government does nothing to prosecute a Kremlin asset backed by a transnational crime syndicate who has been actively, and successfully, trying to destroy this country from within for personal profit and to appease foreign backers?" "What kind of country does nothing when its elections are attacked by that same syndicate and when voting rights are destroyed by that syndicate’s court appointees? "The kind of country whose elites do not care if it exists anymore."

Yeah, since then the House has created a special committee to investigate the Capitol attack. But we’ll see whether they touch the elite leadership or the crime syndicate, such as the nasty guy and Republican members of Congress. And the other points still hold. In another tweet that got lost in my browser tabs Harriot, responding to a news report that Ida was growing stronger and would soon hit Louisiana (yeah, I said it was old), wrote:

That's why I'm not worried about Bill Gates, the Illuminati or "The gubbment." The earth doesn't need any help with population control.

Hunter of Kos, because he was tired of writing about politics, wrote two posts about what he remembered of TV shows he watched as a child when sick and staying home from school and had only six stations available. He adds perspective from forty years later. These were shows that were in syndicated reruns in the late 1970s. Gilligan’s Island: Mary Ann got things done. Ginger had skills related only to acting, so was dead weight. How could Thurston and Lovey Howell get people to do things with only the promise of paying them once they returned to the mainland? A promise not likely to be kept. Yet it kept the rest in line. The show showed rich people were a drain on society and this show might have been a precursor of Occupy Wall Street. Beverly Hilbillies: The basic premise was that poor people are stupid and the rich are evil. The schemes of the rich were repeatedly foiled by staff at the bank that held the Clampett’s money – not because they actually liked the Clampetts, but to make sure the Clampett’s money stayed in their bank. Munsters: a never-ending parade of normal people fleeing a family that had different norms, customs, and foods. The Brady Bunch: Mildly positive view of the show, though it seems a lot of problems tend to go away if you’re rich enough to afford domestic help. The Partridge Family: Way too cringe worthy. This seemed to be the blandest music possible while insisting this was as edgy as America was allowed to go. My Three Sons: Way too dark. What suburbia would be like if June Cleaver had died. The Courtship of Eddie’s Father: It’s rather strange for a boy trying to convince women to date his father. Family Affair: Rich jerk inherits a couple cute kids and they’re saved from emotional catastrophe because of the butler. Why was TV land so into killing off parents for comedy? A dead parent was a feature in all of the last five.