I already did a post on the stupids but now we have video clips of corona refusniks ( those who believe safety precautions interfere with their freedom)purposefully coughing on store employees,starting fights, being extra assholey in general. Of all the things they could be upset about- being exploited, having their planet decimated, living in a shithole, etc- they choose such "burdensome" regulations as having to wear a mask to freak out over. Because liberty. Because that's why their life sucks.
I was watching author Arundhati Roy express her surprise that the Right seems to have all the passion right now and wondering how we generate such passion on the Left. And I was reminded of the Yeats poem The Second Coming where he says "the best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passionate intensity". I'm not sure you can match "the worst" in passion nor that this is a worthwhile goal. My advice would be to make sure they have plenty of rope to hang themselves with and plenty of matches to set themselves alight with.
My advice to employees who might have to deal with these damaged freaks is carry some pepper spray. I say damaged because I have lived and worked around and amongst these people for decades. Jingoistic nationalism/patriotism is their fall-back ideology,they are driven by resentment and fear of the Other, and they are the "working class" the Left keeps hoping they can organize- someday.Their fathers were damaged by Vietnam, they were damaged by Iraq and Afghanistan and all they can do is live out the lie. They have grey goatees and camo hats, they put private property signs everywhere, they love their country but fear their government and spend weekends sighting in their rifles. They are willing to die for capitalist "democracy" and The Constitution ( which they are doing in droves thanks to obesity, diabetes, oxycotin, suicide, etc) they love any kind of machine that tears up the landscape and emits pollution, and they love Montana. Bitter? Perhaps.
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