Here is a Facebook post and repost, with discussion. At least read the repost ( the part by Jeff Sharlet), if you don't want to read the discussion part. It's a bit scary, but I think he's onto something. It's about vaccine mandates and the violence they will cause.
--Kim
Jeff speaks for me, as he so often does. There's no reason to pull our punches when it comes to vaccine and mask mandates because we're afraid that it will make the right turn violent.
They've already turned violent. Their whole reason for being, at this point, is the violence.
So let's do what's right for the nation, and let the chips fall where they may.
I've been fortunate: high vaxx state, low cases, flexible employment. But I've also seen a broad cross section of the situation throughout the country via reporting, including a recent slow drive across the U.S. -- more TK on that -- talking to the rightwing base in churches, bars, and other gathering places. Meanwhile what most of my FB friends and I rationally *know* about vaccination and the pain caused by Delta and the unvaxxed has been made more personal to me through a loved one in the hospital. Not covid, but I'm seeing up close the countless ways in which the unvaxxed who are keeping covid rolling are deliberately or inadvertently making painful situations exponentially, and unnecessarily, more traumatic. Here's what I think needs to happen next:
I'm for vaccination as mandatory as the law allows and for looking at means within the rule of law to expand that possibility. I've been reporting on the Right in books & for national magazines for 20 yrs. I understand how dangerous this position is, in so many ways. I think the biggest risk of legal mandatory vaccination is further rightwing violence and political disintegration, followed by an ugly expansion of federal surveillance powers. But those who want to "go slow" are praying the center--any center--will hold. From my perspective as a journalist covering the Right: It won't. It *didn't.*
We don't have to get into silly self-satisfying arguments about the Right's ignorance or cynicism to understand that appeasement right now is a liberal pipe dream & even a form of narcissism, a refusal to look at the Right as it openly presents itself. A little while ago I drove slowly across the country visiting rightwing churches & individuals. What I found confirms a change I've been observing for the last 5 yrs: It's really, truly, not issue-driven. What the Rightwing base 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, identity through the destruction of your foes.
The January 6 beating and attempted murder of Officer Michael Fanone makes that clear. As Officer Fanone has noted, he was down on the ground, incapacitated--and yet the mob kept beating him and calling for his death. He was, he notes, not an "impediment" to their stated goal of gaining entry to the Capitol to "stop the steal"; and yet instead of pursuing that goal, they kept beating him. Some of this is mob frenzy; but I've encountered the same sensibility among people sitting calmly in church lobbies: A desire to destroy one's enemies as an end in itself.
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, or "great" again. Which is why I'm for making vaccination as mandatory as law will allow. Anything short of that as an attempt to avoid a fight will, I think, actually enflame much of the Right, since they believe they need to fight to be authentic.
Let's proceed with trying to save untold numbers of Americans in the short term & trying to stop a vaccine-crushing variant from rising up & spreading globally in the only-slightly-longer term. Let's do so fully aware of the conflict this effort will engender.
How bad will the conflict be? The good news, so far, is not as bad as the Right wants us to believe. Consider: much of the armed rightwing base believes falsely that Biden took power by coup. Are they in the streets? No--they're telegramming, tweeting, watching TV. And they're not as lockstep as many might fear. Even as many tried to kill Officer Fanone, others tried to stop the beating. I'm not interested in discussion of some innate decency--these were people who'd already sought to cause great harm. But I am interested, strategically, in the fact that the Right, even in mob formation, isn't yet coherent enough to fully act as one. Let's not wait for that to happen.
I've talked to many militant rightwingers who say "If X happens, it'll be civil war!" Then X happens. & they move the goal. Don't get me wrong: this is staggeringly dangerous. But it shouldn't be paralyzingly so. We need the strongest legal position for vaccines.
I don't mean "compromise is pointless." I don't think it's ever pointless, though at times it's wrong. Nor do I mean "to hell with them." That's foolish, and also wrong. There is no "to hell with them" in a pandemic. I don't claim to know policy or how to implement it. What I do know something about is the Right. I know that as much of a threat as it poses to democracy--massive right now--it's not quite as big as the Right wants us to imagine. I'm not saying there won't be violence. I suspect there will. Pushing harder on vaccines will lead to horrible spasms of violence, and maybe even real attempts at significant rightwing organization.
But -- and I'm trying to write plainly here, didactically even: 1) I think such violence and further anti-Democratic attempts are now coming no matter what, because they're no longer the means but the end; 2) for now at least, the federal government as it currently stands remains much stronger; 3) the horrific price we'll pay in rightwing violence should we implement all possible legal vaccine mandates is, as nightmarish as it may be, dwarfed by the price of further delays.
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- Raven BrooksTotally agree with this. BUT, I honestly don't think Biden or any state governor has the cojones to legally mandate vaccines (if that's even possible). However, it's encouraging to see some of them requiring large numbers of federal and state workers to be vaccinated and for private businesses to be stepping in too and saying ok you don't get to participate in society or work for us if you don't vaccinate. More of all of that please.1
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- · 11h
- Robert CruickshankThis is an excellent read, all of it, especially the chilling parts about the right-wing's steady move down the list of steps to fascism. I didn't fully realize we were already at the point where the violence is the point but I suppose we were close already. And his point about liberal narcissism is spot on.1
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- · 11h
- Sara Robinson1/6 proved Jeff's point on this, I think. They were there for the fight. "Gonna be wild." That was the draw.2
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- · 10h
- Chip BerletYes, teach the gutless homosocialst liberal/left traitors a lesson. Phallocentric Pious Patriotism.
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- · 8h
Active - Chip Berlethaikus for democracy.we save the nationwith vaccinations for allwho value real life.-chipster1
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- · 10h
- Sara RobinsonRaven, it's ironic to see the right's 40-year campaign to put so much power into the hands of private business coming back around to bite them on the ass. Business NEEDS to know its customers and employees are safe. They can't afford the liability, the staffing issues, the PR headaches, or the shutdowns. (I cannot believe that Disney and Universal can't make DeSantis an offer he cannot refuse, given what's at stake for them.)There's no way that the private sector's not going to fill this niche. (I'm rather boggled that CLEAR hasn't sewed this up already.)1
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- · 10h
- Raven BrooksSara Robinson I'm just waiting for the covid outbreak at Disney world story honestly1
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- · 10h
Active - Aric WilmunderStep 1. Vaccines required for air, train and automobile travel across state borders. If these vermin, and I'm using the Oxford American definition, insist on putting others at risk, they need to be boxed in. This will likely also reduce the 'air rage' we are seeing by keeping these nuts off the planes in the first place.1
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- · 10h
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