Our country feels like it is burning out of control.
Aflame with inflammatory rhetoric there are those strongly questioning the usefulness of masks and vaccines during a dangerous pandemic, while others scoff at the reality of climate change.
In both cases the deadly accelerant used is denial.
Fueled by foolish politicians and hazardous misinformation, it is a combustible situation.
While record-breaking wildfires burned out of control in California, irate parents in Broward County, Florida were burning COVID 19 prevention masks in protest in the name of freedom.
In late July, 20 anti maskers gathered in the Broward County School Board headquarters in Ft Lauderdale setting masks on fire. Videos of the protests showed a protestor dousing a tray full of masks with lighter fluid before setting it on fire with a lighter. A protestor can be heard on the video saying, “It is time to cast off this symbol of tyranny, this symbol of child abuse- we will not stand for it anymore.”
When it comes to crying child abuse, they are living in an Alice in Wonderland world as a disproportionate number of children are being infected with the virus.
Up in Smoke
It feels as though common sense has gone up in smoke.
And we are all getting burned.
We are living in a toxic environment brought on by the damage created by science deniers.
Denying science is not only dangerous it is deadly business.
Hoax
The harm caused by both COVID anti-vaxxers and climate change skeptics cannot be disputed. And they are playing from the same playbook.
The strategies used to dismiss threats of climate change and the Coronavirus are the same. Deny the problem, deny the severity of the problem and complain about the freedoms that are threatened. People are having a meltdown over a mandate to wearing masks, disputing the safety efficacy of the vaccine, in the same way, climate deniers have done for decades.
Our environment, our planet is under threat. The world is experiencing extreme weather and global suffering has grown owing to inaction to climate change.
The far-off future is we worried about for our grandchildren is here now. Catastrophe doesn’t just loom in the future. The damage from climate change is already here. As is a COVID 19.
And now we are asking the little children to suffer.
As the Dixie wildfires ravaged Northern California and the highly contagious Delta Variant is spreading like wildfire along with vaccine skepticism, children’s hospitals are now swamped with new cases.
A selfish disregard for the consequences of their actions, and a disregard for science is burning our country as we know it to the ground.
Be careful what you wish for.
For deniers, “Live free or die” may very well come home to roost.
Just don’t take the rest of us with you in the process.
Envisioning The American Dream 
Sally, the first picture would be comical if it were not so sad. I feel for that little girl. This decision to not be vaccinated or wear masks impacts the health of others.
I wrote this on another post a few minutes ago about someone who said getting a vaccine or wearing a mask is an infringement on their rights.
Think of smoking cigarettes indoors. Eventually, they were restricted indoors to certain sections. Then, that was insufficient for public health, so the practice was banned indoors. Some employers went further to ban them from their premises.
Smokers knew intuitively the dangers they were imposing on others, so while perturbed, they begrudgingly went along with it.
Getting vaccinated and wearing a mask are not a freedom issues, they are public safety issues. As for employers, they can require either as long as they do not unfairly discriminate in who they require vaccines and masks. It is akin to requiring testing for job applicants or uniforms – if they only tested or require uniforms for certain ethnic groups, that would be unfairly discriminatory.
People can choose not to like something, just as the smokers did, but it does not mean they are entitled to get their way. Keith
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Your analogy with smoking regulations is an apt one. I don’t recall protests and demonstrations as these limitations got put into place. Smokers weren’t happy but they accepted it.
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The comparaison with smoking is spot on.
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Remember when some people had signs with “Covid-19 is a hoax”.
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Absolutely. Lets not forget Trump called Fauci an “alarmist”
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After all we have been seeing since 2015 it’s mind boggling to see what is happening. Remember he could shoot someone on 5th Ave and not lose a vote? How about an attack on the US Capitol? This is so depressing although historically fascinating… How can we live these turbulent times otherwise? The end of tunnel of hope is still far away and many will never reach it.
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We seem to be in a state of perpetual, unrelenting chaos. Of course, that could be said for the late 1930s in Europe as well when the end of civilization seemed imminent.
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We should list the names of politicians who called Covid 19 a hoax. It would not change a thing I know, but it has to be preserved for posterity. Likewise for the big lie.
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In case you have missed this Sally.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/schwarzenegger-schmuck-mask-vaccines/619746/
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Thanks Pierre. Many good points.
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Knowing nothing about the sacrifice done by the greatest generation is what we see right now. I don’t think his voice is enough to change things. However people like him and yourself have to speak out.
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Its funny I’m planning a post for Monday about that very topic the sacrificers the greatest generation made during the war and afterward.
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A video on YouTube from August 11th has more dislikes than likes. I watched it on Facebook yesterday and it had 22 million views where millions liked it with a few dislikes. I feel is fits in with Keith’s response. Arnold Schwarzenegger states “with freedom comes responsibility…” https://youtu.be/8s1VglkDNmc
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He makes a lot of excellent inarguable points.
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Hello. I liked the post. I believe these phony save-the-children folks are suffering from a form of “mass psychosis”. They are selfish and only think of themselves. No empathy at all. They turn from the truth of evidence that is not to their taste. [I got that last part from Gustave Le Bon {crowd psychology expert}.]
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They cherry-pick their facts to suit their needs.
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I think i like the post.
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