I wonder if anyone saw the irony in this.
Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene was recently elected to Congress. It was sort of a big deal, since Donald Trump had endorsed her and she was an outspoken member of QAnon.
This week she was in Washington for freshman orientation and she complained to her followers on Twitter about the policy on Capitol Hill requiring everyone to wear masks.
Tweeted Greene: “Our first session of New Member Orientation covered COVID in Congress. Masks, masks, masks. I proudly told my freshman class that masks are oppressive. In GA, we work out, shop, go to restaurants, go to work, and school without masks. My body, my choice. #FreeYourFace.”
Her body, her choice?
Where have I heard that before?
Gee, I think that has been an argument for nearly 50 years. Ever since the passage of Roe v. Wade, many women have been saying it’s their bodies and their choice when it came to their right to have abortions.
I’m not going to get into an argument about abortion here, but the argument over when life begins that makes abortions so controversial isn’t applicable here. Senators, representatives and their staffs have one thing in common. All of them are unarguably alive, although there was some question the last couple years Strom Thurmond was in Washington.
Greene and many of the other anti-maskers are missing the entire point of wearing masks and social distancing. We’re not doing it to protect ourselves from other people, which would make it our bodies and our choice. The most important reason for wearing masks is to protect other people from us.
We can carry the virus and be completely asymptomatic while at the same time passing the virus to others. That’s why we wear masks.
Greene was seen both with and without a mask in the same afternoon, so we can at least be hopeful she will follow the rules. I’m not sure how respectful it is to wear an American flag mask over your mouth and nose.
One reason the pandemic is getting more and more out of control is the whole question of taking precautions being an issue of personal freedom.
It’s not.
It never was.
We’re talking about a virus that kills people. In the 1980s, when conservatives were attacking gay men for their sexual behavior contributing to the spread of AIDS, they talked about it being a life and death issue.
It was, and so is this.
If you’re going to come into contact with other people, you need to take precautions. And wearing a mask is a lot less difficult than wearing a condom.
That ought to be a lesson Our Little Marjorie can learn.