On Pandemics and Right-Wing Idiots

The confluence of toxic masculinity and reactionary ideas in normal times is a guy in a black pickup truck with a Trump sticker deliberately cutting you off and blowing exhaust in your face. We’ve all been through it. It’s incredibly annoying, yes, and you may fantasize about blowing the guy away, but he’s no real danger to the public, and you don’t do anything.

The same guy in a pandemic is demanding his allegedly God-given right to be free of reasonable restrictions on movement. He doesn’t give a damn if he infects the rest of the world; the only thing that matters to him is his own personal freedom. He’s a genuine threat to public health. There is no serious political philosophy that justifies this kind of behavior under current conditions.

No one has greater respect for individual rights than I do, and few people have less regard for social media lynch mobs, but there is a legitimate place for shaming under these circumstances. Just use it reasonably, and with restraint.