• YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]
    ·
    11 months ago

    There are definitely bits of this I like, and the conclusion about how housebroken US so-called anarchists are does ring true, but "those who would have a mask mandate in a pandemic are just as bad as those who would have a mask ban is just cringe

    • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      11 months ago

      Not a huge fan of everything it says (I didn't write this or anything), but I think what it's saying is that they used it as an excuse to exercise more control rather than actually save people from COVID. It says later that the state "is completely unable to actually enforce any mandates" so it "put the entire responsibility of ending the pandemic on the individual" and "literally left everyone to die of COVID". They don't believe a mask mandate or ban will be effective at getting people to actually do those things, but it will shift the blame onto individuals rather than systemic failures.

      • YearOfTheCommieDesktop [they/them]
        ·
        11 months ago

        I still dont think theyre equally or comparably bad things to do but I appreciate the clarification, you're probably right

        • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          11 months ago

          Yeah, the author isn't exactly in the right here, but I wanted to stick up for them a little.

      • rootsbreadandmakka [he/him]
        ·
        edit-2
        11 months ago

        that they used it as an excuse to exercise more control rather than actually save people from COVID.

        But what are this person's (or group's) concrete ideas for responding to Covid? There's a lot of vague talk about "we keep us dangerous" and "security and safety have always been lies sold by the State and ruling class for the expense of freedom" and plenty of criticism for the state response, but almost nothing on what should have been done, or should be done. A particularly bad-faith reading takes something like

        there is more to life than the mere fact of biological survival

        as some reactionary "let me spread a deadly virus so I can get a haircut," except with an anarchist aesthetic rather than a chud one. A more charitable reading might assume they want pandemics to be dealt with through community, mutual aid. I'm unsure though how that would differ from

        many leftists and radicals...shaming people...for diverging from these rules

        since it would just be leftists and radicals asking people to wear masks again. Maybe they're mad the leftists and radicals asked so uncivilly?

        I agree with the topic itself, the liberal creep in left-wing spaces is a real issue. I'm unsure how to deal with it myself since the left in the US is so small, most people are learning, and to learn you necessarily must go through a radlib phase as you seek to excise your brain worms.

        But this person has no concrete ideas themself for how to do this either, how to respond to the liberal creep. Only vague statements. And furthermore, instead of tackling the issues of

        calling for US imperial intervention in Syria to voting for Bernie

        or trying to explain and define this issue of liberal creep, giving examples of where it shows up, most of the essay is just complaining about Covid in an extremely chud-adjacent manner. I mean

        even when [those rules] blatantly made no “sense” even by epidemiological principles

        I'm trying to read this in good faith, but I'd love to know what the rules were that they feel made no sense

        • oscardejarjayes [comrade/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          11 months ago

          But what are this person's (or group's) concrete ideas for responding to Covid

          It's the only post on a free wordpress account, from 2022, so I don't think we'll every know.

          most of the essay is just complaining about Covid in an extremely chud-adjacent manner

          Yeah, I'm sorta regretting posting it

          I'm trying to read this in good faith, but I'd love to know what the rules were that they feel made no sense

          No idea what they mean specifically, but "outdoor mask wearing — something that many experts have said is unlikely to help since the virus is extremely unlikely to be transmitted over distances outside"[1] might be it.

          [1] https://archive.ph/LA8Zs#selection-3197.82-3197.241

          • rootsbreadandmakka [he/him]
            ·
            11 months ago

            outdoor mask wearing

            yeah, I mean that's fair. I'm not saying there weren't rules that didn't make sense, I just wish they expounded on some of these statements a bit, to give more clarity as to where this person/group is really coming from.