For years now I've been able to laugh off my grandparents, FOX News and brainwashed Republicans in general.
But my roommate's interaction with her parents changed things for me.
Her parents told her that they were scared. They were scared because something serious was underway in America, that a revolution was happening that threatened to destroy the entire country and that it was serious. They told her that Marxists were on the brink of pulling Biden to the Left, and that they were legitimately danger.
I usually laugh this off, but something struck me: they weren't angry, or grumpy, or bone-headed, like I usually imagine Republicans. They were legitimately afraid, and perceived themselves to truly be descending into a national emergency, one that FOX News has completely manufactured.
I used to laugh off people that said FOX is paving the way to Fascism, or Drumpf = Hitler. But I've come to comprehend that fear, not anger, was the driving motivator in Nazi Germany, and now understand that FOX is pumping sheer terror into the American public at levels only possible in modern society.
I don't really think FOX is a laughing matter anymore, because I begin to understand how an American public this afraid could condone Nazi Germany level atrocities under the impression that they were saving themselves.
Yes, these people are terrified. The people who refuse to wear a mask 😷 are doing so because they are afraid of the virus (even though they pretend that it isn’t real) and that wearing a mask will legitimize the situation. When they see others wearing a mask it angers them because it reminds them that this situation they can’t control is real.