Which leaves me trying to figure out whether and how to engage with deplorable people who know no shame. Habitual notions of civility tend to keep us pretty quiet in the face of anti-social, attention-seeking behavior. Plus, engagement is precisely what these Alex Jones adherents most want.
But during a trip to the grocery store today I thought of Germany in the 1930s, wondering how many ordinary decent people spoke out, pointed fingers, ridiculed, shamed, protested — while they still could. Could it have made a difference? Power, after all, emerges with a big assist from culture. All I know for sure is that I hope I would spoken out had I been there.
Since my state officially “reopened” last week (at the height of our new daily cases), face masks are apparently no longer required. My grocery store still recommends them, and thankfully most customers were obliging. But the store was noticeably more crowded than the last time I went four weeks ago. People were rushing around, no longer attuned to others’ space. It seemed pretty clear that everyone was getting pretty sick and tired of being careful.
This set the stage for about half a dozen (that I noticed) non-masked burly guys and gals who looked like they would have been right at home at “freedom” rallies, draped with assault rifles and anti-vaccine banners. Every one of these deplorables was striding alone, wearing self-satisfied, self-conscious smirks, as if inviting some poor cuck to challenge them.
As one of them passed me in the aisle, I dipped my toe in the waters of confrontation by quietly telling him to stay away from me. He scoffed with a laugh, dopamine spiking from the attention, loudly proclaiming to all around that there was nothing to worry about except his STDs. That was his way of being funny — but he also seemed to think he was making a clever point. All I could do was shake my head and call him a tRump-loving idiot. That’s when he got serious: “At least someone around here has some courage,” he seethed, walking away.
Anyway, since we seem to be on the cusp of a new phase in which people are eager to follow cultural cues with regard to personal responsibility, “freedom,” etc, I’m wondering what folks here think constitutes constructive engagement.
For my part, I decided not only to tell another non-mask wearer to stay away from me, I also talked to my cashier and bagger about their mask policies. And then I went on to lobby the bagger as he helped me out to my car. He said he had assumed non-mask-wearers just didn’t have masks. I told him they were trying to make pro-tRump political points, and then he appeared a bit shocked, even personally offended, when I told him about the funny guy’s “courage” comment.
“Courage??” gasped the young fellow. “It doesn’t take any courage to put everyone around you at risk!”