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{"id":50209,"date":"2020-11-23T05:45:50","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T09:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=50209"},"modified":"2020-11-25T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-25T13:40:50","slug":"better-dead-than-red-pandemic-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2020\/11\/better-dead-than-red-pandemic-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"Better Dead Than Red, Pandemic Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cBetter Dead than Red\u201d was a Cold War anti-communist slogan, but I think a similar phenomenon is playing out during the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n

A lot of the anti-masking anti-lockdown discourse is grounded in the idea that \u201cbig government\u201d shouldn\u2019t be able to tell people what to do. This is \u201ccommunism,\u201d critics allege. You know, the opposite of\u00a0freedom.*\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

I see a common thread in all of these fears\u2014communism, government control, wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing. That common thread is a belief that government is evil and dangerous, and that individual freedom is the greatest possible good. \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me\u00a0<\/em>what to do!\u201d\u00a0This deep skepticism of government has been entrenched in (white**) America for generations.<\/p>\n

This is the \u201cBetter Dead than Red\u201d sloganeering I mentioned when I opened this post.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s just that this time\u00a0the slogan is literal.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

This time, they\u2019re saying they\u00a0would rather die than follow government public\u00a0health mandates. They\u00a0<\/i>would rather die than let the government tell them what to do<\/em> to protect their health and that of those around them.\u00a0Better to be dead<\/em> than to follow government public health messaging<\/em> designed to keep people safe. Because public health\u2014apparently\u2014is\u00a0communism.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And, you know what they say\u2014better dead\u00a0than Red.<\/em><\/p>\n

* Note that \u201cfreedom\u201d includes the right to die from preventable conditions if you can\u2019t afford treatment, because universal healthcare is communism. In this sense, conservatives\u2019 response to government public health measures during a pandemic feels less out of place than it does like a continuation of a longstanding pact that not being Red sometimes does mean being dead<\/em>.<\/p>\n

** Black America\u2019s skepticism of government tends to run on a different axes from white America\u2019s skepticism. For example, white Americans, but not Black Americans, tend to be deeply skeptical of the welfare state; this is partly because some white Americans see the welfare state as a transfer of wealth from middle class white Americans to low income Black Americans. Conversely, Black Americans, but not (most) white Americans, tend to be deeply skeptical of police and police power.<\/p>\n

I have a <\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"