1/ Although the racialization of C19 by the right (insisting on calling it foreign or Chinese) is one way in which race/racism plays a role in this mess, there is another, even more significant way in which it does, which actually poses huge risks to all including white folk...
2/ Think about the bravado and nonchalance with which not only Trump but his die hard supporters greeted the pandemic: no big deal, we got this, just the flu, liberals are wimps for being afraid of it, social distance my ass, etc. Where does THAT come from? Take a guess...
3/ It comes from the white racial frame (as Joe Feagin calls it) and toxic American masculinity which leads so many to believe theyre in control, can protect themselves, don't need to rely on others (especially not pointy-headed EXPERTS!) & are rugged individuals...
4/ For whom acting in the PUBLIC good is seen as weakness, or a violation of their freedoms to do as they please...only people marinated in privilege and systemic entitlement could be so cavalier in the face of crisis...
5/ So race & gender inequity set us up to be especially vulnerable to something like this bc they give those at the top of those hierarchies a false sense of security...and its why so many on the right bristle even at white men like Fauci. He's not alpha enough like Trump...
6/ He's too cerebral, he doesn't puff up his chest enough, etc. And it's why they hated Obama so much. Not bc he hurt them. He didn't. But he was a black guy who was far and away more intelligent, well read and measured, and that's not manly enough (in white male terms)...
7/ All this soft-pedaling of C19 is just a new version of soft pedaling the Iraqi military or Vietnamese. White masculinity says we're bigger/badder than all challengers...even microbial ones...
8/ It's as if we're saying to the virus, "didn't you hear what Toby Keith said? We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way!" To which they virus is responding, in effect, "hole my beer cowboy..."
9/ And this is gonna get folks killed...IS getting folks killed. So for those looking for yet another good reason to rethink our attachment to that kind of masculinity and racial inequity/privilege...here it is.
or ya know "hold my beer..." although "hole my beer" is oddly apt...
