https://www.illinoispolicy.org/what-illinoisans-need-to-know-about-the-may-1-mask-mandate/
On Friday, May 1, 2020, a news videographer was assaulted while filming for a story related to Illinois’ new face mask mandate. The videographer was filming activity near a store to show the level of compliance with the new face mask policy. Apparently, a man driving by took offense that he may have been recorded. He pulled into the parking lot and confronted the videographer, maintaining the he hadn’t granted the videographer permission to be filmed. The videographer identified himself as a member of the news media working on a story, and that what he was doing was legal and proper. The assailant then took the videographer’s hat. When asked to return the hat, he refused, and the videographer continued recording to document the incident. The assailant then took the camera and smashed it on the ground several times, while the videographer continued to record the incident with his cell phone. The assailant then chased the videographer in an attempt to take the cell phone. When the videographer took refuge in a nearby store, the assailant returned to his car and left. The police were called and a report filed.
Unfortunately, this kind of ignorant, immature reaction to common, rational activities is happening all too often. I suspect that the assailant was yet another consumer of right-wing media like Fox News, who, with the ‘red meat’ of biased and emotionally-slanted reporting has trained their audience members to react emotionally, rather than rationally. Watching Fox News (actually, trusting what you hear there) makes people stupid – literally. It moves people toward the ‘stupid’ end of the spectrum by intentionally leaving its consumers ignorant of a whole-and-complete view of relevant facts and thus prone to make destructive choices.
Reporting of face mask mandates are a case in point. Elements of conservative media have portrayed the mandated wearing of face masks as unnecessary, ineffective and an infringement on an individual’s personal liberty, encouraging its consumers to defy the mandate.
This kind of irresponsible journalism ignores many relevant facts:
-
-
- The Covid-19 virus is highly contagious.
- The Covid-19 virus is widespread, and is likely to be found anywhere – it is not at all contained.
- Infected people spread the virus through droplets expelled from the mouth and nose. Others then contract the virus by breathing in the droplets, or by touching surfaces contaminated by the droplets and transferring the virus to areas of the face where they can enter the body and grow.
- Symptom-free people who don’t know they have the virus are spreading the virus.
- Any physical barrier in front of the mouth and nose will capture droplets and reduce the transmission of the virus.
- First, Do No Harm – the overarching mandate of the medical profession to act with the intention that the potential benefit of treatments administered greatly outweigh the potential risk of harm.
- We live in society, and much of our personal lives play out in public spaces, where each of us has a responsibility to ‘Do No Harm’.
- Refusal to wear a face mask when in public sends other people a message:
- I am too ignorant to understand the dangers of Covid-19 and how it is spread.
- I’ll do what I want, because I don’t really care about other people.
-
Update:
I received the following response, upset at my assertion that:
“Watching Fox News makes people stupid – literally. It moves people toward the ‘stupid’ end of the spectrum by intentionally leaving its consumers ignorant of a whole-and-complete view of relevant facts and thus prone to make destructive choices.”
To be fair, I could have been clearer that it is the trusting of what is said on Fox news that does the damage, not the simple act of watching; and that there is a spectrum of response to believing Fox News’s misinformation. That Fox News is the premier distributor of politically-motivated misinformation is an easily proven fact. It is not a legitimate source of information about American politics.
The complaint about my assertion:
I guess I’m a little taken aback… Although you and I don’t often agree on opinions I’ve never considered you to be stupid because I disagree with where you get your information… but I am stupid because I listen to Fox and CNN and I compare the two?
I respect your right to your viewpoint and will defend your right to have it, but apparently I’m not allowed to have my viewpoint because I’m an idiot, and because I watch Fox News I am prone to violence if I find someone who disagrees with me.
Well, I happen to watch and pay attention to both sides because it takes analysis of both sides to make a fair decision. And I’m not calling people who follow CNN idiots… because I’ve seen both Fox and CNN leave out massively critical details to stories simply to coax along their jacked-up mission followers.
If anything, when people like yourself start name calling I feel sorry for you because it’s obvious you’ve only swallowed the hook from one side of the story.
My response to this can be found here:
Assaulting Media Professionals – Some Reasons Why