What Progressives Can Learn from Anti-Maskers: Don't Ignore Local Government!
The problem I have seen with progressive activists, who tend to skew younger and are more diverse, is that they tend to ignore formal city counsel or school board meetings, and focus instead on demonstrations, use of social media, and focus on federal elections, particularly Presidential elections. Indeed, given that public opinion often favors progressives on issues like climate change and vaccination, we tend to take our popular support for granted. This is a mistake.
The thing about the right wing, which is increasingly extreme, is that they understand that they are increasingly representing a minority of America who are trying to preserve a racist white male privilege. They cannot win a majority, thus they have increasingly embraced making it harder for folks in cities and minorities to vote.
Likewise, and the purpose of this OP, is that they have become skilled in the use of efficient force multipliers such as testifying at local government meetings. Due open government laws and the first amendment, they have become increasingly skilled at effectively filibustering local government meetings to bully city councils and school boards to embrace their right wing extremist views even though such views are far outside of the mainstream.
For example, in California, there are anti-vaxxers who effectively travel from local government to local government meeting to spew anti-vaccine misinformation so that a 5 minute item relating to COVID could end up taking a full hour of 20-30 speaking for a few minutes each to spew anti-vaccine misinformation to the detriment of the public and effective policy.
Progressives need to exercise their own right and entitle to speak to their local government officials in public meetings that are often televised to counter these extremist views that are spewed by the same ten or twenty people at local government meetings.
Check out your local city council or school board and watch who shows us on a item involving masks or vaccination or elections. it will be the same folks week in and week out spewing the latest Tucker Carlson talking points.
https://www.vox.com/2021/8/11/22620254/williamson-county-school-board-meeting-franklin-tennessee-mask-mandate
An explosive school board meeting on Tuesday evening in Franklin, Tennessee, illustrated how mask mandates, even in schools where students are too young to be vaccinated, have become a new front in the Covid-19 culture war largely being waged by anti-vax and vaccine-skeptical right-wingers.
At the Tennessee meeting, where the Williamson County Schools Board of Education voted to require masks for elementary school students, staff, and visitors inside buildings and buses, Tennessean reporter Brinley Hineman shot video of the proceedings being disrupted by extremely vocal, agitated anti-mask demonstrators who chanted, “No more masks!”
Link to tweet
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Even more disconcertingly, Tennessee journalist Matt Masters shot video after the meeting showing anti-mask demonstrators harassing doctors and nurses who had spoken in favor of the mask mandate as they tried to leave the parking lot. (The clip was later reposted on Twitter by Tennessean reporter Natalie Allison.)
“We know who you are. You can leave freely, but we will find you,” one man said, as police officers separated the crowd so the public health experts could drive away safely.
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