Unvaccinated terror: Proud Boys push the anti-vaccination movement into a violent threat
Unvaccinated terror: Proud Boys push the anti-vaccination movement into a violent threat
The violent, fascist energy of January 6 didn't just disappear
By AMANDA MARCOTTE at Salon
PUBLISHED AUGUST 19, 2021 1:10PM (EDT)
https://www.salon.com/2021/08/19/unvaccinated-terror-proud-boys-push-the-anti-vaccination-movement-into-a-violent-threat/
"SNIP.......
The Proud Boys are clearly focusing more of their energies on fighting any and all efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. Since the group prides itself on a bloodthirsty affect that thrives off targeting ordinary citizens for their political beliefs — you know, classic fascist street gang stuff — that necessarily means injecting the threat of violence into the already fraught debate over measures like vaccine and mask mandates.
As Kelly Weill of The Daily Beast reported last week, before the violent clash in Los Angeles, "members of the far-right paramilitary group the Proud Boys have attended contentious school board meetings about masking in Florida and New Hampshire." It's a real-life example of outside agitators, as Weill explained on the "Fever Dreams" podcast. "I do understand the value of public meetings," but Weill added, "there should be some sort of 'I have a child in this district' threshold before you show up in a paramilitary group uniform."
The result, unsurprisingly, is things are getting uglier and violence is in the air. Across the country, school board members and people who stand up for COVID mitigation measures are being heckled, surrounded, screamed at, and threatened. On Tuesday, the superintendent of a school district in a suburb outside of Austin, TX released a statement indicating that a "parent physically assaulted a teacher by ripping a mask off her face" and another teacher had to endure being screamed at for wearing a mask by a group of parents. In Springfield, Missouri, employees at a Walmart pharmacy were targeted by a man screaming threats that they would be "executed" for vaccinating people — and the man live-streamed his own violent and disturbing behavior on Facebook. Late last month, a breast cancer patient reported being attacked with bear spray by far-right protesters who opposed COVID mitigation strategies at the local hospital.
Although he was the one who turned the refusal to take COVID-19 seriously into a culture war flashpoint, it's hard to imagine that Trump is particularly pleased with this turn of events. Trump spent the summer ginning up his supporters to focus their energies on the Big Lie by holding rallies, hyping the fake Arizona "audit," and supporting the efforts of people like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell to keep the Trump base energized around hopes that they could "prove" Biden didn't win the election and that Trump should be "reinstated." It's classic stochastic terrorism, whereby leaders drop public hints about how someone should "do something" with hopes that their followers will pick up what they've put down.
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