Hell 2 Da Naw Naw Award: Governor Abbott’s Reversal
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It takes a bigger person to admit their mistakes but we live in a day and age where "personal responsibility" despite everyone's claim to want it, is severely lacking.
Governor Greg Abbott's reversal of his "reopening" of Texas has backfired severely and now everyone in the state, no matter your "conservative/liberal" mindset, is seemingly angry and disappointed in the Governor's actions.
From the on set, at least to this observer, Governor Abbott's early decisions in handling the pandemic in Texas were all the right calls. Despite potential backlash from people that support him, the Governor made the right choice to put public SAFETY over economy and even still made adaptations to help keep the economy rolling in Texas.
But that wasn't good enough for some who took to the Capitol and PROTESTED the restrictions. Lest we forget:
It was at this point we began to see the Governor crack and fall victim to "special interests" and business owners who didn't, refused, or flat out didn't adapt to the new reality that we are facing. Remember Shelly Luther and all that outrage? I wrote about it a few months ago and explained how the Governor was setting a dangerous precedent by letting people like Luther and others bully him into doing what's not in the best interest of the people.
Not to mention, Governor Abbott caved to pressure on a national scale from the President who first called it a "hoax" and now plans to end funding for testing. Instead of doing what's right by the people of HIS STATE, he instead chose to walk the PARTY line and reopen much to the disagreement of medical experts.
Which leads us to one of the BIGGEST problems we face in American society that is slowly taking over: Anti-Intellectualism.
a person opposed to or hostile toward intellectuals and the modern academic, artistic, social, religious, and other theories associated with them or a person who believes that intellect and reason are less important than actions and emotions in solving practical problems and understanding reality. - Dictionary.com
Governor Abbott disregarded the advice of medical professionals working in the field and mayors in the state's biggest cities and chose to cave in to "others" who refused to listen to SCIENCE that warned of MORE people getting infected if we re-opened to soon if proper safety measures weren't implemented.
But again, this brings us back to "anti-intellectualism" in society and the belief that MY IGNORANCE IS JUST AS GOOD AS THE FACTS BEFORE YOU. I get it, there have been MANY conflicting reports on how this virus spreads and how to treat it, but the basic science states that if we all just take a little extra precaution we can stop the spread.
Instead of listening to DOCTORS, SCIENTISTS and people who WORK in the medical field, who actually STUDY and WORK in places where they have seen the viruses effect, we now have a segment of American society that thinks that their "google", "WebMD", OPINIONS ON FACEBOOK and own PERSONAL BIASES is just as valid as the facts.
And now we find ourselves once again behind the curve. All because we HAD to put ECONOMY over HEALTH. What good is having and spending money if you're too sick, or even worse, DEAD to do it? While just about every country on Earth is getting back on track, America continues to get worse and a lot of has to do with hard headed Americans who rather rely on their personal BIAS over PROVEN SCIENCE.
Clearly, at least for a moment, Governor Abbott has brought into this segment of "anti-intellectualism" and has now embarrassed himself and the State of Texas for moving to soon. If we could have just stayed put and done the RIGHT thing for a couple EXTRA WEEKS we would probably on track towards recovery. Now we're back at square one.
Listen to the doctors and scientists and trust them. Don't listen to folks who are only seeking to look good on the "national stage" which is where Governor Abbott may have his eyes on proven by his actions. We'll deal with that another time.
Be a decent human being and look out for your fellow man and take care of yourselves and your family