The Conundrum of the Anti-Maskers

As an almost lifelong Albertan who is somewhat left of centre, one would think I would be accustomed to contrary points of view. Yet, recent events have left me perplexed. The election of Donald Trump and then, after his COVID ignorance, the closeness of the 2020 election. And now, the no-masker movement. What gives? 

Lately, I've been listening to Fareed Zakaria's book, "Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World." Basically, his thesis is that the pandemic has highlighted many problems with the American system of government. In Chapter 3, "People Should Listen to the Experts - and Experts Should Listen to the People," Fareed talks about the power held by experts and lack thereof left to the plebeian masses. 

Fareed calls experts the new ruling class. He quotes Michael Lind in his book, "The New Class War." On one side, we have the experts. On the other, the general public. Fareed says that "Advice by experts is part of the domination of the new ruling class. All advanced countries are now run by a new meritocracy." He continues on to say that, "in America and Europe, about a third of the public have college degrees. A smaller percentage get post-graduate degrees."  

"Most leadership positions in society are held by people with at least a college degree and usually, a postgraduate one. In other words, two-thirds of people in these countries stand around and watch while other people run everything." Fareed goes on to say that "the meritocrats form a distinct class separated from the rest of society. For one thing, they earn much more. According to the U.S. census, the incomes of Americans with postgraduate degrees are 3.7 times as high those of high school dropouts." "They live in cities, hold professional jobs and tend to be socially liberal." 

The non-college members of the public by contrast are more rural, include fewer professionals and are generally more socially conservative. And these people tend to live in rural areas. "Polls show that about two-thirds of rural America vote for Trump and two-thirds of city dwellers loathe him." "Republicans now control only 6% of pure urban districts in the House of Representatives." In Britain, those who voted for Brexit tended to be those without a college degree. The Yellow Vesters in France tended to be rural without a college degree. In German, support for the far right come from rural, older persons. 

City dwellers along the coast

Recently, those living in rural areas watched as the pandemic spread from the cities to the
countryside. Yet, city dwellers were also better able to function during the pandemic. That's because, "in 2019, the bureau of labour statistics released a report looking at how much job flexibility Americans enjoyed. Of those with a Bachelor's Degree or higher, almost half reported working from home at least occasionally. For those with a high school diploma, fewer than 10% reported ever having worked from home, For high school dropouts, 3%." "Only 13% of workers in households making over $100,000 were laid off or furloughed compared with 39% in households making less than $40,000."

Across the world, those with college degrees will fare better than those without and the divide will spread. At his rallies, of this new ruling class, Donald Trump told his supporters that "they're not the elite, You're the elite." The feeling is that "the metropolitan elites are running the country for their own benefit and look down on the country bumpkins." "This anti-elitism is a reflection of the powerlessness that many people feel when navigating the modern world, one in which experts and intellectuals seem to hold the keys to knowledge and power."

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that "power tends to deaden the senses by those who wield it." Power kills empathy. Those raised in wealth showed fewer neurological responses to images depicting suffering. So, the experts aren't listening to those they're supposed to lead. They're failing to provide them with facts because they fear how they will react. In May of 2011, forest fire experts were telling the people of Slave Lake to stay in place long after the town had caught fire for fear they would panic. Instead, the citizenry decided themselves to evacuate and all in an surprisingly orderly fashion. There was no panicking. 

For me, the refusal of people to wear masks because they see it as part of a new class war makes sense. It also fits with the appeal of conspiracy theories. An article by Yuval Noah Harari of "Homo Sapiens" fame states that, a recent survey of 26,000 people in 25 countries asked respondents whether they believe there is 'a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together. Thirty-seven percent of Americans replied that this is 'definitely or probably true.' So did 45 percent of Italians, 55 percent of Spaniards and 78 percent of Nigerians." 

Yuval goes on to say, "The key premise of global cabal theories is that it is relatively easy to manipulate the world. A small group of people can understand, predict and control everything, from wars to technological revolutions to pandemics." "These theories attract large followings because they offer a single, straightforward explanation to countless complicated processes." 

These straightforward theories include the idea that 5G towers cause the coronavirus. Of course, the solution for such is easy. Burn down the cell towers. Others include that the virus was introduced by Bill Gates back in 2018 or that it originated with Chinese people eating bats or that it was a bioweapon engineered by the Chinese government (or the CIA) to wage war on America (or China.) And, of course, Dean Kootz predicted it all. 

I was witness to one of these conspiracy theorists on a visit to the barber shop where a customer espoused a connection with the U.N. and that a one-world government had its troops along with the Chinese training for battle in Canada. The coronavirus, according to him, was a way for his one-world government to bring down Donald Trump and, by extension, the rest of America. 

My point in telling you all this is that I'm conjecturing that anti-maskers believe they're engaged in a class warfare against a bunch of politicians and bureaucrats who are all considered experts. As the Donald famously said, "part of the deep state." Some, or perhaps many, believe in a deep state or  global cabal theory that provides further proof of a hoax that is the coronavirus that officials are claiming causes people to become sick. It's just one more way of taking away the freedom of patriotic Canadians and Americans. If they don't take a stand now, what can they expect to happen next? Crazy, right? 

Anti-maskers in Calgary demonstrating.