We Live In An Age of Grift
Plus: An update on civility
Let’s start with an update on civility, which is, as you may have noticed, having a particularly bad week.
By now, you’ve seen the video bathroom stalking of Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, but there is also this slice of Americana, 2021: Anti-mask protesters in Sarasota protest outside the private residence of a school board member: “We see you in there, Shirley. We want you to come out for a redress of grievances. This is the line we will die on. Shirley, come out. We have some questions and we have demands that need to be met.”
You can feel the righteous sense of entitlement…. because there’s always a justification for boorishness. And, of course, we can’t let old-fashioned norms of civility or boundaries of privacy interfere with our need to express our feelings.
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And then there is this report from Wyoming. A local pro-Trump anti-Liz Cheney GOP official sent an email to Republican State Senator Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, because he was upset with how she handled a bill that would have banned the state from requiring its employees to get a COVID vaccine.
This is what GOP precinct committeeman Troy Bray wrote:
“If I were as despicable a person as you, I would kill myself to rid the world of myself,” said the email, a copy of which was obtained by the Casper Star-Tribune. “You sicken me. Thank you for ensuring that the people of Wyoming are subjected to tyranny once again. F— YOU C—.”
I know. He sounds nice.
Bray now says that the language was “inappropriate.” He was fired from one post, but refused to step down as precinct committeeman.
He also says he has apologized to Nethercott for the specific language he used. But, since this is 2021, his apology is a modified, limited sort of thing. And, of course, it turns out that he is the real victim here.