Is it any wonder that many police officers, teachers, medical workers and flight attendants are experiencing burn-out? Why are some people surprised that full-force recruitment efforts have become necessary by police departments, schools and hospitals?
We shouldn’t have to wonder why. It’s largely because of a widespread pandemic of disinformation, bloated lies and lunatic conspiracy theories that cause some people to go bonkers.
When the Covid virus reared its ugly head two years ago, another type of dangerous virus began to infect all too many people in this country. Symptoms of the infection include wrong-headed belligerence and a rampant gullibility that causes its victims to believe anything at all – the crazier the better. Yes, folks, John Kennedy Jr. (supposedly killed in a plane crash years ago) really is alive and well, ready to show up in Dallas and become Donald Trump’s running mate in 2024. And of course Satanic-cult Democrats and movie stars are sex-trafficking children and drinking babies’ blood.
“Defund the Police” is one of the dumbest slogans of all time. Crime is increasing. Next time someone tries to break into your home and assault you, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters?
Yes, there are some “rogue cops” and some police acting with deadly haste in crises. The operative word is “some.” The outcry to defund the police is just plain crazy. The vast majority of police officers and sheriff’s deputies are outstanding public servants who risk their lives day and night to protect the public. Blaming all for the actions of a few is utterly ridiculous. Spouting “Defund the Police” is tantamount to saying they are all bad and thus defund them. The slogan should be “Defend the Police,” not “Defund the Police.”
Throughout this nation, teachers, school administrators and school-board members are often under verbal attacks by groups of parents. Among the unfounded charges are the following: that Critical Race Theory is being taught to make White children squirm with guilt about the brutalities perpetrated against Blacks throughout history; that children are being “groomed” by teachers in regards to topics of sex and LGBTQ sexual identities; that many books should be banned because they allegedly promote “subversive” diversity.
Many of those charges come directly from ultra-right-wing conservative “think tanks” that rile up gullible adherents. Some of those “think” groups have long wanted to eradicate (de-fund) public education. Some parents have shouted or screamed at school-board members, demanding resignations, accusing boards of pushing socialist-communist agendas. Never mind that Critical Race Theory is not taught in grades K-12, that students are not being groomed by sex-crazed teachers, that certain books are not brainwashing children. Never mind. Those loud folks believe that saying so, shouting so makes it so. It’s déjà vu, just like Sen. Joe McCarthy’s communist witch hunts of the 1950s all over again.
For two years, some doctors, nurses and other medical personnel have been the targets of harsh criticism and in some cases even verbal nastiness and/or physical assaults from people spewing disinformation about masks, vaccines and medical protocols. Medical employees worked long shifts in jam-packed care units, tending to the dying, grieving the deaths, going home utterly exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally. That horrific stress was and is bad enough. It is made worse by the disinformation know-it-alls, such as those with Covid virus demanding treatments proven not to work. Some dunderheads accused doctors of inflating death rates from Covid by reporting that as the cause of death to victims of car accidents or heart attacks.
Police, teachers and medical personnel are among the front-line workers who have been in danger of contracting the Covid virus. Their front line has sometimes become a battle line when those good people have to endure hostilities hurled at them by those who have been infected by a different virus, one that can cause dangerous delusions.
Will there be a future cure for that insidious virus? Will those who should get the cure take it? Alas, probably not.
