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Coronavirus/CoViD-19 and August 2020 News Digest: If You Don't Wear A Mask, You're Factually Stupid

Big things are in the works here at Tulip City Dispatch - things that are hinging on interviewing others.  In the meantime, I've been collecting some links, and want to share them with my readers:

The Sentinel's headline says it all:  A teen from Jenison was ridiculed for organizing a BLM protest.  He organized the event on Facebook, and both he and his classmates were subject to an inordinate amount of online harassment, bullying, and mean comments.  What stung me the hardest was reading about the local comments; people in the teen's community, and the community that I grew up in, spewing hateful rhetoric.  Jenison residents simply didn't want any BLM activity in their town.  While Jenison has never been a bastion of progressive politics, one thing that they profess to be is a Christian neighborhood...and there's no room for hate in Christianity.

Raw Story tells the tale of a rash of county sheriffs across the nation testing positive for CoViD after many of 'em vowed to not enforce mask orders.  Said one sheriff, "I have no idea how I contracted this and that is a lesson in itself: Anyone can catch this."  Your arrogance won't protect you from this virus.

Please, wear your masks, wash your hands, and put your trust into the doctors, medical professionals, scientists, and epidemiologists who've devoted their lives into studying and preparing for situations like this.  Don't let your ignorance and arrogance get in the way.  We're in this together, and without cooperation and mutual respect (wearing your mask whenever plausible), we're fucked.

Pretty straightforward - After President Trump threatened to postpone the November election in the US, a White House representative called out Hong Kong for postponing theirs, saying that “This action undermines the democratic processes and freedoms that have underpinned Hong Kong’s prosperity,” as though postponing the US election would not undermine our democratic processes (Where have we seen this before?).

Psypost links low working memory capacity with non-compliance, especially as it pertains to wearing masks and socially distancing during the CoViD crisis.  I was skeptical, so I looked up a media bias fact check on PsyPost and found that they're pretty darn good.  Working memory is the ability to form connections and logic, and use critical thinking skills, while balancing the action/consequence connection within the brain.  This article is not saying that if you don't wear a mask, you're factually stupid...rather, it explores the rationale and reasoning behind certain groups of society to resist wearing a mask (for the protection of others).

I hope my readers have the forethought to click through my links above, filter through the information contained therewithin, and form their own conclusions.  I'm only a man, I'm busy, I have a job and other responsibilities that take up my energies.  While I strive for journalistic and academic reliability, I know I can't get all the way there.

Take care, folks!
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