Salon's Amanda Marcotte explains how anti-lockdown protests are ackshually 'powered by racism'

Sarah D | 3:08 PM on May 04, 2020

In these uncertain times, we can at least be certain that Salon still sucks.

Behold:

Anti-lockdown "movement": Powered by racism https://t.co/TZkFtnVVhs

— Salon (@Salon) May 4, 2020

Salon never disappoints.

Oh look, it’s a day that ends in “y”. I guess it’s time for Salon to blame something on racism.

— Robert O Bowlin III (@RobBowlinThe3rd) May 4, 2020

Well yeah, literally everything is https://t.co/X5EtVFD8Dk

— China is lying (@jtLOL) May 4, 2020

Salon in every article pic.twitter.com/Hpf2Me6fnD

— Daan (@DaanSTweet) May 4, 2020

Amanda Marcotte (because of course it’s Amanda Marcotte) writes:

The question isn’t whether white identity politics and racism are fueling the protests. The real question is why. Racism isn’t some kind of magical force that shields your body from the coronavirus. Even Donald “Inject Bleach” Trump hasn’t been fool enough to suggest you can defeat the virus by wrapping yourself in the Confederate flag. Yet there’s no denying that there’s a direct correlation between racist attitudes and the belief that the coronavirus is an overblown hoax and the lockdowns are the result of a widespread leftist conspiracy.

That isn’t just true of the protesters, either. The most prominent voices in media and politics who are egging them on and denouncing stay-at-home orders also happen to be the people who are doing their utmost to mainstream white nationalist ideology.

…

The far right has grown increasingly hostile to the government in the face of social programs — most recently Obamacare — that they view as redistributing money from “deserving” white people to people of color. All the bellyaching about “tyranny” and patriotic cosplay is about creating a moral justification for anti-government views that are rooted in racist resentment and xenophobia. The lockdown protests are about further enshrining their hatred of Democrats, and their reluctance to pay taxes or share public goods with nonwhite people, as resistance to “tyranny.”