The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for May, 2020

Stay-at-Home orders and shortages of stuff are troublesome, but restrictions that may help keep us alive aren't. With that in mind,

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown Award
for
May, 2020

is presented to

The Screaming Idiot

As we grapple with the difficulties of dealing with a deadly virus that treats people of all races, religions, sexes, and political orientations with equal ferocity, we're learning a lot about the sort of people that make up present-day America. For many big businesses in particular, the health of employees is secondary to the continued ability to generate ever-larger returns for stockholders. For many individual Americans, drunk on the Kool-Aid image of the rugged, self-reliant cowboy who tamed the frontier with nothing but grit and his AR-15's six-shooters, the least suggestion of consideration for the health and safety of others is a horrifically unconstitutional abridgment of the God-given right to do whatever the hell one wants. In the photo above, taken during a demonstration at the Michigan state house, a screaming idiot totally consumed with the importance of his rights above all else screams at an impassive state trooper who would probably love to punch him in the throat. Multiple times.

In Texas, a park ranger trying to get people to observe social distancing for their own good was pushed into a lake by a dumbass who didn't want to be told what to do.

In Michigan, three members of a family are in custody after murdering a Dollar Store security guard who told them they couldn't enter the store without face masks.

Social distancing is hard. Stay at home orders are tough to deal with. Shuttered businesses and jobs on hold are devastating to individuals and families. We Americans aren't used to coping with shortages of anything for more than a day or so around a snowstorm that might last a day or two. The economy is tanking, with all the problems and stresses that go along with it.

But death is final.

It's clear that the full range of disease mitigation measures needed for a megalopolis like New York City may not apply to remote rural communities, but the frantic rush to relax as many restrictions as possible, everywhere, in order to start up the economy again and bolster Der Furor's reelection chances risks another surge in a pandemic that has already taken more than 76,000 American lives.

It's easy for me to cope with the restrictions, because I'm retired and I stay at home all the time, anyhow. I have a pension, Social Security*, and some modest investment income from my IRA. I have lots of hobbies to keep me busy and I don't have to worry about keeping children occupied while I work full-time from home like my own children do. But we need to live. And if we blithely ignore medically-recommended restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, many more of us will die.

And screaming at people who can't fight back won't change that.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, the Right-Cheek Ass Clown Award for the month of May is presented to a screaming idiot from Michigan as the representative for all the screw-you-I-demand-my-rights people everywhere.

Have a good day, and do the right thing for everyone ... not just yourself. I'll see you tomorrow for Cartoon Saturday. More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* At least until the GOP finally manages to destroy it like they've tried to destroy the health care system.