MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: I LOATHE HER WORDS, BUT I UPHOLD HER RIGHT TO SPEAK THEM

In Washington, fourth January 2001, a Democrat-led House of Representatives voted to remove Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from appointments to the Education and Labour Committee and from the Budget Committee.  This was a mistake; In a nation so factionally divided it has established a dangerous precedent. 

Such partisan actions to not work.  The case of John Wilkes in England in 1768 proved this, when public furore forced an overweening Establishment to back down, which led to the legal acceptance of the principle of Freedom of the Press.  Whether or not Republican Representative Greene serves on Committees is a matter for the Republican Congress who uphold her and the Electors of Georgia who chose her.  Democrat representatives may say what wish, but they have not the competence to decide which Republican Representative the Republicans should choose to sit on any Committee.

America will not be united by Senators and Representative on the Hill playing party politics. 

The Representative for Georgia, Marjorie Taylor Greene, declares that the alleged gun-massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, on Saint Valentine’s day, 2018, is a hoax.  The House Representative for Georgia states that fourteen-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff did not die in pool of her own blood, but is alive and well and gone into hiding; that other teenagers, Nicholas Dworet, Jaime Guttenberg, Luke Hoyer, Cara Loughran, were not killed by rifle bullets or any kind of trauma, but remain alive and well; that the twelve other school students and staff said to have been killed did not die, and that their public funerals were a series of elaborate charades.

The people of Georgia who voted to elect Representative Greene, knew her character, and chose to approve her actions.  However much the rest of the world may be appalled, the people of Georgia have a natural absolute and indefeasible right to vote as their consciences decide; but do they vote by conscience or by the colour of the shirt they wear?

America will not be healed until its People, choose to cast their vote in conscience’s sake, until the Grand Old red republican can say, “Today I will elect the better candidate, whether they profess to be Republican or Democrat,” and the blue liberal democrat chooses to say, “Today I will elect the candidate who has the truer heart, whether they are supported by the Democrat Party or the Republican.”

Of course, America is abhorred throughout the world, as a nation where legal trials are decided not on the evidence but on the political affiliation of the Judge, where public appointments such as Chief of Police are decided not on a candidate’s qualification, but on whether they declare themselves Republican or Democrat. 

It is the people who are to blame.  In America, a weak-hearted population have allowed themselves to be pressured into declaring themselves Republican or Democrat; and a Republican elector must cast their vote for the Republican candidate, howsoever unqualified for office that candidate may be, and a Democrat elector must cast their vote for the Democrat candidate, howsoever unworthy or criminous their candidate.  America is a nation of people who put their Party labels above the conscience of their own souls — above everything. 

Democrat Christians, in the Covid-19 epidemic, say, “I may be carrying the Covid virus, therefore I shall wear a face mask to prevent me spreading the virus to others.”  This may sound noble, but this charity does not arise from Christian love, but only because they wear the colour blue.

Republican Christians worship a different God, and openly profess, “If I am carrying the Covid virus, I will go into the street and spread it broadly with every out-breath, and God! if I infect someone else it is your fault, and God! if someone dies from me not wearing a face mask, their death is on your hands;” and this anti-Christian wickedness does not arise from a hatred of God, but simply because they wear the colour red. 

People-Protective Equipment

 As the SARS-CoV-2 rampages a second time across the UK and Europe, I am saddened to see so many of our countryfolk disregard the rules on face-coverings and social-distancing; visiting a hospital in south London, two weeks ago, half the hospital medics I saw were either wearing face-masks inappropriately or not wearing face-masks at all.  How can this be we know and understand what we must do, so why do we disregard the rules?  Had we all worn face-coverings these past six months, the nation would be free of coronavirus disease.  95% of those who have contracted coronavirus, 95% of those who have died, were infected by someone not wearing a mask, or by a family member infected by someone not wearing a mask.

But, still people say: ‘I’m not afraid, I shall not wear a face mask today.’  

The problem is that we see face-masks as Personal Protective Equipment, not as People Protective Equipment.  I wear a face mask not to protect myself, but to protect others, in case I am one of the million silent carriers in the land.

The words we say, the words that governments use and that the media repeat, conjure images in our minds: images that help manage the way we think.  In spring 2020 the western world was obsessed with the phrase PPE, personal protective equipment; but, that phrase leads to wrong thinking, images in our head of the face-mask that I am wearing, the face mask that they are wearing.  We knew that face-masks are for the public good, but our mental image and our thoughts was of a face-mask that is personal and private; we see face-masks as people-protective equipment; in short, we see face-masks as defensive, like a bullet-proof vest, so we fail to see the wearing of face masks as part of the nation’s armoury in the war against this viral enemy.

We folk feel free to relax our guard when the enemy seems not to be about.  The heroes amongst throw away the face-mask and boast that they are not afraid, that they shall not wear a mask today.    

It is said that nought-point-seven million UK citizens have contracted the virus, and that forty-five-thousand of our countryfolk have died of the disease.  Of those who have died, forty-three-thousand, ninety-five percent, were infected by someone not wearing a face covering, or by a family member who was infected by someone not wearing a face covering.  Wearing a face-mask protects others, it is people-protective equipment; and if folk in their twenty-somethings are the greatest spreaders of this contagion, it is the twenty-somethings who should be most diligent in wearing a mask.

When terrorist gunmen open random fire in a crowded street, the instinct is to run away to save ourselves, but there are always brave folk, often those in uniform, who run towards the gunmen, defiantly determined to protect others.  Those who wear a face-mask are the heroes, for it is they are facing-down the virus, it is their actions which protects others.

Covid is a wicked virus for it hides in ambush.  Any one of us could be unknowingly carrying the virus in our oral mucus.  Any one of us could be unwittingly contagious, spraying virus-infested micro-droplets with our every outbreath, infecting everyone nearby, and scattering the virus.  Wearing a face mask prevents us causing such-and-such a person’s death; not wearing a face-mask is akin to murder.  Had we all worn face-masks these past six months, Coronavirus would now be history.

Wearing a face-mask provides some personal protection, but virus particles dispersed on tiny particles of dust can still get through, and viral particles can touch uncovered skin, particularly on our hands when we touch an infested surface; but a face-mask provides excellent people protection.  We must all assume that we ourselves are contagious — for none can say they’re not — and we must wear a face mask for each other’s sake.  We need to see PPE as people-protective equipment.