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For those wondering what conservative politics look like post-Trump, I think this might be a precursor. A gym in my town has opted to engage in massive resistance to the governor's order that gyms shut for 2 weeks. https://twitter.com/Salem_Statesman/status/1328505397334904845?s=20
The announcement on Facebook solicited an avalanche of support from the community, much of it couched in the language of "we won't let that tyrant Kate Brown tell us what we can and can't do." For context, this is not an inexpensive gym.
The GOP in Oregon is electorally unviable, but as we saw last summer when 12 GOP Senators left the state to deny a quorum on a climate bill that seemed sure to pass, their main strategy now is just to make the state ungovernable. This gym's action is of a piece with that.
We'll have to see how this plays out. Will the governor fine the business? Will the business resist efforts to make them comply? Will armed right wing groups get involved like they did this summer with a salon in town that refused to comply? https://www.koin.com/local/marion-county/dozens-protest-unconstitutional-orders-outside-salem-salon/
The two counties in which this business operates are pretty much 50/50 politically. A good number of the FB posts supporting the business have a fairly standard GOP feel to them--protecting business owners against an overweening nanny state.
But then there are some that have more of the feel of this sort of wingnut discourse, with the obligatory fake Kruschev quote, Thomas Sowell shout outs, and warnings about impending communism.
What's distinctive in this situation, I think, is the way social media enabled this gym to solicit expressions of public support from hundreds of people within a few hours, giving the impression that they, not Kate Brown, truly speak for "the people" of Oregon.
The irony, of course, is that a good number of these folks celebrating the gym's decision to break the law are also very concerned about what they perceive to be the breakdown of law and order in Portland. When *they* disobey the law, presumably, it's for good reason.
While Oregon is doing relatively well compared to most other states, this is the state of the outbreak in the state and in our county. Without taking serious measures, we are on the brink of things getting massively out of control.
It's hard for me to imagine being the Governor in this situation and thinking "yeah, let's keep letting 40 people gather in rooms together breathing heavily for an hour in the middle of a rapidly exploding pandemic involving an airborne virus."
I guess the part that most frustrates me is that nowhere in the FB comments did I see anyone acknowledge that going to a crowded gym right now (like holding a large holiday gathering) runs a high risk of making the pandemic worse, prolonging & expanding the pain for all of us.
These are difficult decisions. Weighing the interests of public health & safety vs. the ability for businesses to carry on is a challenge. Ultimately tho, if business owners learn they can just nullify laws they don't like by whipping up a mob on FB, then that doesn't bode well.
According to this calculator, in a group of 25 people in Marion County right now there is a 28% chance there would be a contagious person in the group. This gym probably runs 15 to 20 classes per day that draw about that number of people. Indoors. https://covid19risk.biosci.gatech.edu/
I do not know a single person who would consider even for a second exercising inside for an hour with 25 other people right now. But apparently, gauging by the FB responses this gym has gotten, I and all of my friends are the idiots in this situation.
And based on what folks are saying about this gym, you gotta believe that they're going to get together with family for Thanksgiving dinner. And so the rest of us who've been doing our bit, staying away from crowded indoor spaces, will have to do so even longer. SMDH.
What we have is a massive collective action problem that has been exacerbated by a GOP political culture that has politicized public health, distorting a conversation about science by running it thru the Trumpian rage machine. Shutting gyms for 2 weeks = Communism, I guess.
These are the sorts of comments that most gall me. The virus is out of control (in part because the current administration in DC has botched our response to it). The Oregon state government is trying to get it under control.
