Politics

Everything From This American Anti-Mask Rally Is So Ridiculous That It Feels Like A Parody

“George Floyd was saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and then he died. Now we’re wearing a mask and saying ‘I can’t breathe,’ but we’re being forced to wear them.”

by Michelle Rennex  15 September 2020
utah anti-mask rally parody snl

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There are two things about the pandemic that are common knowledge and cannot be refuted — masks undoubtedly help reduce the communal spread of COVID-19 and masks do not deprive the body of oxygen or inhibit one’s ability to breathe, unless they have pre-existing conditions that already make breathing difficult.

Yet, somehow, there are still is a bunch of anti-mask lunatics running around Utah spouting their terrible reasons as to why masks are a scam. A clip from a news report covering the ‘No More Masks’ rally in St. George, Utah on August 21, has gone viral overnight for just how ridiculous everything in the video is.

Calling the report “jaw-dropping”, people noted that the very real video felt like it could seamlessly be thrown into Saturday Night Live as a sketch to mocking anti-maskers. While the video is beyond parody and not even two-minutes long, there are some real standout moments in the package.

For example, a literal child who’s parent fed him their misinformed views saying “the f-flu k-kills more than c-coronavirus” on camera, t-shirts that read “I identify as a fresh air breather” and an old woman explaining that she hates masks because “most child molesters love them!”.

The Utah residents had gathered out the front of the Washington County administration building to protest the mask mandate that was put in place by the governor to reduce the transmission of coronavirus. However, hundreds of anti-maskers were furious with the decision, calling concerns over coronavirus spikes “overblown”, sharing that the pandemic is a “hoax” and saying that asymptomatic carriers aren’t real.

Those that gathered at the rally were specifically protesting for children as they believed that “masks jeopardise kids health” and so, parents should decide whether their children have to wear them at school. Despite there being zero proof that masks stunt lung development, lead to carbon dioxide poisoning or reduce oxygen intake, parents still stormed school district buildings and blocked off entrances.

As expected, these anti-maskers and COVID-19 conspiracy theorists choose to ignore that the deadly virus has already managed to kill over 930,000 people in less than a year. And for that small child, who was clearly brainwashed by his anti-masker parents, the World Health Organisation estimates that 290,000 to 650,000 die from the flu each year — a number that has been eclipsed by COVID-19 deaths in far less time.

But even with all the ridiculousness and lack of logic going on, one woman featured in the clip somehow managed to steal the show from everyone else. St. George resident Shauna Kinville has been heavily criticised by people online for her comparison of George Floyd dying at the hands of police brutality to the struggle of people being told to wear a mask to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

“George Floyd was saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ and then he died,” Kinville said at the 52-second mark. “Now we’re wearing a mask and saying ‘I can’t breathe,’ but we’re being forced to wear them.”

Anyway, don’t be like these people or Ziggy Alberts or Pete Evans. Coronavirus is very real, so please wear your mask to help slow the spread.