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If anyone wants to circle back to critique my claim that US culture/politics may not enable us to avoid the pandemic reaching "uncontrolled" status—the point at which experts predict an end-of-pandemic 2.5 million death toll—please watch this video first:
PS/ If you're wondering how the story ends...
PS2/ I take mental illness very seriously. I also take QAnon very seriously—as it's dangerous, and deliberately feeds into the mental illness of certain vulnerable persons. I post these videos because, whatever the cause of this episode, we can't stop a brutal pandemic this way.
PS3/ Obviously some of the obstacles to proper pandemic response don't have to do with Trump, Trump's derangement of some Americans or Trump's QAnon support—though *many* of them do. Young people spouting off "Whatever! If I die, I die!" nonsense is almost just as deranged, IMHO.
PS4/ Here's a story on this in {*sigh*} TMZ—not my usual sourcing—where this Scottsdale woman is called "QAnon Karen." Per TMZ, she "says she was sent by President Trump and a conspiracy theory group [QAnon] to take Target to task for selling face masks." https://www.tmz.com/2020/07/05/arizona-scottsdale-woman-destroys-target-face-mask-40k-rolex/
PS5/ The video confirms the TMZ story. QAnon "digital soldiers" take an oath to aid the secret battle at the heart of QAnon lore—a battle led by Trump, which Trump therefore works hard to convince QAnon followers is real. So *of course* this woman thought she was a Trump agent.
PS6/ In other words, there are some indications of mental illness here, but at the same time any QAnon "digital soldier" who has taken a public oath—which as of yesterday includes *Michael Flynn*!—believes themselves to be on a mission on Trump's behalf. That's...super dangerous.
PS7/ So you tell me: if our young don't care about the virus—whether they get it, whether they give it to others—and if Trumpists increasingly think (mental illness or no) they're active agents of Trump and *he doesn't want them wearing masks*, how the *hell* do we slow COVID-19?
