Undermining the outrage machine

by Thomas Mills

July 30, 2021

Yesterday, Governor Roy Cooper angered conservatives by not imposing a mask mandate. Instead, he left decisions up to local authorities and business owners as to whether or not to require masks. In doing so, Cooper stripped away a conservative outrage platform, undercutting their plans to openly defy his gubernatorial mandate and complain about their loss of freedom. It was a serious blow to conservative pundits and twitter warriors across the state.

As a consolation, Cooper did require employees of Cabinet agencies to either show proof of vaccine or wear a mask and get regular COVID testing. He also blasted the unvaccinated for perpetuating the pandemic. Conservatives tried to muster outrage, but the lack of a mask mandate clearly left them deflated.

But don’t worry. Conservatives are busy manufacturing other outrages to fuel their grievance politics. They have discovered that Cooper’s administration is working on a proof-of-vaccination card. While some of us may think that’s great, conservatives have already worked on branding it as a “vaccine passport,” a nefarious way for government to track people and discriminate against those who believe COVID has a right to exist. I’m dubious, though. “Vaccine passport” may be easy to remember, but I’m not sure too many people are going to be outraged about getting one, especially if it’s not required, if they went to the trouble of getting vaccinated in the first place.

But there are still other outrages, too. Critical Race Theory might have been knocked out of the headlines, but it’s still simmering in the background. And conservatives know there’s no grievance like racial grievance. It’s been their go-to outrage for more than 100 years. They will keep beating the CRT drum until the election hoping they can scare fragile Trumpists to the polls next year even if Trump is not on the ticket.

Read more: https://www.politicsnc.com/underminiing-the-outrage-machine/