They already feared doctors and thought Big Pharma was out to get them—so, it was easy enough to make them doubt that masks or other prophylactic measures worked against White Mask. They were already convinced of both their exceptionalism and the God-given right of their individual liberties, so it was simple enough to tell them that they shouldn’t have to give up anything, not one goddamn little thing, in order to fight this pandemic. And white Americans were bigoted as hell, too, so all you had to tell them was that the Chinese invented the fungus, that Mexicans were bringing it in, that the
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bankrolling the whole goddamn thing. It was a brute force attack on information itself, an assault on facts and logic and expertise. That was always the trick, wasn’t it? Ed ran a number of companies and you never wanted your employees figuring out you were the one fucking them in the ass while you stuck a hand in their pocket. You gave them an enemy. Gave them a target. And you made them so willing to forgo their own rights because if they got something like healthcare or education, then so did Those People, and better to deny other people things instead of having to share it with Them.
