Leaders infected with COVID-19 hypocrisy
Nine months into the pandemic, we now know the most effective tool to blunt the COVID-19 coronavirus.
It’s not masks and social distancing, nor washing hands and avoiding large gatherings, as they are tactics — not strategy. In order to defeat a virus, the most important weapon is credibility. Sounds simple enough, since common sense plays a huge part in earning credibility. But as Voltaire famously quipped, “Common sense is not so common.”
Problem is, when asinine leaders do the opposite of what they mandate for others, their hypocrisy crushes whatever credibility they had. All too often, the result is people jettisoning the idea of “doing the right thing” under the mentality of “if our leaders aren’t doing it, neither am I.”
The reality of combatting a virus doesn’t change, however. In other words, just because leaders are hypocritical doesn’t mean that the rules are wrong. But those rules become a hard sell, as many choose convenience over doing the right thing.
Here are just a few examples of why we’re facing such an uphill battle, and why COVID rates continue to rise.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: In what is perhaps the biggest slap to the American people, Ms. Pelosi went inside her San Francisco salon to get her hair done, despite that being against the law. In doing so, the speaker made four huge mistakes:
A) She claims she didn’t know the salon regulation. But given that Ms. Pelosi is the third-most powerful person in the world (via presidential succession), and a top lawmaker (who is supposed to know the law), that excuse is simply farcical. It was her duty to know — period. And even if she didn’t know what damn near every woman in California certainly did - that there were indoor restrictions on hair salons - her staff certainly should have.
B) She failed to take accountability for her actions, which epitomizes why America is declining. Rather than owning up to her error and issuing a genuine mea culpa — which would have limited the fallout to a one-day story — she dug her heels in and was defiant in excusing her law-breaking behavior. It’s the same mentality that many use to justify the violence sweeping America.
C) She cast blame on everyone else by claiming that she was “set up.” That’s right. In her words: “This salon owes me an apology…It was clearly a setup. I take responsibility for falling for a setup by a neighborhood salon I’ve gone to for many years.” Sure, Ms. Speaker, sure it was a set-up, because it makes perfect sense to deliberately antagonize a long-time client — one who just happens to be the most powerful woman in America, and who could make your life a living nightmare.
D) The speaker just handed Donald Trump and every Republican perfect fodder for a campaign ad. The message that wealthy elitist incumbents with their hypocritical double standards (Ms. Pelosi also wasn’t wearing a mask) are personally benefitting at the expense of the Average Joe, would play extremely well in battleground states. And that’s not just speculation, since that sentiment helped propel Mr. Trump to victory in 2016.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney: Mayor Kenney created an uproar after he was spotted dining indoors at a Maryland restaurant — with no mask, and without social distancing. That’s bad enough, but what makes the sin mortal is that the mayor has been adamant about not allowing indoor dining in his own city. So he enacts regulations that hurt restaurants and their employees — justified by his preaching about how indoor dining is unsafe — but then breaks his own rules by dining in another city, without proper precautions.
Venerated Philadelphia restauranteur Marc Vetri said it best by slamming the mayor on social media: “Glad you’re enjoying indoor dining with no social distancing or mask-wearing in Maryland tonight, while restaurants here in Philly close, suffer and fight for every nickel just to survive. I guess all your press briefings and your narrative of unsafe indoor dining don’t apply to you. Thank you for clearing it all up for us tonight.”
Well said, sir.
Our leaders can and must do better. Their intransigence has contributed to an attitude of complacency throughout the nation, so much so that more than half of all Americans are reluctant to take a vaccine that they see as rushed, or altogether unnecessary.
One thing is certain. Coronavirus isn’t going away anytime soon, and we are heading into what could be the most dangerous period. If our leaders don’t start leading, and we don’t get a handle on this virulent disease, then the health of everything — people, political futures, and the economy — may soon be on life support.