So you hate a bunch of people you've never met...Congratulations! Does it feel good?

I've had the misfortune of being straddled between my rabidly right-wing family and my super progressive friends for my entire life, and guess what? You sound very much like my mask-refusing, Trump-loving, far-right family.

The same huffy righteous indignation, the same "I do this so I'm better," the same whiny fingerpointing "They're ruining the country! I'm a REAL American!" bullshit I've grown up rolling my eyes at. And you're so pleased with yourself about it! Congrats on glorifying hate.

I, too, feel strongly about wearing my mask when I must go out, but guess what? Hating your countrymen is not going to make this better. It's going to make everything worse. Polarity thrives on division.

Vietnam, New Zealand, Bhutan and Taiwan have done a fantastic job, and I feel this on a personal level - I have permanent residency in Taiwan and it is my second, much beloved home - one that I miss very much but will not go home to, because of the virus. But can we also point out that these countries are small, bordering on towering mountains or oceans (two are islands), and, for lack of a better term, somewhat mono-ethnic populations with a greater degree of governmental control? I'm not saying that to lessen their accomplishments, but you surely can't expect a massive country with porous borders and an upwardly mobile population to compete? So many were out of the country and came home with covid and passed it along before anyone knew how serious it was - that didn't happen as much in Vietnam and Bhutan, where poverty keeps people less mobile, or New Zealand and Taiwan, where borders can be more tightly controlled.

And can't you see how much of your righteous covid behavior comes from privilege? That you have the kind of job and access to technology and money to cushion the discomforts of isolation? That your ability to isolate and still manage to make ends meet and educate your children arises, in part, because others are taking the risks you so righteously don't have to take? Really, if you don't see your privilege, you're blind.

My brother had covid and may have unwittingly passed it on - not because he's a mask-refuser (he's the exception in the family, the one I comiserate with when I can't handle the right-wing bullshit anymore) but because he had to work, he didn't qualify for unemployment or assistance, he had to feed his family and his unscupulous employers failed to tell him when the residents he was in contact with tested positive. Is he the bad guy? Because he can't work from home, like you? And because they send their small children to school, because his wife has to work, too? Does that make them the enemy? Are they the ones you're pointing fingers at? Because I'd love for you to send them some money so my brother, who has a blood-clotting problem (yes, covid appears to fuck with blood clotting, too), wouldn't have to work and put himself in harm's way.

Anyway, please, use your writing talent to educate. Encourage people to stay home and to mask up when they can't. But don't wear your hate like a badge of fucking honor. Our country has enough divisions, and you don't even know the stories of the people you're pointing fingers at.