Things Fall Apart

 

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and the Orlando Utilities Commission are addressing the media about a “unprecedented event” that they say needs immediate community assistance. More on the ask on @fox35orlando pic.twitter.com/6zdwdGxFvJ

— Dave Puglisi (@DavePuglisiTV) August 20, 2021

The self-reliance myth that some people tout, the fierce independence of a pig sliding on ice, the notion that people can choose not to vaccinate or mask because "It doesn't affect anybody but me" melts like butter in a hot skillet once you recognize that we are all out here competing for resources and some people have ensured that those resources are going to go towards the management (with possible dwindling utility) of a preventable disaster instead of just maintaining a functioning modern society. By the time we have people falling on the floor because they are too sick to stand, even a "free" treatment is more costly than the free vaccine and the cheap masks that could have prevented things coming to this point.

Any person in government who doesn't understand that things tend to fall apart without maintenance, and that pressures like a pandemic fill up ICU's, close schools, and kill citizens and should be addressed with firmness early on, is lacking basic common sense, let alone the leadership and knowledge to perform. And this isn't to pick on poor ol' Ron- Greg Abbot and Tate Reeves and others haven't been much better. But keep in mind this foolish and disastrous course isn't a bug of unfit individuals who have risen to high office--its a feature of conservative thought. 

Leaders like DeSantis don't necessarily see the problem, and will gaslight and bully reporters and dissemble publicly because you are the problem if you see the problem. And there it is. Leaving people like mayors and other officials trying very very hard to stop things from falling apart faster than they should be.