Keen students of political arrogance – and what sane person doesn’t delight in THAT subject? – know that their scholarship never ends, because politicians and their lackeys never change.
Take White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who, Friday, August 6, told FoxNews White House Correspondent Peter Doocy that parents' concern over their children being forcibly masked in public schools takes a backseat to “public health officials” and their commands.
And, as if that asteroid of political conceit weren’t hot enough, she made it worse by implying that her own experience as a mom should trump another mom’s and/or dad’s.
First, the set-up. Old pals Doocy and Psaki (she seems to offer him nothing but sniping contempt) squared-off again Friday, when Doocy prefaced a question about Biden’s federal “mask policy” by mentioning that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently said he might withhold state funds from school districts that refuse to let parents opt out of mask requirements for their kids.
Well, of COURSE, if it has something to do with Ron DeSantis, anyone interested in maintaining their leftist bona-fides had better slam the man like a pro wrestler.
And Psaki did, dismissing those who wonder about the efficacy of the masks, the trade-offs of mandating masks for children – who stand a near ZERO chance of becoming dangerously ill from or spreading COVID-19, a disease which, in turn, has an over 99 percent survival rate for all cohorts put together – and the very concept of parental choice inherent in DeSantis’ idea. In fact, Psaki evidently cared so little about parental liberty, she flipped the concept on its head.
About DeSantis telling cities and towns to let parents have the option of seeing that their kids aren’t forced into face diapers, Doocy asked:
Does the President think that parents should have that kind of power?
And in her response, Psaki first snapped that she’d spoken on that many times, then, she assumed that her own experience should dictate the lives of all other parents.
I will say this -- as a parent, myself, of two young children – that I want public health officials to make decisions about how to keep my kids safe, not politicians.
Which not only assumes that her preferences should be everyone’s, but deflects, by assuming that the governor’s plan for more parental freedom is akin to him MAKING the family health decisions. And Psaki piles onto the redirection by implying that her beloved “public health officials” aren’t political, when, by definition, they work for the POLIS. Thus, in one sentence, the White House Press Secretary dismissed the nature of Doocey’s question, redefined parental control and choice as political, and depicted bureaucratic mandates onto kids -- and the parents and taxpayers forced to fund both the schools and bureaucrats – as common sense, apolitical, and laudable.
She’s got a way with words.
And she wasn’t done, because, of course, she had to redefine freedom, just like Big Brother in Orwell’s “1984” when he said, “Freedom is slavery.”
Now, freedom is having the knowledge that the government is in control.
Parents in Florida, and parents across the country, should have the ability and the knowledge that their kids are going to school and they’re in safe environments. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.
When Doocy noted:
He (DeSantis) says that his concern is about the harmful emotional, academic, and psychological effects of putting kindergarteners in masks for hours at a time. Is there any concern from officials that you guys talked to in your earlier, pre-decisional discussions about that?
“No, there’s not,” Psaki snapped.
And I can tell you from personal experience, my rising kindergartener told me two days ago she could wear a mask all day and she’s just happy to go to camp and go to school.
Isn’t it nice to think that since Psaki says her child is cool with being wrapped behind a mask all day, your child should be, too?
Related: Mom Is TASED & HANDCUFFED For Not Wearing Mask At Son's Football Game
And isn’t it great to think about how dismissive Psaki is of DeSantis’ concerns and how little she cares about parents’ worries – worries that might have been inspired by a June study on masks and carbon dioxide conducted by doctors in Germany, Poland and Austria?
Perhaps Jen missed it, but, as Dylan Houseman reported July 1 for MSN the researchers:
…Found that the wearing of nose and mouth coverings by children leads to an increase in carbon dioxide levels in both inhaled and exhaled air while wearing a mask. The authors, a group of physicians from Germany, Poland and Austria, concluded that the findings ‘suggest that children should not be forced to wear face masks.’
Perhaps Jen was too busy sharpening her verbal claws to visit the official website of the American Institute for Economic Research, which in March, 2021, noted:
Children do not readily acquire SARS-CoV-2 (very low risk), spread it to other children or teachers, or endanger parents or others at home. This is the settled science. In the rare cases where a child contracts Covid virus it is very unusual for the child to get severely ill or die. Masking can do positive harm to children – as it can to some adults. But the cost benefit analysis is entirely different for adults and children – particularly younger children. Whatever arguments there may be for consenting adults – children should not be required to wear masks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Perhaps Jen has been too busy to understand that when a politician tries to make sure other politicians and bureaucrats don’t apply force to parents and kids, that’s NOT a decrease in freedom. It’s an relative increase in freedom.
Most of all, perhaps Jen Psaki has been too focused on expanding government to understand that all of this happens in a world where neither kids, nor parents, nor other taxpayers are free to NOT deal with or shovel money into the gaping, diseased maw of government schools.
The argument about masking kids or not masking kids is bad enough, but it’s brought to everyone’s doorstep because of tax-funded schools and the fact that dissatisfied people cannot withhold their funds.
Which is precisely the way Psaki seems to like it.
Related:
Rep. Thomas Massie Leads House Rebellion Against Pelosi’s Bizarre Mask Mandate