Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[abaris]

It has to do with human empathy, but not politics. I really get exasperated when people keep politicizing it.

Of course it's about empathy. But over here, it gets instrumentalised by the far right. Encouraging people not to get vaccinated or organising maskless rallies of tens of thousands of people screaming their lungs out. In fact, these rallies are almost exclusively organised by the far right. Be it the Freedom Party (which is as right as it gets without operating outside the constitution), outspoken Neo Nazis, the so called Identitarians, a slightly brighter form of Neo Nazi, elitist to the bone and xenophobic, or esoterics, who also spout only slightly veiled antisemitism and all kinds of conspiracy theories or outright Conspiracy Theorists.

Their goal, of course, is to destabilize the state itself in hopes of gaining more votes (The Freedom party represents a fifth of the voter base) or to take over. They're almost exclusively xenophobic.

The people following their banners certainly aren't all Nazis or right wing conspiracy nuts, but they're comfortable with following their lead. So it's hard for me to say, the virus is apolitical. From where I am standing, the picture looks very different.