http://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2021/03/30/drew-holden-follows-up-on-gov-greg-abbotts-head-scratching-anti-science-decision-to-lift-texas-mask-mandate/
It was CNN’s Chris Cillizza (who just signed a three-year contract with CNN for his news analysis) who called Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to lift Texas’ mask mandate “head-scratching” and “anti-science.” You’ll see that a way down in Drew Holden’s thread taking a look at all the pearl-clutching done three weeks ago when Abbott allowed all businesses to open at 100 percent capacity.
Drew Holden ~
🧵THREAD🧵
Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since Texas lifted it’s mask mandate. Coronavirus cases have been steadily declining since, w/ yesterday the 18th day in a row of decreases.
But you may remember the left & the media promised the reverse would happen. And I’ve got receipts.⤵️
[1] The only place to start this thread is with @JoeBiden, whom you may remember referred to Texas’s opening up as “Neanderthal thinking.”
Perhaps the White House would like to follow up about why?
[2] Other governors also took shots. Here’s @GavinNewsom, whose decision to keep his state shut down cost the state 52,000 jobs.
[3] Perhaps the most ridiculously performative politician was (once again) @BetoORourke, who called lifting the mask mandate a “death warrant” on every outlet who would have him on (including @CNN and @MSNBC).
[4] We even had former legislators from other states chime in.
Unlike Texas, @alfranken’s home state of Minnesota has seen its total number of cases increase since early March - having doubled since Abbott’s announcement. Per 100k rates there are higher than TX now.
[5] We had other legislators who still have jobs get involved in the histrionics, too. Here’s @JulianCastro.
[6] I want to pause to drive the point home. Yesterday Texas reported 4007 new cases. Here are a couple states w/ more than double that total reported:
Michigan - 9297 (population 1/3 of Texas, still shut down)
New York - 8972
The 7-day average is higher in New Jersey than TX, too.
[7] One of the things we’ve seen throughout the pandemic is news outlets using experts to tell the story they’re more interested in believing.
That these experts are so often wrong seems not to have dissuaded @NBCNews and @LesterHoltNBC from going back to the well.
[8] But probably the worst offender on this is @CNN.
By focusing only on the voices who are the most frightened and pessimistic, you create the impression that there’s only one right way to think and feel about these things.
Look at that first headline! This is straight news!
...
[11] Again, the power of narrative here can’t be overstated. When outlets only talk to people who are scared, it communicates that every reasonable person is scared (which is commentary) even as the reporting reads as straight news. ...
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted. ~ D.H. Lawrence
| 