While AOC’s revolutionary and subversive socialist gown generated buzz, the normalization of maskless elites attended to by faceless servants is grotesque.
By Glenn Greenwald | 14 September 2021
SUBSTACK — From the start of the pandemic, political elites have been repeatedly caught exempting themselves from the restrictive rules they impose on the lives of those over whom they rule. Governors, mayors, ministers and Speakers of the House have been filmed violating their own COVID protocols in order to dine with their closest lobbyist-friends, enjoy a coddled hair styling in chic salons, or unwind after signing new lockdown and quarantine orders by sneaking away for a weekend getaway with the family. The trend became so widespread that ABC News gathered all the examples under the headline “Elected officials slammed for hypocrisy for not following own COVID-19 advice,” while Business Insider in May updated the reporting with this: “14 prominent Democrats stand accused of hypocrisy for ignoring COVID-19 restrictions they’re urging their constituents to obey.”
Most of those transgressions were too flagrant to ignore and thus produced some degree of scandal and resentment for the political officials granting themselves such license. Dominant liberal culture is, if nothing else, fiercely rule-abiding: they get very upset when they see anyone defying decrees from authorities, even if the rule-breaker is the official who promulgated the directives for everyone else. Photos released last November of California Governor Gavin Newsom giggling maskless as he sat with other maskless state health officials celebrating the birthday of a powerful lobbyist — just one month after he told the public to “to keep your mask on in between bites” and while severe state-imposed restrictions were in place regarding leaving one’s home — caused a drop in popularity and helped fueled a recall initiative against him. Newsom and these other officials broke their own rules, and even among liberals who venerate their leaders as celebrities, rule-breaking is frowned upon.
But as is so often the case, the most disturbing aspects of elite behavior are found not in what they have prohibited but rather in what they have decided is permissible. When it comes to mask mandates, it is now commonplace to see two distinct classes of people: those who remain maskless as they are served, and those they employ as their servants who must have their faces covered at all times. Prior to the COVID pandemic, it was difficult to imagine how the enormous chasm between the lives of cultural and political elites and everyone else could be made any larger, yet the pandemic generated a new form of crude cultural segregation: a series of protocols which ensure that maskless elites need not ever cast eyes upon the faces of their servant class. […]
New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney claims to support equal rights for women. Notice how all the male and female staffers and members of the press are forced to wear masks while she does not. Some people are more equal than others. pic.twitter.com/u800ksyN7T
— Ian Miles Cheong @ stillgray.substack.com (@stillgray) September 14, 2021
It is disgusting I notice it on tv shows, the main cast maskless while anyone they come in contact with or that works for them masked. My friends who work for hotels in Florida tell me how “guests” will require all waiting on them to be masked while they are not. Your misguided fear is your problem, these are despicable sub humans and are too dumb to know they are feeding this beast system.
It’s all just another, “let them eat cake” moment. Actually to be perfectly accurate, it’s an ongoing, 7/24/365/centuries of “let them eat cake”.
Yeah, you both “nailed it” in your posts.
What I can add is that I have been to the event in the 1990s and it can actually become stiflingly hot on a good day due to the rooms utilized (it is a selection), the additional lighting rigs, and the number of guests.
The main hall is fine, but when you enter the tighter confines, it can get really warm; I could only imagine the labored breathing within a mask.
Best,
SC