By Alexander Lomax
I’d like to think that we all could agree that the more people get vaccinated, the quicker we can have a legitimate return to normalcy. It shouldn’t be controversial; that was probably ADOT’s assumption when they put up digital highway signs saying “Want to return to normal? Get Vaccinated”.
But never doubt state Senator Kelly Townsend’s ability to jump into a subject and make us all a little stupider in the process.
Townsend, who routinely represents the tin foil hat constituency of Arizona, tweeted a picture of the sign with a comment that said “Seen in Communist China today. Oops, I mean Arizona”.
Where to start? I don’t even know. Her comments are often a 7-layer burrito of Stupid, offering many different ignorant snippets to single out, and I try to keep my diatribes to a readable length. I will say that with what is clearly a proud embrace of anti-vaxxerism, I believe that she has won the crown of Chief Tin Foil Hatter of our state’s legislature.
I have often wondered: does she really believe the BS that she spews? In the past, I have seen her be somewhat thoughtful and more nuanced than I would have previously thought. She seems to know her constituency fairly well, so perhaps she’s mirroring her voters.
One thing we do know however is that counties that voted for Trump have significantly lower vaccination rates than other counties, and comments like this from “leaders” are certainly a significant reason why.
Words can have real consequences. People will die because of stances like this. I’d like to think that Townsend could understand that, but I’m not sure that she wants to.