(UFU - 2021 - MEDICINA)There is no such thing as t

(UFU - 2021 - MEDICINA)

There is no such thing as the united states. As an era of medical mask mandates draws to a close and we begin to ponder lessons learned, that one should top the list. Not to overstate the case. To our credit, we are a nation that has always united in times of national crisis. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, when the Russians launched Sputnik, when John Kennedy was murdered, when terrorists flew planes into skyscrapers, we ceased, albeit briefly, to be red or blue or black or white. We were Americans and, as such, we mourned together, sacrificed together, strove together, met the challenge together.

Let’s pass lightly over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene here because she seems — this is not a joke — to be a woman in dire need of psychiatric intervention. Suffice it to say, her recent equating of mask mandates to the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust, while obviously offensive and absurd, is of a piece with how conservatives have consistently framed directives aimed at diminishing the COVID-19 pandemic.

From the former president to governors like Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida, to media outlets like Fox “News” to angry mobs at the Michigan state capital, the right has chosen to resist every effort at managing a once-in-a-century health crisis as an invasion upon sacred personal liberty. This, from the people who mandated transvaginal ultrasounds for women seeking abortions and genital inspections for transgender girls playing soccer. Asked to wear masks as a matter of public safety, they tore their clothes apart, showed their anger publicly and moaned, “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen” as if possessed by Paul Robeson’s ghost. They complained about being oppressed with the self-righteous petulance of those who have never been oppressed a day in their lives.

ing us together. That is a depressing realization. It induces mixed emotions as the pandemic begins to recede. Maybe you wonder why anyone’s emotions would be mixed. After all, restaurants are reopening, theatrical movies are returning, smiles are visible again. It’s a good feeling, this promise that soon, we will be around people again. Yet, it is a feeling mixed by fresh recognition of just how divided America has become. We used to know how to forge common cause from national calamity. Apparently, we no longer do. This is the kind of thing that once brought Americans together.

Disponível em: <https://www.miamiherald.com>. Acesso em: 30 maio 2021

Based on the text, answer the following questions.

A) “The United States always unite in time of national crisis.” Is the statement above wright or wrong? Justify your answer.

B) Explain how the United States conservative right has reacted regarding national attempts to manage the pandemic.