Writing, Rewriting History

THE THOUGHT OCCURRED to me that it has been a while since I wore a mask while in public, anywhere. Maybe a couple of weeks, maybe a month. The last place I entered which required a mask was two public libraries. I don't know whether they still do, I havent been to either in at least a couple of weeks. But I'll need to be going soon, so I'll find out. From what I can tell, Americans in general have taken off their facemasks, and all the various mandates from business and government, the source of so much sound and fury, are expiring. Now, presumably, America's right wing champions of freedom and liberty from tyranny can focus their energies on controlling women's reproductive rights, scrubbing all negative references to these white United States from the nation's history textbooks, and marginalizing the gay and transgender community. Hell, fewer, slightly fewer, than a thousand Americans a day are dying from Covid 19; - the one millionth American to have died from it will have died from it by sometime in late April - so, off come our masks. Premature? Prematurity in the cause of liberty is no vice, to paraphrase a true right wing nut. With regard to history, in particular the history of the pandemic, it will be written, and, eventually, written truthfully. Best bet is that the truthful version will not emanate from far right wing conservative historians. The far right version might include anything, such as: the pandemic was a deliberate attack on the United States by China, an attack which the great "honest Don" Donald Trump fended off with hydroxychloroquine and mask free campaign rallies. Honest, accurate historical versions of pandemic history will, thankfully, ultimately emerge, and will focus on the disastrous impact Covid 19 had on the United States, with more than a million people dead, and the economy in tatters. Again: The honest, accruate historical version will emphasize the disastrous impact the pandemic had on America, with more than a million dead people and the economy in tatters. Blame will be partially placed on horrible government mismanagedment during the Trump adiministration, during which the pandemic was virtually ignored by the Trump administration, with Trump calling it a "hoax", and blame will be placed on the refusal of a certain sesgment of American society, a large segment, refusinig to cooperate with necessary anti-pandemic measures and precautions, such as mandatory mask wearing and societal quarantines and shutdowns. And, if the history is accurate, it will identify the uncooperative segment of America as the conservative, Trump supporting segment. In fact, it is America's conservative base which has from the beginning refused to take the pandemic seriously. Extreme right wing ideologies always inclulde distorting history for the purpose of nationalilsm. NAZI historians portrayed German history as a glorious struggle and a lost cause in need of resurrection, which Hitler could provide. So too do our currrent right wing American so called "historians". Accordingly, we scrub bad historical behavior by the white Christian majority, behavior which badly needs to be not only taught, but emphasized, no matter whose feelings are injured.