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Anti-Mask Tourist Frat-Bro
Jun. 5th, 2021 05:24 pmJust had my first confrontation with a truly asshole tourist (as opposed to just the run-of-the-mill over-entitled variety who have unfortunately been a large percentage of our visitors since we opened the island in the middle of a pandemic).
I was going into Brennecke's Deli, where I often pick up a soda and chips when I hike out to Mahaulepu. But standing in the door was a muscle-bound 25-something asshole. He looked like the best year of his life was 2014, when he quarterbacked his high-school football team to victory, and that he was now fighting against the currents of mediocrity by diving headfirst into the conspiratorial side of the internet, pathetically thinking that he could thus prove that he knew more than the rest of the world.
He was not wearing a mask.
At which point I reached for my phone in my pocket, knowing that this would probably escalate the situation, but not willing to stand by while frat-bro made it OK to endanger the health of our community. My intent was definitely to photograph him and maybe to call the police. I dunno. I never quite found out, because as soon as I reached toward my pocket, frat-dude took off like he'd just discovered there was a shark in the deli.
@#*)(@*)#$ covid-denying mask-scoffing law-breaking asshole. If you can't follow the rules of the community you're visiting, go back to your delusional home, you sociopathic shit.
But it made me happy that the muscle bound jerk fled like a little coward.
While walking around Poipu Point afterward, I smiled and exchanged niceties with the next half-dozen people I met, to remind myself that most visitors are nice. But then I became too exhausted by the exercise and returned to my usual taciturn scowl.
A postscript:
I don't like confrontations of this sort.
It used to be, that I could carry myself through one on a wave of anger, and that still can be the case in extenuating circumstances. However, I mostly got rid of the problem of literally seeing red in the '90s. I don't like it. I'm not in control.
But I felt like this was a situation when confrontation was required. That's because I've been thinking about the Overton Window a lot in the last five years. This is the idea that there is a range of topics that is either acceptable or unacceptable for political discourse.
The problem is that actions and statements move the Overton Window. Trump's manipulative racism certainly moved the Overton Window to make overt racist statements acceptable. Similarly, anti-maskers like frat-bro asshole move the Overton Window to make it acceptable to (in this case) spit on the public good, be grotesquely selfish, and flaunt our local rules. He sets an example, other people follow it, and the problem spreads like COVID.
Twice that I can remember in Berkeley I did my best to shout down and humiliate people who had explicitly said very racist things, to make it obvious that the rest of the public didn't agree with them, and that if they were going to be horrible racist shits they needed to keep that tight in their heart and never expose it in public. In this case, I similarly wanted the frat-bro to understand that his stance was not acceptable on our island. Based on the way he took off, tail between his legs, the message came through loud and clear.
I was going into Brennecke's Deli, where I often pick up a soda and chips when I hike out to Mahaulepu. But standing in the door was a muscle-bound 25-something asshole. He looked like the best year of his life was 2014, when he quarterbacked his high-school football team to victory, and that he was now fighting against the currents of mediocrity by diving headfirst into the conspiratorial side of the internet, pathetically thinking that he could thus prove that he knew more than the rest of the world.
He was not wearing a mask.
Him: Are you coming in or what?
Me: You have to wear a mask in here.
Him: I know.
Me: You're not wearing a mask.
Him: I know.
Me: Is there a problem?
Him (really threatening): I DUNNO, IS THERE A PROBLEM?
At which point I reached for my phone in my pocket, knowing that this would probably escalate the situation, but not willing to stand by while frat-bro made it OK to endanger the health of our community. My intent was definitely to photograph him and maybe to call the police. I dunno. I never quite found out, because as soon as I reached toward my pocket, frat-dude took off like he'd just discovered there was a shark in the deli.
@#*)(@*)#$ covid-denying mask-scoffing law-breaking asshole. If you can't follow the rules of the community you're visiting, go back to your delusional home, you sociopathic shit.
But it made me happy that the muscle bound jerk fled like a little coward.
While walking around Poipu Point afterward, I smiled and exchanged niceties with the next half-dozen people I met, to remind myself that most visitors are nice. But then I became too exhausted by the exercise and returned to my usual taciturn scowl.
A postscript:
I don't like confrontations of this sort.
It used to be, that I could carry myself through one on a wave of anger, and that still can be the case in extenuating circumstances. However, I mostly got rid of the problem of literally seeing red in the '90s. I don't like it. I'm not in control.
But I felt like this was a situation when confrontation was required. That's because I've been thinking about the Overton Window a lot in the last five years. This is the idea that there is a range of topics that is either acceptable or unacceptable for political discourse.
The problem is that actions and statements move the Overton Window. Trump's manipulative racism certainly moved the Overton Window to make overt racist statements acceptable. Similarly, anti-maskers like frat-bro asshole move the Overton Window to make it acceptable to (in this case) spit on the public good, be grotesquely selfish, and flaunt our local rules. He sets an example, other people follow it, and the problem spreads like COVID.
Twice that I can remember in Berkeley I did my best to shout down and humiliate people who had explicitly said very racist things, to make it obvious that the rest of the public didn't agree with them, and that if they were going to be horrible racist shits they needed to keep that tight in their heart and never expose it in public. In this case, I similarly wanted the frat-bro to understand that his stance was not acceptable on our island. Based on the way he took off, tail between his legs, the message came through loud and clear.