Exercise your freedom to disagree and to be respectful – Enterprise-Tocsin

Gov. Tate Reeves is in a most unenviable position.

His first four months in office have been eventful, to say the least, but theyre not the kind of events a politician dreams about while running for office.

The year started with unrest in the states prison system, particularly at Parchman, which brought nationwide attention to the conditions for both inmates and employees at the facility.

There have been multiple severe weather outbreaks, dating back to January, which have led to emergency declarations all over the state, including Sunflower County.

And then theres COVID-19.

Reeves April 1 shelter-in-place order shuttered hundreds of businesses deemed non-essential throughout the state, and as Reeves delivered his daily briefing late last week to announce an extension of that declaration, it was apparent that he was torn.

Other governors, mainly Georgia and Florida, see no reason to extend their shelter-in-place orders, at least as of press time they dont.

Reeves, a pro-business Republican who genuinely believes that Mississippis small and existing businesses are the backbone of our economy, extended the states most extreme COVID-19 measure another week.

Even while he was doing this, he was lifting restrictions against boating and fishing and a burn ban he had put into place a week earlier. You could tell he believed he was giving the citizens of Mississippi every inch he could, but his advisors in the health care field were telling him he needed to extend the order at least one more week, maybe longer.

There are thousands of people, business owners and out-of-work individuals who are suffering from this lockdown. Even the essential businesses like restaurants have seen a steep decline in revenue as that industry has lost their dine-in base.

Health care facilities, including hospitals, clinics, dentists, eye doctors and others have had to cancel elective procedures, cutting into revenues in that arena.

Americans simply were not wired for this type of economic shutdown, and over the past week, thousands across the country have participated in group protests calling for the economy to be restarted in several states.

There are those who have a healthy skepticism about the way the government, from the White House to local mayors, has handled this situation.

People should be allowed to question these things, criticize government officials and express their right to freedom of speech, even when they are wrong.

There is also an unhealthy cynicism that takes hold of some during times like these.

Folks who propagate that COVID-19 is a total hoax have a right to do so, but they dont have the right to endanger others while they are spreading disinformation.

People who believe the government could have handled this situation without shutting the U.S. economy down are struggling to get their voices heard in a society that cancels anyone who questions any part of the going narrative. Naturally, when they believe they cant get their governors, mayors, congressmen or even their doctors to sympathize with their economic plight, they will always find an ear with the this is all a hoax crowd.

This is not a crowd most reasonable people hang out with, but some inevitably get swept up into underground movements, message boards filled with disinformation and even protests that counteract their own belief that the virus is real, contagious and dangerous.

And this is simply because many times these are the only people who will listen to their cries.

Society has grown accustomed to canceling anyone who has an opinion that differs from the mainstream, and that can drive normally reasonable people toward the extreme.

People will go where there is an ear and empathy, and extremists are always willing to feign both to grow their numbers.

And when those numbers grow, so do the protests and the chances for spreading COVID-19 to more people, needlessly.

Show respect for your neighbor. If you feel inclined to correct someone, do it politely.

At the end of the day, you want that person venting to you, a person of reason, instead of doing it with an angry mob on the capitol steps.

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Exercise your freedom to disagree and to be respectful - Enterprise-Tocsin