Since the pandemic started, our country has been divided over many COVID-19 related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most recently, we have seen the mask-wearing debate take center stage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends face coverings to stop the spread of coronavirus, and the data behind wearing facemasks supports this recommendation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So\nwhy have we seen division in America and especially in Hays? It truly has\nbecome a political boxing match between two schools of thought, and COVID-19\nhas become the referee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rather\nthan all of us focusing on stopping the virus itself, we have divided ourselves\nready to fight in many ways. In one corner, we have the people who trust in the\nscience behind this and the recommendations from the health experts. They\nbelieve the collective good for the community trumps individual freedoms in\ncertain situations (people who support mandatory face mask-wearing). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe other corner, we have people who believe more in their individual liberty\nand have much distrust in our government. They especially do not trust the\nopposing party and the media (people against mandatory face mask-wearing). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of\ncourse, there are outliers who can believe in one thing and do the other, but\nthe majority is split this way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So,\nwho is right? That is the question we\u2019ve debated, and that is why we continue\nto struggle with this pandemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do the residents of Hays think?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Thursday night (Aug. 27), there was a Hays City Commission meeting, with the highlight of the meeting discussing the extension of the face-mask ordinance in Hays. There were two petitions sent to the city commissioners about the topic. One petition was against extending the mask mandate, while the other supported extending a mask mandate in Hays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The petition\nagainst the mandate had 655 supporters, while the petition to extend the\nmandate had 520 supporters. When I emailed Hays Mayor Shaun Musil earlier in\nthe week, he told me that \u201csupport has been very mixed.\u201d It seems the petitions\nand comments proved this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I took a\ndeeper look into the petition and found comments that support the two schools\nof thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One person\nsaid, \u201cMasks don\u2019t work. It’s the Liberals pushing this to make people mad and\nmake Trump look bad. It’s our choice!\u201d Another stated, \u201cGovernment\u2019s job is to\nensure our freedoms are protected. We are responsible for our own personal\nhealth. Shutdowns & Mandates in regard to a virus with a near 100% recovery\nrate never should have taken place, especially with known treatment plans. Stop\nthe madness!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nsupporters of the extension of the mask mandate said, \u201cMasks are for the\ngreater good of all our community and humanity. One death, one person impacted\nfrom life-long complications, is one too many.\u201d They continue to say, \u201cMasks\nreally do work but will only work if everyone wears them. Let\u2019s pull together\nand handle this pandemic before it\u2019s gotten way out of hand. Let\u2019s do our part\nso businesses can stay open, so we can help the economy and protect each other\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n City commissioners eventually voted 3-2 to extend the mask mandate until early October. Some commissioners spoke during the meeting how residents of Hays had accused them of being a catalyst for children or teens committing suicide, how they were ruining people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A deeper look into the causes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Why\nhas a pandemic become political? Why do people not believe facts and science in\na time like this? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nbelieve it is because of two things: the election and the discrediting of the\nmedia. Democrats and Republicans alike have used coronavirus to rally their\nbases. Republicans will state that if Democrats control Congress and the White\nHouse, we must prepare for more shutdowns and individual liberties being\nstripped. Democrats claim that a vote for Donald Trump would be a vote for weak\nleadership and more misinformation. So instead of working together to address\nthe pandemic, we have gone into election mode ready to battle for our\ncandidates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nit comes to the media, there seems to be a political split in the credible\ninformation received during COVID-19. To best understand this, we have to go\nback to the start of the Trump Administration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For\nmany years, top governmental officials, especially President Trump, have\ndiscredited main news sources. When the president calls news sources critical\nof him \u201cfake news,\u201d it creates only a few avenues for many people to become\ninformed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nwe found, the small list of acceptable news, according to President Trump, has\npromoted biased, unfactual news which only divided us more in a time when we\nneeded to come together. In some cases, people only trusted the president,\nwhich led to some people drinking bleach and thinking that the virus would\nmagically go away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nis dangerous for supporters of President Trump to only trust news that is\nsupportive of him. It is dangerous for supporters of Joe Biden to only trust\nnews that is supportive of him. In fact, it is very dangerous for any person to\njust listen to Fox News, One America News, CNN, MSNBC or the president during a\ntime like this because everyone has a bias. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nFox News says liberals are hurting the president for pushing what the health\nand disease experts want, it is dangerous for citizens of Hays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nMSNBC calls for complete total shutdowns, it is dangerous for the citizens of\nHays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How\ndo you balance this? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Make\nyourself aware of the biases you have and that the news sources have. Check the\ncredibility before you hit share. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In\na time of doubt, trust historically credible sources for news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bradley DeMers is a senior studying\npolitical science at FHSU. He is a former Student Government Association\npresident and has worked for politicians in both main political parties.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Since the pandemic started, our country has been divided over many COVID-19 related issues. Is the virus real or fake? 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