Another one bites the dust

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In recent weeks we’ve been hearing about right-wing figures who have become seriously ill from COVID-19, with some of them dying. The latest such person is self-styled “”right-wing religious fanatic” Bob Enyart of Colorado, who died of COVID on September 13.

Enyart had called for people to boycott the vaccines,”…to further increase social tension and put pressure on the child killers.” Those who imposed mask mandates were called “Mask Nazis” and “mask-mandating control-freak bureaucrats” by him. Last fall Enyart successfully sued over mask mandates and capacity restrictions at his church.

Prior to this, Enyart had a long and rather sordid history. A former leader in the Colorado anti-abortion movement, Enyart harassed health care providers at their homes, leading to bans on protests in residential neighborhoods. Early in the AIDS crisis, Enyart read the obituaries of people who had died from AIDS on his television program, playing “Another One Bites the Dust” while gleefully mocking AIDS victims. Back in the 1990s Enyart was convicted of beating his girlfriend’s son with a belt.

It’s very hard for me to feel any sympathy for Enyart or his family, given his history. This is a man who spent his life tearing down any sense of community and had little concern for his fellow human beings. I would hope that his death along with those of other right wingers would convince his followers to get the vaccine and take precautions, but I have my doubts that it will. It’s much the situation in Luke 16 – if anti-vax/mask people will not listen to doctors and scientists about the pandemic I doubt they would listen to a fellow anti-vax/mask person even if he or she came back from the dead to warn them.