Several hundred people, reportedly including Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin, showed up at Idaho’s state capitol in Boise for a mask-burning peaceful protest on Saturday, March 6, and blue-check Twitter isn’t happy about it.
There is no statewide mask mandate in Idaho, although GOP Gov. Brad Little encourages his constituents to wear them, as he does in public. Seven of the state’s 44 counties, as well as 11 cities including Boise, have enacted mask rules, however. A group of conservative GOP lawmakers has just introduced a bill that would prohibit government agencies from requiring masks.
“Many protesters, often with children in tow, displayed signs reading ‘I will not self-suffocate,'” the New York Post reported about the event in Boise on the capitol steps during which masks were burned in trash cans, which went viral on social media.
“I think people need to realize that we’re standing here today to rein back government. To reestablish our Republican form of government, a government that has balance between the branches…It’s a widespread grassroots movement, an uprising in that regard…it’s come off very well today here in Boise,” explained an organizer who described the event as a rally. Apparently similar events simultaneously occurred elsewhere in Idaho.
State police on the scene cautioned the protesters that open flames aren’t permitted on the state capitol grounds. The event is now under review by law enforcement.
Most Americans are complying with COVID-related mask requirements whether imposed by government or private sector, although there is a segment of the population that believes that they, among other things, infringe on individual liberty.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Sergio Olmos posted several video clips of the Boise protest.
About 150 people are gathered in Boise, Idaho on the Capitol steps to “burn the mask” pic.twitter.com/bRoUy5bd86
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
Families burning masks on Idaho Capitol steps pic.twitter.com/6nfLWJ8XFy
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
Parents encouraging kids to burn masks on Idaho Capitol steps pic.twitter.com/VOYfOYqwwt
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
Anti-lockdown Protestor burns “sleepy joe” photo on Idaho Capitol steps pic.twitter.com/M7jVffLCna
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
At a mask burning rally in Boise, Idaho a man throws a mask into the fire with the words “Biden sucks” written on it pic.twitter.com/7Py2pmeRQy
— Sergio Olmos (@MrOlmos) March 6, 2021
Parenthetically, the GOP Lt. Gov. made headlines in October 2020 when, while toting a Bible and a handgun, she joined several Republican lawmakers in a video in vowing to resist government restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
In condemning what went on in Boise, some among the blue-check, liberal Twitter cohort compared the protest to book burning, which is interesting in that the left is generally at the vanguard of metaphorical book burning through the cancel culture.
Never-Trumper Bill Kristol was among those condemning the protesters.
“Proud of their ignorance and pleased with their indifference to the well-being of others, some of our fellow Americans continue to define deviancy down,” he tweeted.
Proud of their ignorance and pleased with their indifference to the well-being of others, some of our fellow Americans continue to define deviancy down. https://t.co/mIK9XuNp6S
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) March 6, 2021
Here are some more examples:
Were they out of books? https://t.co/gLTuQGhvyK
— Steve Marmel (@Marmel) March 6, 2021
we've found a way to make book burning more dumb https://t.co/gGuoA3mPbT
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 6, 2021
According to Johns Hopkins University, Idaho has recorded about 172,000 COVID infections, with 1,879 fatalities.
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