I’m going to just assume that Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has never read a book. In fact, I think it’s safe to assume that she isn’t even aware of the concept of books. It’s the only way I can make sense of recently resurfaced comments from last year where she said she wouldn’t take down a hypothetical statue of Hitler because of its educational capacity.
According to Insider, the comments were made last year during a Dalton City Council meeting in Georgia. The meeting was taking place to discuss removing a statue of Confederate General Joseph Johnston amid the ongoing protests against systemic racism last summer.
Greene, who somehow always looks like an angry baked potato, was obviously against removing the statue and felt like invoking Hitler was the best way to make her point.
“Whether I see a statue that may be something that I would fully disagree with, like Adolf Hitler, maybe a statue of Satan himself, I would not want to say, ‘take it down,’” she said at the meeting. “It’s so that I could tell my children and teach others about who these people are, what they did and what they may be about.”
See what I’m saying about books? You can go to a library, use the internet, you could even watch Schindler’s List and Shoah to learn about the horrors Hitler and the Nazi regime committed. I don’t ever remember my teacher wheeling in a statue of Hitler to teach us about the Holocaust. I also don’t ever remember a point where the bishop at my church elected to use a statue of Satan to speak a word as opposed to, you know, the Bible.
Since being elected to the House of Representatives last year, Greene has steadily been the source of controversy. Given that she consistently makes headass comments, harasses her colleagues and is generally anti-common sense, it’s understandable why.
Her most recent controversy surrounds comments she made comparing mask mandates and COVID protocols to the treatment Jewish people faced during the Holocaust, which is probably why this video has come back to light.
“Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star,” she tweeted in response to a Tennessee grocery store’s plan to place icons on employees badges to inform customers their vaccinated. “Vaccine passports & mask mandates create discrimination against unvaxxed people who trust their immune systems to a virus that is 99% survivable.”
Yeah, so, two things.
First, the fuck? These are two wildly different situations. One was a group of violent fascists persecuting people based only on their race and religion. This is trying to get back to a sense of normalcy after a public health crisis that has given a large number of people anxiety about reemerging into the world.
Second, I cannot fucking stand the “It’s 99 percent survivable” crowd. It really seems to be a dice roll on how bad your symptoms will be. My dad caught the virus, and he’s OK now, but it was upsetting hearing him clearly struggle to breathe when I’d call to check in on him. It’s not a fun time for you or your family.
On top of that, you’re disregarding the fact that there are COVID long haulers who, while alive, are still suffering from prolonged sickness. Not to mention we don’t even know the effects the virus could have on your body in the long-term since it’s only been around a little more than a year.
As someone who holds a position of power, you’d think Greene would at least feign some sense of decency or responsibility. Considering that this is a person who seems to believe a statue is a primary source of education, though, that may just be asking too much.