# Fucking idiot coronavirus-loving rednecks in Michigan **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 16, 2020, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895 "2020-04-16T04:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/41 "2020-04-16T19:15:19Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > DeVos beats out both Harbaugh and the Lions’ lifetime record. Heck, Harbaugh has a long way to go to even come _close_ to Nugent. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/42 "2020-04-16T19:21:19Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > In following your link, the photo shows no confederate flags, nor mention of them in the article. All the males I could see in the photo were clean-shaven. You weren’t deliberately mis-characterizing your opponents in **an attempt to make them appear less than human** , were you? regarding the bolded part: you’re clearly a fucking idiot who doesn’t understand the words you’re typing. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/43 "2020-04-16T19:40:21Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Saw somewhere where Betsy DeVos and family underwrote a lot of this, so yeah. Anybody got any info on Devos involvement? ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/44 "2020-04-16T19:55:06Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > The really rich part is that the woman who founded that group is an anti-vaxxer. So she really believes in peoples’ right to die of preventable communicable diseases too! That explains a lot! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/45 "2020-04-16T20:02:12Z")
> [@WolfpackJeep](#): > > Some of the nutters who pulled a very small scale version of this in Raleigh were waving “don’t tread on me” flags, wearing MAGA gear, and/or holding signs in support of Governor Cooper’s Republican opponent. They were supposedly out to demand the reopening of the state, but there was a definite political slant to their message. While I didn’t see any Confederate flags in the photos of the Michigan protests, there were plenty of Gadsden flags (Don’t Tread on Me) and LOTS of Trump Pence flags. And plenty of beards and assault rifles. I just tried to fix the broken link from a Google image search and I’m having technical difficulties. But it should be easy enough to find. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/46 "2020-04-16T20:03:36Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > In following your link, the photo shows no confederate flags, nor mention of them in the article. All the males I could see in the photo were clean-shaven. You weren’t deliberately mis-characterizing your opponents in an attempt to make them appear less than human, were you? Try [the second link](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/lock-her-anti-whitmer-coronavirus-lockdown-protestors-swarm-michigan-capitol-n1184426). [And here are a Confederate flag and a Trump flag.](https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/operationGridlock-1200x630.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/47 "2020-04-16T20:08:52Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > While I didn’t see any Confederate flags in the photos of the Michigan protests, there were plenty of Gadsden flags (Don’t Tread on Me) and LOTS of Trump Pence flags. And plenty of beards and assault rifles. > > I just tried to fix the broken link from a Google image search and I’m having technical difficulties. But it should be easy enough to find. The confederate colors were indeed flying in Michigan, I posted a link upthread. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/48 "2020-04-16T20:41:09Z")
I like how in photos in some of these articles show protesters wearing masks. How dumb ARE these people? “Wahhh, we need to open the economy, waahhh! But wait, I need to mask-up because it’s dangerous for me out there!” SMH ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/49 "2020-04-16T20:46:26Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > In following your link, the photo shows no confederate flags, nor mention of them in the article. All the males I could see in the photo were clean-shaven. You weren’t deliberately mis-characterizing your opponents in an attempt to make them appear less than human, were you? > > While Michigan does have high rates of CoVid-19 infections, compared to other states, most of those infections are in the Detroit area. Lansing is 80 miles away, and all of Ingham county has only 275 confirmed cases. Not to say that social distancing guidelines should be ignored, but that threat of transmission is not as great as it would be if this was in the middle of a “fourth-most infected” area. > > I get it. You want to shut down peaceful protests of your political opponents. But, it’s not like they shut down a major highway during rush-hour or were preventing people from getting to work. I think that was their point. People aren’t going to work, all over the state. > > There really is no justification for preventing landscapers and similar workers from being able to work in much of the state, where the rate of infection is very low. Yes, in hot-spots, like the Detroit area, keeping everyone at home seems to make sense. But, much of Michigan is rural and has low infection rate. You would think that a governor that cared for all the people in the state (not just those in the big cities) could come up with some rules that would allow people with jobs that had little or no contact with the public at large (like landscapers) go to work. Particularly in the spring, when such businesses make most of their money. > > From what I read in your linked article, that is what the protest was about. And, of course, it was backed by the political opponents of the ruling party. That’s the way politics work. [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVqrQ6RUcAEKzu7.jpg:large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EVqrQ6RUcAEKzu7.jpg:large) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/50 "2020-04-16T20:46:57Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Today, [a bunch of mouth-breathing confederate-flag-waving neckbeards gathered in Lansing, MI, to protest the governor who has ordered people to stay home, stay safe and stop spreading the coronavirus in Michigan, which just recently went from being the third- to fourth-most infected state in the union.](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/15/835250693/michigan-stay-at-home-order-prompts-honking-traffic-jam-protest?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=nprblogscoronavirusliveupdates) Why on Earth would people in Michigan wave Confederate flags? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/51 "2020-04-16T20:49:11Z")
Everyone, please stop posting pictures that mess with **excavating’s** preconceived ideas. He didn’t see beards or confederate flags in the one picture he looked at, therefore there weren’t any. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/52 "2020-04-16T20:49:54Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I like how in photos in some of these articles show protesters wearing masks. How dumb ARE these people? “Wahhh, we need to open the economy, waahhh! But wait, I need to mask-up because it’s dangerous for me out there!” SMH Seems to me that they’d be more at home in a pointed hood. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/53 "2020-04-16T20:55:28Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Why on Earth would people in Michigan wave Confederate flags? :dubious: That’s a good question. Usually when one sees the Confederate flag waving, it’s waving in the South, and the waver is claiming that it’s just about ancestral pride and all that, perfectly innocent. But in Michigan? I mean, I could take a guess what it means, but I’d love to hear one of those assholes explain it. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/54 "2020-04-16T20:57:35Z")
The Michigan state legislature’s Republicans were actively encouraging the protests, even using the gridlock hashtag. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/55 "2020-04-16T20:58:49Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > That’s a good question. > > Usually when one sees the Confederate flag waving, it’s waving in the South, and the waver is claiming that it’s just about ancestral pride and all that, perfectly innocent. > > But in Michigan? I mean, I could take a guess what it means, but I’d love to hear one of those assholes explain it. I thought it was common knowledge that the Confederate flag is now known as a symbol of racism against black people, not just in the south? I am just guessing as well. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/56 "2020-04-16T21:08:25Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > The really rich part is that the woman who founded that group is an anti-vaxxer. So she really believes in peoples’ right to die of preventable communicable diseases too! And posters before in this message board thought that I was not serious when I noticed that conservatives in the USA were moving towards the politicization of yet another science based subject. In the recent past the minority antivaxxers came almost equally from both ends of the political spectrum. But, thanks to the weaponization of anti-science in the US, where the anti-establishment angle that antivaxxers use to justify their hate for vaccines is showing a huge growth among the conservatives, specially among the leadership. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/57 "2020-04-16T21:16:34Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > That’s a good question. > > Usually when one sees the Confederate flag waving, it’s waving in the South, and the waver is claiming that it’s just about ancestral pride and all that, perfectly innocent. > > But in Michigan? I mean, I could take a guess what it means, but I’d love to hear one of those assholes explain it. I know the KKK started actively recruiting in Northern Illinois and Northern Indiana after Trump was elected. They likely did the same in the Mitten. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/58 "2020-04-16T21:21:58Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > That’s a good question. > > Usually when one sees the Confederate flag waving, it’s waving in the South, and the waver is claiming that it’s just about ancestral pride and all that, perfectly innocent. > > But in Michigan? I mean, I could take a guess what it means, but I’d love to hear one of those assholes explain it. The “Lost Cause” narrative eventually found its way in places far north of the Mason-Dixon line: > **[Analysis | About 1 in 12 Confederate memorials in the U.S. is in a Union state](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2017/08/15/about-one-out-of-every-12-confederate-memorials-in-the-u-s-is-in-a-union-state/)** > > Thirty-one states have at least one memorial — including states that didn't exist in 1865. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/59 "2020-04-16T21:34:09Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I thought it was common knowledge that the Confederate flag is now known as a symbol of racism against black people, not just in the south? I am just guessing as well. That’s absolutely true. But usually those flying that flag have some kind of obfuscatory bullshit that they spout about why they’re flying it. I’d be curious to hear what someone in Michigan has to say. I’d guess they’d try for some kind of plausible deniability, while still being able to signal their true meaning to like-minded people. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895/60 "2020-04-16T21:45:52Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > That’s a good question. > > Usually when one sees the Confederate flag waving, it’s waving in the South, and the waver is claiming that it’s just about ancestral pride and all that, perfectly innocent. > > But in Michigan? I mean, I could take a guess what it means, but I’d love to hear one of those assholes explain it. Someone should point out the irony of waving a confederate flag in favor of a president exerting his power over states’ rights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fucking-idiot-coronavirus-loving-rednecks-in-michigan/851895.md?page=4)