At this point, I am sure you are tired of reading about the quarantine, hearing stories about the crisis, watching commercials where companies try to convince you they care about you—not just trying to tug at your heartstrings so you’ll patronize them after the crisis is over—and all the things in-between.

Most people are doing their best to stay within guidelines to alleviate the damage and slow the spread of the disease. But others are taking action, demonstrating against stay-at-home orders and businesses closing down.

Thousands have been taking to the streets with large protests in Michigan, Colorado, and Pennsylvania. They took to the streets with “Don’t tread on me” flags and signs hailing the healing effects of hydroxychloroquine.

Protestors are blocking traffic around hospitals, honking and screaming at healthcare workers. One video clip that went viral shows a medical worker standing in front of a protestor’s truck while she leans out the window with a cardboard sign that reads, “LAND FREE,” telling the medical worker to “Go to China.”

The goal of the protesters is the reopening of businesses and the elimination of stay-at-home orders, which have all been proven to significantly decrease the spread of COVID-19.

Most of the reporting has been, rightly, critical of the protests. Large gatherings are deadly when you are dealing with a disease with a high infection rate and where carriers can be asymptomatic. But some people will still say that these people simply want to exercise their rights and want to go back to work.

The protestors are not fighting for their “rights.” These people who are protesting are not essential workers. They are people in a position of privilege who are angry that workers’ rights are being protected.

They simply want the luxuries they feel entitled to. They feel entitled to the labor of minimum wage workers, who are not working due to this crisis.

These protestors perfectly capture the American libertarian mindset. They feel that they are owed the labor and services of others, and that anyone who tries to impede this is tyrannical. They claim to hate large government, but see no issue with corporations being bailed out with trillion-dollar stimuli while the American worker is given a one-time $1,200 check.

Their signs don’t read, “Provide hazard pay” or, “Comp workers’ pay.” Their signs read, “I want a haircut,” and “I want a grand slam.” They are upset that their workers do not have to put their lives on the line. Or they are mad that they cannot be served a grand slam and have to get two large cokes at the drive-through instead of refilling it inside.

American consumer culture is so instilled within people, they do not know what to do with themselves if they are not spending money or going out. On top of that, with the Sinophobic messaging in the protest rhetoric, claiming the virus is the fault of the Chinese government, these protests are anything but good faith.

It is selfish. These people couldn’t care less about the safety of the populace. They want 2 for 20 apps at Applebee’s. Their actions will set our quarantine back as death tolls at locations where these protests occurred have spiked in the time since.

Put your life on the line for Denny’s.

Photo by John Cameron on Unsplash