As reported in an April 29 article in the East Bay Times, Republican Ken Turnage II, chairman of the Antioch, CA planning commission, is of the opinion that society should simply let Covid-19 kill the weak, elderly, homeless and others (he wasn’t quite specific on who the “others” might be).
This plan is beginning to sound more familiar by the day. Recall that not long ago Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said we should sacrifice grandma and grandpa to help save the economy. A “difficult trade-off” I think he called it. His idea was supported and defended by Fox News’ Brit Hume who said it is “entirely reasonable” that elderly Americans would be fine with dying to save the U.S. economy.
Well, the Turnage plan takes it a step further. He doesn’t just want to off old folks; he has a bigger plan, one that brings to mind the Vietnam era phrase “Kill them all, let God sort them out.”
In a since deleted Facebook post from April 23 where he called for the wholesale death of people he thinks are a burden to society and thus dispensable, he likened Covid-19 to a forest fire, burning off “old trees, fallen brush and scrub-shrub sucklings” that, in his opinion, drain resources.
In Turanage’s view, the end result of such a purge would be worth the loss, as the country and planet would come out stronger “when this is all settled.” Cute way to put massive and avoidable loss of life: “all settled.” The East Bay Times captured some of Turnage’s musings before he deleted the FB post (emphasis mine):
“We would have significant loss of life, we would lose many elderly, that would reduce burdens in our defunct Social Security System, health care cost (once the wave subsided), make jobs available for others and it would also free up housing in which we are in dire need of. We would lose a large portion of the people with immune and other health complications. I know it would be loved ones as well. But that would once again reduce our impact on medical, jobs, and housing.”
So, once again the party of life is promoting death.
I’ve been watching a new PBS series titled “World on Fire,” and a recurring character thus far has been an adorable little girl who happens to suffer from occasional seizures. If the Nazis learn of this, she’ll be sent to a facility to be euthanized. Maybe Turnage would be in favor of just rounding up the old, infirm, and homeless and giving them the Nazi treatment. It would certainly save a great deal of time, and think of the resources we would save if we got rid of those “old trees, fallen brush and scrub-shrub sucklings.”