Defeat The Mandates DC: At ‘Defeat The Mandates’ Rally Against Covid-19 Precautions Held During Omicron Surge On Sunday, thousands of protesters came together in Washington D.C. for the “Defeat the Mandate” rally; instead of uniting against SARS-CoV-2, they protested vaccination and face mask requirements related to Covid-19. Speakers delivered speeches as protesters carried signs as they marched from Washington Monument to Lincoln Memorial – yet death from Covid-19 continues its relentless spread across America with an average daily death toll exceeding 2,100 over past week.

If you were hoping the rally would offer some revolutionary solutions to combatting Covid-19 coronavirus, unfortunately you would have been left disappointed. No alternative solutions were presented by speakers or signs at the rally; rather, people held up signs saying “Stop Karen,” which unfortunately could apply to either everyone named Karen in America or possibly just one particular Karen who has done them wrong.

Defeat the Mandate DC

Beyond addressing the Karen problem, signs, speeches and the march offered little new information or insight. Some on Twitter observed that much of what was said at the rally appeared to be recycled from various anonymous anti-vaccination social media accounts, politicians, TV/podcast personalities and maybe a quarterback or two:

You’ve likely heard it all before: the “natural immunity” and “Covid-19 is no big deal” arguments.

Aren’t these just variations of the “do nothing about the pandemic and let it spread” argument? Doing nothing may seem like the easier option, but consider all of the 865,000 or so Covid-19-related deaths that have occurred in America alone, plus all the hospitalizations and long Covid illnesses?

Others were rejecting the classic “freedom” and “my body, my choice” arguments

“Freedom” sounds great when your decisions don’t impact other people. You certainly have the freedom to run around naked for four hours without anyone else around, yelling “sorry, not sorry” and “let’s unpack this,” at the top of your lungs if no one else is around; however, doing so in public would present challenges since others may not agree with what you have to offer. Thus, this “freedom” argument has often been reduced to an expression of disregard for how my actions may impact others.

On the other hand, there was this sign proclaiming “mandates are racist”

Though it’s unclear what exactly the sign-holder had to do with racism or why they believe mandates in general are racist, there can be no doubt that Nazi references were included.

Why should public health measures designed to save lives be compared with genocidal atrocities?

One thing that didn’t seem to get much attention was science. One speaker, Robert Malone MD, made some statements which could prompt a chorus of “that’s not what science has said” responses. For example, Malone asserted: “Regarding genetic Covid vaccines, the science is settled – they’re not working and they aren’t completely safe.”

All right, using the word “genetic” was a bit overboard and may have fed into the conspiracy theory that Covid-19 vaccines are somehow designed to alter your DNA. But as Forbes has reported, there’s no evidence to support this claim. But Malone claimed “where’s the science?” when in fact there have been plenty of scientific studies showing their effectiveness – so when did science decide this was no longer valid? Where exactly are Malone’s proof that Covid-19 vaccines don’t work?

Malone made another statement that seemed strange: “Now we have Omicron. These vaccines were designed for the Wuhan strain, a different virus.” Whoever said that Omicron variant was completely distinct from its parent virus is mistaken. Sure, the Omicron variant has several mutations compared to its initial form. But isn’t labeling this new virus “a different virus” like calling your children “those other beings?” The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 still spreads in a similar manner, looking like the ball at the end of a BDSM mace (though you wouldn’t know that). Furthermore, studies have shown that protection from Covid-19 vaccines provides some protection against this variant as well – though not as effectively as against earlier SARS-CoV-2 varieties.

Malone’s reference to the “Wuhan strain” ran counter to what the World Health Organization (WHO) has been asking everyone since 2015: not to name new infectious diseases after people or places. As their 2015 technical document explained, doing so could cause unjustified stigma and backlash against certain racial, ethnic, or other demographic groups.

Unfortunately, during this current pandemic people started calling SARS-CoV-2 various names such as “China virus,” “Wuhan virus,” and even “kung-flu virus,” leading to further hatred, racism, and attacks against people of Asian ance who had nothing to do with mainland Chinese government officials.

Malone made a third statement that struck us as particularly pertinent: “Whether [the Covid-19 vaccines] make sense for protecting our elderly and frail from the original virus is irrelevant. So let’s stop arguing about that.” It is true that not only do the Covid-19 vaccines protect the elderly and frail; plenty of younger, healthier individuals have either died or experienced other detrimental outcomes due to Covid-19; thus, these vaccines have benefitted people across society.

Malone wasn’t the only featured speaker at the rally. Other notable guests included Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made numerous false claims about vaccines, and Lara Logan who recently compared Anthony Fauci, MD to Nazi physician Josef Mengele. It wasn’t exactly a who’s who of scientists present; more accurately it was more like where is all the science?

One bizarre moment involved protesters playing “the song ‘I Would Do Anything For Love’ by Meat Loaf, who tragically passed away last week after becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 and who was said to be against vaccine mandates,” as reported by Mason Bissada for Forbes.

Ultimately, many of the statements made at the rally didn’t offer any solutions to the pressing problem at hand: SARS-CoV-2. Sure, you can choose not to comply with vaccination and face mask requirements just like a child might say “I can pee wherever I please!” and then follow up by saying, “urine all over the place isn’t so bad!” Yet, that won’t help in a public health emergency where public health officials and healthcare professionals have been working to better contain a virus that has been devastating many. Unfortunately, not enough people are willing to put in the effort necessary for controlling SARS-CoV-2 and its consequences.

Vaccinations and face mask requirements have become necessary due to this. Even though many healthcare professionals are working tirelessly, some people still opt out of wearing masks when in public spaces. If everyone had joined forces to combat this virus in the first place, requirements or mandates – whatever you want to call them – wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.

At the “Defeat the Mandates” rally, it wasn’t entirely clear how many people agreed with what was said. While organizers had anticipated tens of thousands attending, previous examples of overexaggeration about crowd sizes in Washington DC had occurred before. Imran Ahmed – founder and CEO of Center for Countering Digital Hate – felt that attendance “wasn’t close to the 20K marchers they claimed”.

Anna Merlan, Senior Staff Writer for Vice, reported an estimated “multiple thousand people in attendance:

She also wondered aloud (because that’s what people do on Twitter) whether the rally represented more of a market opportunity for some, an opportunity to sell “alternative treatments” for Covid-19. It can be quite fascinating how often those spreading anti-vaccination messages also happen to be selling alternative treatments as well.

The politicization of the pandemic response may have drawn others with other business and political interests to the rally. According to Ben Collins of NBC News, who reported ahead of time that online extremist forums were paying attention to it:

Collins mentioned the Proud Boys, and video journalist Sandi Bachom posted this:

What Do All These Rally Results Mean for Humanity and SARS-CoV-2? Despite all of the talk, did this rally actually provide any solutions or solve any issues? The virus remains active, potentially even helping it spread even more. Health care workers are still suffering daily as the SARS-CoV-2 continues to cause harm and leave people in an exhausted state of distress. In the words of Bruce Willis’ John McClane in Die Hard: “Now listen carefully: if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem – quit being part of [bleeping]. You need to ask yourself who this Defeat the Mandates rally was ultimately for: humanity or SARS-CoV-2 virus?”

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