The Ebola virus, running rampant through at least three West African countries, including Liberia, has killed over 4000 people in those nations so far. It was initially believed that Ebola is spread only through direct contact with blood or bodily fluids of an infected and symptomatic victim. However, that seems to not be the case as it is getting more and more obvious that even casual contact with an Ebola victim can spread the disease. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) cleared it up nicely the other day when they said "you can infect others with Ebola on a bus but you cannot contract Ebola on a bus."
Got that?
It's difficult to imagine how protecting the United States from a deadly virus could turn into a political disagreement but that's exactly what has happened. Republicans, conservatives and Libertarians are mostly in favor of a travel ban on anyone from West Africa until the Ebola virus threat has been eliminated. Liberals, Democrats and progressives are saying not only would that not prevent the disease from getting to the USA but it would cause it to spread more widely in Africa. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure that one out.
Those who oppose a travel ban say that medical supplies and/or medical personnel would not be able to get to the affected countries if the ban was in place. They apparently don't understand the word "exception" and don't realize that medical supplies and personnel could be flown in via special charter flights, just as American citizens with the virus have been flown out. They just don't seem to understand the concept.
The most absurd thing being said by the left is that "even proposing a travel ban is racist." Really? So preventing unrestricted travel to and from a country that is in the middle of a serious viral epidemic is racist? How is that. Is it because Ebola only sickens black people? Is it because America has a large white population who doesn't want to get the virus (along with blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs, Native Americans....?) Maybe that's it. White people in America who don't want to get the virus are racist because, after all, it's only fair if they get it too.
Some liberals have suggested that travel bans would be racist because Liberia became a nation that was settled by many slaves that left the United States after the Civil War. Therefore, because their ancestors were slaves in the United States, they should not be banned from traveling here. None of it makes any sense. We're talking about a deadly virus, not the skin color of the people who are currently the worst effected by it. At least some of us are. Liberals can turn anything into a racial issue.
Democrat political campaigns are flip-flopping on the issue based on their poll numbers. Most notably, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) praised President Obama and the CDC for what she said was a wonderful response and guidance in the Ebola crisis. "Travel bans just wouldn't solve the problem," she said.
Soon after she began hearing from her constituents about the issue. Her GOP opposition slammed her for being "a Stepford Wife to the Ebola Denialism of the Progressive leaders of the American Left." They hit her pretty hard:
"Yesterday, in Charlotte, (Kay Hagan) praised the Centers for Disease Control for offering ‘great guidance’ on Ebola, despite the fact that the CDC-recommended protocols failed to protect two Texas nurses, and the CDC allowed one of the nurses to fly on a commercial airline. Senator Hagan also reiterated her opposition to a ban on travel to the United States from the ‘Hot Zone’ in western Africa. Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis supports such a ban – as do two-thirds of the American people, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released yesterday."
Overnight Senator Hagan changed her tune and began calling on President Obama to issue a "temporary travel ban of non-U.S. citizens from the effected countries." Imagine that. Oh, those pesky polls that can instantly change a politician's stance on an issue and turn him/her into a racist.
Several African nations including Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal, have closed their borders and instated a travel ban from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leon, the three most Ebola effected countries. Forty-two days following the ban Nigeria, whose population is 99.9% black, has been declared Ebola free. They have not had another new case. So by American liberal standards Nigeria is a racist country. But they're an Ebola-free racist country.
I'm thinking some of these "liberal white guilt" sufferers should volunteer to head over to one of the Ebola effected countries and help out. Since they have no problem at all allowing possibly infected people into the United States because it's "unfair and racist" not to do so - they should have no problem exposing themselves to the virus over there. If they refuse to do that, applying their own standards, they must all be racists.
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