This Is No Dictatorship

I have family members that share Brian Palmer’s sentiments (“Dictator Kate Brown?,” Letters 11/19) about the virus and politicians. To them wearing a mask is “playing a game” and COVID-19 is just a “modified flu.” Being told by authorities that in the real world the rules have to change for the good of us all is frustrating and scaring them, too.

They want to kill the messenger. A real authoritarian like Vladimir Putin differs from our governor in that he doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself and his lust for power and wealth. He will get his special medicines or go to a protected compound and laugh at us suckers until the danger is gone.

Wearing a mask, staying home, helping with your kids’ education and learning to be more self sufficient is a small thing to ask. There are people who live under real dictators: Syrians, Russians, Somalians — those people have a right to be angry. COVID-19 will not be the last virus.

Annie Kayner

Eugene