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As the coronavirus pandemic continues to burn its way through America and the world and millions hunker down in their homes, many of the cultural issues that only recently sparked fierce debate now seem oddly irrelevant.

Does anyone want to argue about politically correct language when were facing disaster?

These days, a safe space is one in which you are protected from a deadly infection, not from offensive ideas. Even the controversy over President Donald Trumps attempt to troll the media by using the term Chinese virus faded quickly. And while a few feminists have tried to claim that women are hardest hit by the pandemic even though more men aredying, no ones paying much attention.

But the culture wars havent gone away theyve only shifted focus. While the so-called social justice warriorson the left have mostly grown quiet, the culture warriors on the right have found a new battlefield in opposition to epidemic control measures. Its a stance that is not only divisive but actively dangerous.

For weeks, right-wing media figures such as radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Fox News host Laura Ingraham have been promoting a no big deal narrative about the COVID-19 epidemic (Limbaugh has even insisted that its nothing more than the common cold). They have also railed against stay-at-home orders intended to flatten the curve of the virusand curb the spread of the disease. Some have backed away from that position now that Trump seems to take the coronavirus seriously and has abandoned his plan to reopen America by Easter. Yet Limbaugh still insists that the epidemic is overrated and grumbling that our response to it is dictated by unelected health experts who are part of the insidious Deep State.

Conservative commentator, radio talk show host and frequent Fox News guest Jesse Kelly still rails against the quarantines on Twitter, warning that our economy is being turned into a smoldering wreckage. But the economy isnt Kellys only concern; he believes that the epidemic is an excuse for leftists to turn America into a progressive tyranny. Were reporting our fellow citizens to the police, deciding which businesses are allowed to open, and arresting pastors for having a church service, Kelly tweeted on Tuesday. Coronavirus is not the deadliest thing we imported from China.

Kelly has also connected the lockdown to his perennial theme of the liberal-driven decline of manhood in America: the lockdown, he says, shows that weve apparently become the scared suburban housewife society, cowering in our homes while being terrorized by the prophets of doom. The culture warriors seem to think that risking exposure to the coronavirusto save the economy is somehow akin to risking ones life in battle. Apparently, they still havent realized that in this war, a person who becomes infected can quickly become an unwitting enemy weapon.

Other pundits on the far right are stoking hate toward the progressive, multicultural cities that are seen as strongholds of blue America and that are hardest hit by the coronavirus. Sean Davis, a contributor to The Federalist a once-interesting conservative website that has become a home to crackpot conspiracy theories recently lamented on Twitter that the rest of the country was being shut down because New York City is a filthy, disease-ridden dystopia run by an incompetent communist.

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Its not just a matter of vile rhetoric. The coronavirus deniers actively encouragepeople to defy the quarantine and promoteconspiracy theories that depict the epidemic as a hoax.

This culture war could literally kill us.

Cathy Youngis a contributing editor to Reason magazine.

Cathy Young is a contributing editor to Reason magazine.

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A COVID-19 culture war that can kill us - Newsday