WaPo sportswriter accuses Olympian of 'mixing up' liberty and anarchy in mask debate

by Don Irvine on September 11, 2020

Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins weighed in on the mask debate by criticizing three-time Olympic gold medal winner Kerry Walsh Jennings for choosing not to wear a mask in public and thereby “mixing up personal liberty and anarchy.”

Walsh Jennings posted on her Instagram page that she decided to try an experiment and go shopping without a mask after reading a quote that shook her and woke her up to how our freedoms have been restricted by state and local governments during the pandemic.

This is what she posted that offended Jenkins:

Here we go ….
I had a little exercise in being brave yesterday & I’m still a bit edgy about it.I went shopping without a mask on ??? & this is why … I read a quote the other day that shook me – -THIS HAS NOT BEEN ENFORCED, IT’S BEEN CONSENTED TO.

This statement woke me up & the truth of it has had me obsessing on the matter of how I can mindfully & compassionately stand up for my rights & for the freedoms our constitution has granted us all WITHOUT being reckless or putting anyone else in danger.
We are all endlessly complaining about the restrictive & arbitrarily selective rules that we are being strongly “suggested” to follow & yet we are all consenting; Not much of a fight, just a lot of complaining & strongly disagreeing with this manipulation, but we keep consenting. It’s maddening. It has crushed our society, people’s livelihoods, our children’s spirits, & the fabric of our world. We have become a country & a world estranged from each other & it is more deeply unhealthy than any virus could ever be.
I know people are getting sick & many have gone to Heaven. I have lived through a lot of loss in my family, in my life. I cherish life. I would never downplay the impact of a single loss of life. That is it’s own conversation & my heart goes out to all those suffering poor health, the loss of a loved one and the fear that the reaction to & media coverage of COVID-19 has created in your days.

This post set Jenkins into motion and she took issue with Walsh Jennings’ stance on masks by stating that. “Masks work — for you and for others,” comparing her to a rebel minuteman fighting a war of liberation, adding that hyper-libertarians are crushing the fabric of our world–and the English language to justify their “lone wolfism” by not wearing a mask and imperiling their neighbors when shopping without obtaining consent.

Jenkins wraps up her attack on Walsh Jennings by saying that she “mixes up personal liberty with anarchy, the refusal to recognize any governance or covenant with other citizens. That’s not freeing, it’s disordering.” If you want an example of anarchy just look at the Seattle and Portland riots. That’s anarchy — choosing not to wear a mask in public is not anarchy.

Walsh Jennings, who was attacked mercilessly for her post, followed upon Instagram by stating that she was only trying to express her belief that “Freedom is worth fighting for,” and that “our freedoms have slowly been taken from us without our consent,” so much so that she doesn’t recognize our country anymore.

What seemed to burn Jenkins the most is that Walsh Jennings as an athlete — an Olympian — would dare to express the view that the lockdown and actions by state and local governments have infringed on our personal freedom, a view that she obviously doesn’t share.

WaPo sportswriter accuses Olympian of ‘mixing up’ liberty and anarchy in mask debate

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