15Comments
Arnold Schwarzenegger has some bold words for people who are hell-bent on breaking COVID prevention measures in the name of personal freedom: “you're a schmuck.”
Arnie delivered the message through a four-minute Instagram video posted on Wednesday in which he talked about the recent resurgence of COVID-19 that’s been driven by the troublesome Delta variant. In the spirit of "come together" to beat the pandemic, he blasted people who have been flouting COVID-19 prevent measures, such as face masks, arguing their blind pursuit of personal freedom could be putting others at risk.
"We have to come together rather than ... always just saying 'Oh according to my principles, this is a free country, and I have the freedom to wear no mask.' Yeah, you have the freedom to wear no mask, but ... you're a schmuck for not wearing a mask. Because you're supposed to protect your fellow members around you,” Schwarzenegger said.
"There is a virus here. It kills people and the only way we prevent it is to get vaccinated, to wear masks, to do social distancing, washing your hands all the time, and not just to think about: 'Well, my freedom is being ... disturbed here,'" he said.
"No. Screw your freedom. Because with freedom comes obligations and responsibilities. ... When you infect other people, that is when it gets serious,” he states.
"You cannot say, 'No one is going to tell me that I'm going to stop ... at this traffic light. I'm going to go right through it.' Then you kill someone else, and then it is your doing," he said.
He also reaffirmed his advice from earlier this year about trusting the experts. If you want to learn about building biceps, then Schwarzenegger says you should listen to him (he is an expert, in case you didn't know). However, if you want to learn about the virus and vaccine, listen to the scientists (and not a poorly sourced meme on Facebook), he says.
"I’m an expert on how to build a bicep ... there's no one that knows more about a bicep than I do because I studied the issue for 50 years. And the same is also [true] with the virus. There are ... experts that studied this year after year after year ... like Dr Fauci, that has been at this probably for his entire life. ... Why would you not believe someone like that? ... I believe them and I follow them.”
"I don't want to villainize anyone here," he continued, "but I just wanted to tell everyone, let's work together and let's stop fighting because there is a virus, and it's better to get vaccinated [and] to wear a mask."
