Ask anyone who's lived west of the Rockies in recent years—wildfire smoke is no laughing matter.
It makes you sick. It makes you wheeze. It makes your head hurt for days and keeps you up at night with gravel in your throat. It also kills people.
So naturally, the fine, upstanding folks at Fox News think it's hilarious New York and several other East Coast cities are currently blanketed in smoke from the Canadian wildfires. They also think anyone who thinks otherwise is a giant "woke" baby.
Fox News went full retro on the topic, with mainstays Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro and Jesse Watters mocking the public health advice to wear a mask outside to protect from the smoke just like they did during the pandemic.
First up is Pirro, who somehow made the wildfire smoke the fault of New York Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and implied Democrats smelled an "opportunity" in the horrifically toxic New York air to bring back "mask insanity."
You can see Pirro's comments here:
With a straight face and devoid of irony, Pirro said:
“While Americans choke on the smoke, the far left smells an opportunity... [AOC] says that we must, quote, ‘Adapt our food systems, energy grids, infrastructure, and health care to prepare for what’s to come [with climate change]."
"Other Democrats are pumping up climate hysteria and bringing back, you guessed it, mask insanity."
That's right, not breathing wildfire smoke is for snowflake libs.
Then there was Jesse Watters, who took a break from bragging about being a predator to use the wildfire situation to blame Democratic President Joe Biden for not doing whatever it is President Biden is supposed to do about wildfires in another country.
Watters said:
“Half the country can’t go outside or breathe fresh air because of our stupid neighbors up north, and the President hasn’t said a single word about it because we don’t have a real President."
He then went on to mock New York City Mayor Eric Adams for giving New Yorkers similar advice to that during the early days of the pandemic—stay home and wear a mask if you must go out because the air is literally poison right now.
Then Sean Hannity claimed the whole thing wasn't even happening and everyone complaining was just a bunch of weakling cry-babies.
Speaking to contributor Charly Arnolt, Hannity said:
“I’m like, ‘I’m walking in the same place you’re walking in and I don’t feel a thing'..."
“I think if I was having difficulty breathing I would notice, but these are young people saying this. Are they all snowflakes?”
Arnolt agreed, saying everyone was playing the "victim card."
As you might guess, this stuff hasn't gone over very well with people who breathe and live in the affected areas.
Fox News staffers were required to take the COVID-19 vaccinations and mask to enter Fox buildings, then spent years mocking pandemic health measures.
Their hypocrisy with this health hazard is likely the same.
