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19th Jun 2021

Thorpe Park mask policy compared to racial segregation

Charlie Herbert

“Didn’t something similar happen years back on buses?!”

A mother has said that her daughter was experienced segregation at a theme park after she was told to sit at the back of a ride because she couldn’t wear a mask.

In a tweet, @Natashadsays complained that her daughter had been made to sit at the back of rides at Thorpe Park because she was exempt from wearing a mask. The theme park’s policy is that people who can’t wear masks must sit at the back of rollercoasters to “reduce the risk of air transmission” on attractions.

The mother initially tweeted: “WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS – My 18 year old at Thorpe park today, mask exempt – had to ride at the back of the rides! Didn’t something similar happen years back on buses?! @THORPEPARK”

The theme park responded, explaining their policy and that this was simply in line with its ride restrictions.

However, this didn’t satisfy Natasha, who went as far to say that her daughter had been “segregated” at the back of the ride, again comparing it to racial segregation of 1950s America, when African-Americans would have to sit at the back of buses because they were black.

https://twitter.com/Natashadsays/status/1405985592681304075

The theme park’s response prompted an angry reaction from other users, who also fumed at the so-called discrimination.

One person replied: “This is segregation. You should be taken to court. You do not discriminate against people like this for useless masks that don’t work or for anything else. If masks did work you wouldn’t be worried about sitting next to a maskless person. Apologise to these people.”

Another said: “Disgusting treatment. I literally can’t believe the discrimination, nor that people think this is ok and the ‘logic’ of mask makes any sense. I’m so sad and angry for my kids growing up being treated like this.”

But what perhaps provoked even more of a reaction was the fact that bone-headed Covid-sceptics were comparing a girl sitting at the back of a rollercoaster to Rosa Parks and the racial segregation that black people experienced in the USA.

The two aren’t really the same are they Natasha?

Many were keen to point this out as well, with one describing the comparison as a “different level of insanity.”

https://twitter.com/pugofcrypto/status/1406192430618222594

https://twitter.com/eaklooks/status/1406171680662249475

A mum comparing her daughter to Rosa Parks because she had to sit at the back of a rollercoaster. Just another normal day in Covid Britain.