Featured image by Alan Levine. Follow for more of this artist’s work.
I was reading an interesting article in the LA Times today, talking about Covid, lockdowns, and the hodgepodge of restrictions that are now governing our lives, and I was relieved to see that others are noticing the same thing I was. The lockdowns, for all their well intentioned efforts at curbing the spread and preventing the overwhelming of the hospital system, have become little more than a combination of government pleading with people and threats of force if they don’t comply, which are more and more often being ignored by individuals, businesses, and to some extent local governments.
Before I stray too much further into my post, let me make clear my stance on things. As I have said before in previous posts and other media, the virus is a real thing, is much more transmissible than the regular flu, and more deadly. I advocate for people to inform themselves of their risk, to practice good hygiene, and weigh out their options before engaging in activity that could put them at risk. I recommend people think about their at-risk loved ones (like my 90 year old grandmother or my 88 year old grandfather who is in a nursing home) when they do those calculations and act responsibly. Thanks for listening to my quick PSA.
People aren’t just tired, they are weary from the months of ever-shifting rules and regulations about Covid. They are growing impatient at the tightening grip the government is placing on the things we have long taken for granted (going to a store, meeting up with friends, exercising, travelling freely, visiting relatives in another state, going to a concert, etc.). Having to check the news feeds and the timelines for what the latest infringements upon our liberties to prevent our children, neighbors, parents, grandmothers, and other at-risk people from dying really grates on the collective nerves of people.
We had agreed to a short term lockdown to prevent the medical system from being overwhelmed because we didn’t want to become Italy back in March. We complied because we knew little about the virus and how it spread, and what little we did know was that it spread easily from person to person and was more deadly than the flu. We did so because we thought that our government officials had the best of intentions. And to some extent they did. Congress passed a relief bill, the doctors and experts were being put at the forefront to help make sure people were reminded to wash their hands and socially distance.
But, as with all things, politics crept into the equation. People grew restless, wanting to go back to work, and protested against the lockdowns. This garnered backlash on social and traditional medias because they were being framed as “uncaring” and “heartless” and “selfish” for the great crime of wanting to support their families, loved ones, and coworkers. In reality, the people protesting were trying to get back to relying on themselves and not the “generosity” of the government (generosity that always has strings attached). This of course caused some increase in cases, because the virus enjoys people clustering together without masks screaming and projecting the droplets upon which it rides from person to person. I supported the protests, but didn’t think this was the best idea at the time.
And then George Floyd’s death happened, and now a bunch of people were out protesting his death and the brutality of the police, along with the injustices of the criminal justice system. Thousands of people engaging in protest, assembly, and petition, all doing the same patriotic thing that the people protesting the lockdowns were doing. The media coverage was glowing, highlighting the importance of the cause and the nobility of protesting while downplaying any risk of spreading Covid and ignoring the fringe rioters that were causing millions of dollars worth of destruction while trying to conflate the rioters with the protesters. Again, my response was the same. Large gatherings of people shouting, many unmasked, in close proximity created a nice breeding ground for the virus.
So we began to see the hypocrisy as people were told to comply and fear a virus. From the Mayor of Chicago, the Speaker of the House, and other government officials getting haircuts because they needed to look good on TV; Governors, Mayors, and other officials having dinner parties with health officials, traveling out of the country, or attending large funerals while demanding that their constituents refrain from having large funerals, postpone weddings, cancel holiday plans. People began to see that there was more to this pandemic than just the virus.
So now, with the politicians struggling to compromise and quick to blame each other because after all, it’s an election year and God forbid you put aside politics for one second. People, having to live with constant uncertainty that they’ll wake up and be unable to make a living, are increasingly finding themselves in a position to say “F*ck it.” After all, what else do they have to lose?
Covid fatigue is a real thing, and the longer this drags on, the less people are going to tolerate, particularly when it comes to family. The more people can’t feed their kids, or take care of their employees, or pay their bills without some form of help from the government, the more people are going to buck the restrictions. Under Covid, working and socializing have become like alcohol in the Prohibition Era, driven underground and out of the light of day. Stories of nightclubs and other impromptu gatherings will continue to pop up, flying in the face of the best intentions of the government, and this sort of thing will be felt for years to come. We have lived in a time where we expect the government to act with the best interests of the people. But it is becoming more and more apparent that the government doesn’t connect to the people, and doesn’t understand what the interests of the people are. I would suppose that a body composed of many lawyers and scholars would have a tendency to not understand the life of a customer service worker.
And the expectation that we could try and impose something at a national level, removing the decision making from the state and having those decisions made by people thousands of miles away is even more ridiculous. If local governments can’t get a handle on this with their local regulations and information, what chance is there for a national government operating in its slow, hulking, and its wrecking ball level of detail?
The answer isn’t a governmental answer at all. It belongs in the hands of the people. The government has the ability to disseminate the information, the press has the responsibility to relay it objectively, and the people have the right to disregard it at their own peril. I push again for people to stop, think, consider, and act in a rational fashion, and stop outsourcing their decision making to people who don’t know what their lives are really like, and will never understand the day to day struggles of the individual.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And the more the government pushes people to comply, the more people will push back.
A Place 4Politics 