Social Distancing Is A Joke

[LongJim]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/06/04/trump_team_whatever_happened_to_social_distancing.html

[Censored by Laurie]

I was about a month into my freshman year of college, sitting on the floor of the Language Building, when I watched planes fly into the World Trade Center. I remember feeling a strong call to action...I helped man a Red Cross hotline, donated blood(despite a paralyzing fear of needles)...and despite my already underlying (if un-catagorized) "liberal" tendencies, I remember nearly verbatim saying to a friend "I'm glad we have a Texan in the White House."  I wanted blood. 

a few months later, I was (for so many reasons) on the banner for an anti-war protest.

I share this b/c I'm sure that those who have read my posts for the last decade-plus are un-surprised that I protested the war while in school...yet I fear we're all so deep in our partisan, dual-reality-only beliefs that many feel it's impossible for some hippie anti-war liberal like me to have had an immediate vengeful visceral reaction to 9/11. 

I'm wrestling with similar feelings as I type this. My current community is very much a liberal echo chamber. My friends have immediately taken up the banner. And while I support them, for numerous reasons I've yet to brush up against a barricade...

one of the most significant is how do I (and we) square the call to collectively demonstrate with the belief that the safest thing for society is to socially distance. I've yet to actively protest in large part b/c of this intellectual inconsistency. its too easy to say that the death of black man to police brutality is more significant than opening a nail parlor, but that doesn't align with an overall prioritization of safety-over-economy. 

that said...I think the article you've posted and certainly the title of this thread are biased and unfair. it's purely binary thinking and attempts to diminish both Covid caution and BLM in one fell swoop. 

[LongJim]

8 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

I'm wrestling with similar feelings as I type this.

one of the most significant is how do I (and we) square the call to collectively demonstrate with the belief that the safest thing for society is to socially distance. I've yet to actively protest in large part b/c of this intellectual inconsistency. its too easy to say that the death of black man to police brutality is more significant than opening a nail parlor, but that doesn't align with an overall prioritization of safety-over-economy. 

that said...I think the article you've posted and certainly the title of this thread are biased and unfair. it's purely binary thinking and attempts to diminish both Covid caution and BLM in one fell swoop. 

I enjoyed your thoughtful post here.  I deleted the backstory for brevity, but I suspect many had similar experiences, and like yours, they are all valid.

Regarding the thread title--the title is provocative on purpose. 

It is intended to provoke discussion and a response to the topic.  Similar to the NYT Is A Joke topic.

When we get into which groups and activities are allowed "freedom" by the state, and which aren't--we are entering DANGEROUS territory and times.

If the marches and protests are allowed (and they are, and SHOULD be) then the person that wants to bury their mother and invite whoever they want to the funeral should be able to--period.  That is not what is happening.

We can't allow the state to divide the public and enforce laws based on a shifting interpretation of what is "right and wrong" which is influenced by a specific group.

[MCMLXXX]

10 hours ago, Censored by Laurie said:

one of the most significant is how do I (and we) square the call to collectively demonstrate with the belief that the safest thing for society is to socially distance. I've yet to actively protest in large part b/c of this intellectual inconsistency. 

Isn’t that ultimately an individual decision where you weigh perceived costs vs perceived benefits. I watched an interview of a city councilman in a large city who said that the protests were the direct cause of “the Attorney General of Wisconsin filing charges against the other 3 officers.” Yes he said “Wisconsin”. A black elected official who clearly knows nothing about Keith Ellison. If that was the only objective of the protest, and I am not saying that it was or that the councilman said it was,  then it was unnecessary. If you have higher objectives and believe they outweigh risks to you or society then demonstrate.

[FirefightnRick]

There’s not much else you can say when so many allow the dishonest news to frame the narratives instead of thinking for themselves.  
 

[ColoradoEagle]

3 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

There’s not much else you can say when so many allow the dishonest news to frame the narratives instead of thinking for themselves.