What is more important: protests or staying safe from the Coronavirus?
What is more important: protests or staying safe from the Coronavirus?
Today we are certainly going through some hard times. Not only is there an ongoing worldwide pandemic, despite certain businesses reopening, protests are erupting all over America due to the unjust murder of George Floyd, an African-American man who has died at the hands of a Caucasian police officer. Needless to say, this is the new normal for the most powerful country on the planet, but this taking place during a pandemic where people are supposed to keep their distance as much as possible? Some people need to get their priorities straight. It certainly is unfair that another everyman has had their life taken by another so-called member of the law enforcement but is it really a good idea for people to be forming crowds and wreaking havoc on public property when they were given specific rules to stay home and maintain their distance from another person who does not live in their household? Especially because the U.S. is the country with the most reported cases of COVID-19? Even during a global crisis, Americans just cannot seem to think with their brains. Let’s take a closer look at the connection between COVID-19 and Americans’ behaviour.
Ever since the world has been on lockdown, Americans seem to be shunning rules as a form of rebellion, especially when you know who their president is. It definitely sucks that people are losing their jobs and have no other way to pay their bills but where I am from, Canada that is, everyone just sucks it up and moves on with their lives. But not in the case of Americans, as they have always preferred freedom of expression over anything else since basically the 1960s. Trump has also been blatant about not wanting schools to reopen, not planning to wear a mask when he tells everyone, and overall just downplaying the severity of the virus, which makes it understandable why people despise him (Andrew, 2020). Not only that, but when lockdown started, there have been spring breakers who have decided to go partying despite fears of contracting the Coronavirus. There may have been no riots but it still counts as rebellion. It doesn’t help that they are Generation Z, which technically speaking, is anyone born after 1996 (Dimock, 2019), and they are without a doubt the most rebellious generation of our time due to the rapidly changing social mores that they easily give Baby Boomers a run for their money. Even if some Americans are scared of getting sick, they still find a way to riot and blame everything on their government.
Now moving onto a current case: the George Floyd protests. Why are people gathering in close proximity after 3 months of closing schools and businesses? Everyone should be well aware by now that COVID-19 is spread easily through close contact so why are they letting their emotions get the better of them? Tear gas is also used to placate angry mobs, which can cause coughing. Even during the Spanish influenza of 1918, which were much harder times than now, people downplayed the severity of the disease and persisted with public gatherings (Edwards, 2020). Should protests even be legalized if they are breaking social distancing rules? These people should be fined for simply not following the public health message but closing down a Black Lives Matter protest could be seen as grounds for discrimination (Casciani, 2020). In my personal opinion, as much as it is unfair that a person of color lost their life because of a white person, people should put their own health and safety first.
In a nutshell, Americans will be Americans even during a time of crisis. The best thing they are supposed to do is wait until all lockdown restrictions are eased and save protests for later. But if a person of color is murdered, they will jump at the opportunity to rebel even during a worldwide pandemic. They have seemed to influence Canadians as well, as they are participating in Black Lives Matter protests as well. Should it be unfair to compare a violent death of one person to a deadly disease that is killing millions of people? You decide. I think both issues are equally important but people dying from Coronavirus is definitely a situation where you would not worry too much about race having anything to do with anyone’s death.
References:
America’s response to the coronavirus is the most American thing ever. Retrieved from
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/19/us/american-individualism-coronavirus-trnd/index.html
Defining Generations: Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins. Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/
As protest sweep nation, research finds social distancing most effective at slowing Coronavirus spread. Retrieved from
Coronavirus: Are protests legal amid lockdown? Retrieved from
