During major crises, we seem to get plenty of both the best and the worst that human beings offer.
The Kennedy assassination was horrific, and whether it was one crazed lone gunman on the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository, or whether it was a wider conspiracy (I am admitting to not knowing which one it is here, not making an argument), this tragedy obviously violently struck down one of America's brightest shining stars. Yet, the country seemed to come together after that, with stories of people who never really knew each other before suddenly talking and coming together in their grief.
September 11th was the same thing. There were the horrific actions of those 19 terrorists, who killed well over 2,000 people combined on that morning. Also, there was the despicable targeting of Muslim Americans in the aftermath of the attacks. Yet, there also was a spirit of people coming together, at least for a short while, anyway. There were the heroic actions of the First Responders, who became legitimate heroes for their selfless actions.
Now, with the coronavirus crisis, we are seeing it again. There are heroes, such as the countless doctors and nurses and healthcare workers who are trying their best to help the infected, even putting themselves at risk. There are grocery store workers and janitors and others who are working behind the scenes, largely still invisible and underappreciated, yet who are helping masses of people cope with the crisis. There are people urging people not to panic, and to do the sensible thing by staying home.
Yet, there are ugly aspects, obviously, as well. There are those Senators who sold their stocks just before the crash, all while trying to sell the public that this was not as big a crisis as it actually was. There are people everywhere, but especially online, who are price gouging, trying to charge outrageous amounts for what were, just a few weeks ago, common, everyday products. And there are irrational fears and finger pointing, including a typically American strand of racism in trying to refer to this thing as the "Chinese virus," which pathetically includes the man in the Oval Office right now, even though he just finally relented and said that he would stop using that term.
One of the ugliest aspects of this crisis that we have seen in recent days has been the seeming eagerness of some - not surprisingly, almost exclusively Republican political figures - to end the lockdowns and social distancing, and to put the risk of some, particularly senior citizens, at risk, in order to get the economy and the stock market back on track.
Infamously, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made comments - and faced a backlash - regarding ending the shutdown COVID-19 pandemic. Here is what he said:
“Let’s get back to living,” Patrick, a tea party Republican stalwart and longtime ally of President Trump, told Fox’s Tucker Carlson late Monday, defending the president’s push to reopen businesses in a matter of weeks despite dire warnings from public health officials.
“Those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves, but don’t sacrifice the country,” said Patrick, who turns 70 next week. Patrick said he’s “not living in fear of COVID-19. What I’m living in fear of is what’s happening to this country.”
Since then, others (mostly Republican) like Glen Beck have basically come out and suggested the same thing, suggesting that they would rather sacrifice seniors (like themselves, how gracious of them) than sacrifice the country, which they seemed to suggest was on the verge of death. Funny, that they advocate an economic system for the country that they feel is wonderful and the only hope, yet a few weeks (literally, and not more than that yet) of a shutdown, and they are proclaiming the death of the country!
It is not just Patrick or those other Republicans who suggested such things, either, however. That general attitude - an antipathy towards the elderly - has carried on to more regular people without a political title, such as the one that Patrick currently has. Read this little excerpt, taken from an article in The Atlantic last month:
Earlier today, a friend posted on Facebook about an experience he’d just had on the Upper West Side of Manhattan: “I heard a guy who looked to be in his 20s say that it’s not a big deal cause the elderly are gonna die anyway. Then he and his friend laughed … Maybe I’m lucky that I had awesome grandparents and maybe this guy didn’t but what is wrong with people???” Some have tried to dress up their heartlessness as generational retribution. As someone tweeted at me earlier today, “To be perfectly honest, and this is awful, but to the young, watching as the elderly over and over and over choose their own interests ahead of Climate policy kind of feels like they’re wishing us to a death they won’t have to experience. It’s a sad bit of fair play.”
Sacrificing seniors for the perceived good of the economy? Or just allowing the seniors to die, because the logic that they're going to die anyway? Pointing the finger of blame at seniors, collectively, as being responsible for most of the ills of the country, and indeed the world?
This is why it grows tiresome to see and hear those messages about how we all need to stick together, how we will get through this, but we just have to buckle down and work together. Such staggering levels of hypocrisy!
Frankly, such staggering levels of cruelty in a country that, according to many, is supposed to be a Christian country. Where was it in the Bible that Jesus ever advocated simply giving up on the elderly, or blaming them for the world that the rest of us inherited?
Below are the links to the two articles that I used in writing this particular blog entry:
Sacrifice the old to help the economy? Texas official’s remark prompts backlash By MOLLY HENNESSY-FISKEHOUSTON BUREAU CHIEF MARCH 24, 2020:
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-24/coronavirus-texas-dan-patrick
The Staggering, Heartless Cruelty Toward the Elderly A global pandemic doesn’t give us cause to treat the aged callously. MARCH 12, 2020 Shai Held President, dean, and chair in Jewish Thought at HadarL
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/respect-old/607864/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1IbaDffgDJFQJDzfpVfS-T7WnUcuSwXMw-qwgVK8WTqX9K1vx9EVPJOOQ
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