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gaudior11) Remember this, and use it to motivate your work afterwards.
There are a lot of things I like about how people are reacting to the pandemic. There's the eagerness of the medical professionals I speak with to get in there and help; there's everyone's willingness to shut down their lives to protect the vulnerable; there's the proliferation of cool mask designs. On average, people are doing their best to help.
On the structural level, though, we're very much seeing the inequalities in our society in sharp relief. It's suddenly very obvious why we need Medicare for All-- not just that wrangling insurance companies takes energy and money hospitals and medical providers could otherwise use for saving lives, but also the appallingly worse outcomes for African-Americans. And those worse outcomes come from so many sources-- from the way that structural racism leaves people in poverty, so unable to afford insurance, so more likely to have underlying health problems. Or in poverty, so having to live in neighborhoods which are toxic dumping grounds, so more likely to have underlying health problems. Or in poverty, so unable to take time off of work, or get the training for the kind of job that lets you work from home. Or simply discriminated against, and so less likely to be given testing than white people.
And speaking of working from home, that's an accommodation that people with disabilities/single parents/people who would rather not drive so much have long been told was impossible and impractical, but is suddenly entirely doable.
And speaking of driving, the one thing that people are absolutely benefiting from is the sudden lack of commute. Turns out that commuting for hours to a job, however you do it (except for bike commuting, which people are missing sorely), is a miserable experience, that everyone is better off not having to do.
And speaking differently of commuting, it turns out that actually, it's possible to use so much less gas, and cause so much less pollution, if we're willing to restructure our society a bit.
What I'm saying is, we are learning from the pandemic. And what we are learning is: the way that we were living before had many things we miss (small businesses! Being able to hug my damn spouse! Schools!), but it also has a lot of things that we don't. And when this all ends, let's remember that. Notice, right now-- what you want to keep, what you want to work your ass off to make sure never happens again.
Let's remember that if we can turn our entire culture on its ear to prevent the spread of one disease, it's because so many things we thought were set in stone don't have to be. And when we come out of our houses again, let's get to the streets, and let's make some bigger changes, and save some more lives.
--R
There are a lot of things I like about how people are reacting to the pandemic. There's the eagerness of the medical professionals I speak with to get in there and help; there's everyone's willingness to shut down their lives to protect the vulnerable; there's the proliferation of cool mask designs. On average, people are doing their best to help.
On the structural level, though, we're very much seeing the inequalities in our society in sharp relief. It's suddenly very obvious why we need Medicare for All-- not just that wrangling insurance companies takes energy and money hospitals and medical providers could otherwise use for saving lives, but also the appallingly worse outcomes for African-Americans. And those worse outcomes come from so many sources-- from the way that structural racism leaves people in poverty, so unable to afford insurance, so more likely to have underlying health problems. Or in poverty, so having to live in neighborhoods which are toxic dumping grounds, so more likely to have underlying health problems. Or in poverty, so unable to take time off of work, or get the training for the kind of job that lets you work from home. Or simply discriminated against, and so less likely to be given testing than white people.
And speaking of working from home, that's an accommodation that people with disabilities/single parents/people who would rather not drive so much have long been told was impossible and impractical, but is suddenly entirely doable.
And speaking of driving, the one thing that people are absolutely benefiting from is the sudden lack of commute. Turns out that commuting for hours to a job, however you do it (except for bike commuting, which people are missing sorely), is a miserable experience, that everyone is better off not having to do.
And speaking differently of commuting, it turns out that actually, it's possible to use so much less gas, and cause so much less pollution, if we're willing to restructure our society a bit.
What I'm saying is, we are learning from the pandemic. And what we are learning is: the way that we were living before had many things we miss (small businesses! Being able to hug my damn spouse! Schools!), but it also has a lot of things that we don't. And when this all ends, let's remember that. Notice, right now-- what you want to keep, what you want to work your ass off to make sure never happens again.
Let's remember that if we can turn our entire culture on its ear to prevent the spread of one disease, it's because so many things we thought were set in stone don't have to be. And when we come out of our houses again, let's get to the streets, and let's make some bigger changes, and save some more lives.
--R
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-10 01:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-10 01:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-10 01:46 am (UTC)My wife said some weeks ago this is like a final exam from God. I said hell no, thankfully this is just a prelim. We still have time to prepare for the final.