I’m so happy that tabloid journalism is hopping back on the COVID-19 complaint train. It’s so refreshing to read what communications majors think about public health and medicine and so comforting to see their opinions widely shared on social media. It makes wearing my N95 for 14 hours a day at work more bearable.
I’m so glad that we’re still using randomly juxtaposed and poorly prepared case studies to rationalize our unencumbered desire to do whatever we want. I can’t imagine how many minutes it took the interns at the New York Post to google “total Florida death count” and how much time they saved by ignoring the effects of time or population density on this statistic. I wouldn’t want them to muddy their opinion with the knowledge that New York has a higher population density than Florida or that New York City has literally twice the number of people per square mile than Miami. I wouldn’t want them to feel discouraged by the fact that, at its peak early in the pandemic, New York was losing over 1,000 people a day to this virus. It may explain why a different strategy was appropriate and necessary, but it’s also scary. Who wants to talk about that?
Why highlight one good thought, that perhaps counties could adjust their public health precautions based on the local situation instead of always making statewide policies, when you can overshadow it with nonsense about the average statewide unemployment rate from the last year or bury it under ad hominem attacks.
Why use your position of power, the strength of your words, the might of the legacy of print media, to inspire the best in people and help us reach our highest ideals, when instead you can rally around the partisan cry of yellow journalism and stoke anger, fear, and fury? Why maintain an appreciation for nuance or a respect for complexity when name calling is cheaper and Disney World sells better? I know it’s hard to hear, over the screaming about freedom, that there is no executive order banning hugging. Like I said, nuance and complexity are expensive nowadays.
I will not share a link to the right wing sensationalist slop on the New York Post’s website nor will I waste any more thought on it. I will go back to work tomorrow, put on my scratchy blue recycled N95, and take care of people, no matter what they read or if they choose to wear a mask. I will continue to believe, against all odds, that we can find a way to exist between panic and apathy in our struggle with this global pandemic. There are many more months to come.
“Still We Reach for One Another” // by Kate Morales
from justseeds.org
Nobody asked me... 