Behind protests: two Americas, one unemployed, one still getting paid
- People don’t appreciate being condescended to and bossed around, especially when the leaders ask them for sacrifices without empathy and humility.
"...Others shame them as “virus deniers” and accuse the protesters of
wanting people to die.
But it’s hard not to notice a class divide here.
As with so many of America’s conflicts, the
divide is between the people in the political/managerial class on the one hand and the people in the working class on the other.
And as usual, the smugness and authoritarianism are pretty much all on one side.
The divide is best summed up in a tweet by Brian Stelter of CNN, and a response.
- Stelter tweeted: “I crawled in bed and cried for our pre-pandemic lives. Tears that had been waiting a month to escape. I wanted to share because it feels free to do so. Now is not a time for faux-invincibility. Journos are living this, hating this, like everyone else.”
...Some people mocked this as unmanly — and in fact, it’s hard to imagine hearing this from, say, a British journalist during The Blitz — but one response cut deep:
“Such bravery. Let's all take a moment to think about the journos working from home while millions have lost their jobs.”
Likewise, in Los Angeles — where less than half the county is working now — radio journalist Steve Gregory asked the L.A. County Board of Supervisors whether any of them were
willing to take voluntary pay cuts during this crisis.
He was told by the chair that
his question was “irresponsible,” which is to say embarrassing and inconvenient.
There really are two Americas here:
- Those still getting a paycheck from government, corporations or universities, and
- those who are unemployed, or seeing their small businesses suffer due to shutdowns.
- And the America still getting paid is, so far, not showing a whole lot of sympathy for the America that isn’t.
...It’s no surprise that a major center of resistance to the shutdown has emerged in Michigan, whose
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has shown all the sensitivity of an angry third-grade teacher in administering a shutdown regime that often makes no sense — banning sales of seeds in stores that are open for other purposes, or allowing sailboating but banning powerboating.
Her response to the protests, a threat to extend shutdowns further, seems calculated to inflame things further..."
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