The coronavirus, similar to the 1918 flu pandemic that U.S. propaganda and blame game tactics dubbed the "Spanish flu", is just another flu pandemic. People have grown so accustomed to the evasion of serious discourse and the inevitable, that the idea of people dying during a pandemic incites fear. The 1918 flu pandemic lasting from January 1918– December 1920, infected more than 500 million people. The timing in the nation could not have been worse, less than a month after the bloody close of WWI, this influenza claimed more lives than on the battlefield at 50 million (potentially more) worldwide with at least 675,000 of these deaths occurring in the U.S. In fact, more people died in a single year from the influenza than in the fours years comprising the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347–1351. The 1918 flu pandemic was a global disaster.
This isn't the first time the U.S. has dealt with a flu pandemic. Case and point, the 2009 H1N1 virus. While the corona virus is being linked to a different family of viruses than the 2009 flu pandemic, the underlying principles remain and people should take comfort in the fact that a little common sense, in addition to taking appropriate health precautions will decrease a person's overall likelihood of contracting the virus. It is extremely disheartening to see people emotionally distorted and giving credence to the media's fearmongering. The truth is, plagues are caused by people not living in harmony with the world around us. For example, animals have been the primary scapegoats for these global catastrophes. According to the CDC, the 1918 pandemic was caused by birds, in 2009 pigs were implicated in the cases of H1N1 infections, and bats are allegedly to blame for the most recent viral outbreak of 2020. While I do not have a background in science beyond a fond curiosity for this branch from the tree of knowledge, one thing is certain: Irrespective of whether these diseases originated in animals, they are forms of zoonosis, meaning animal diseases that are communicable to humans. We are the beasts who dehumanize, and fight with so-called monsters, when we are in fact behaving as monsters.
Thus, by destroying so many animals' natural habitats, senselessly slaughtering or housing animals in the most inhumane ways imaginable with supermarket shoppers blissfully ignorant of how the meat made its way to their tables, and the large amount of fast-moving people now on Earth, the transmission and resurfacing of diseases should come as no surprise. Rather than fret over the recent spread of the coronavirus, recognize it for what it actually is: Another pandemic and signaling to human-beings that y'all ain't living right. While it's uncomfortable to admit the devil in the mirror may appear to look a lot like you, this is a unique time on this planet. This virus represents a pivotal time in our society beckoning us toward positive change if we seize the moment to make it so. There has been a revival in the simplistic, a renewed love for being outdoors, and an amazing uptick in generosity. They say there is nothing new under the sun, and history has proven that crises are societal vehicles for change. Let this time remind us that the government CAN and SHOULD do more for the American people moving forward. We need to hold them accountable for climate change, one of the contributing factors to the spread of the virus.
Let there be less political polarization because this divisiveness is what has led us down this path in the first place. The societal chain is only as strong as its weakest links and right now, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, we have an extremely frail, irresolute chain. It is comprised of people who've brought into the false ideology of individualism and being able to pull oneself up by the bootstraps without stopping to think about the fact that manufacturer defects are possible, and some people's boots have been issued without straps. Particularly, Black Americans and how we have been the societal scapegoats since this country was founded. Yet, Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't assassinated until he had a universal message that resonated with ALL Americans: Not only is he a civil rights hero, but he also demanded worker's right for ALL. This isn't a Black and White issue, it's an evil, inhumane thing to ignore the pain and suffering of any segment of the population. And, irrespective of race, the fact of the matter is, America at large is okay with a segments of the population not having access to the things that once made America great. The elderly are vulnerable, college graduates coming out with exorbitant amounts of debt are vulnerable, poor people are vulnerable, prostitutes are vulnerable, and the list of disadvantaged peoples just goes on and on...
The one thing that these groups don't have in common is a race or ethnicity because while Blacks are disproportionately part of all of these groups, the vulnerabilities that all of the aforementioned groups experience transcend racial lines. WE MUST STOP FIGHTING AMONGST OURSELVES. This is what the ruling classes clink their wines glasses together to everyday, the sound of discord among the common people. If we want to be honest, certain groups of people in this country have been practicing social distancing through segregation and societal devaluation. We confine society's elders to senior homes, we throw our mentally ill into prisons, we lock our poor up into debtor prisons, we ostracize our troubled youth, and we displace people of color onto the outskirts of the city after confining them there for such a long period of time. Migrating people in and out of poverty, and this corona virus is only creating momentum for more inequality ahead unless something is done about it. This is a time for reform and I hope this time has shown us that we are not immune from catastrophe and perhaps we will finally awake from a place of complacency and fear to see this time in our history as a time for radical change, a break from the rules, and new view on what is actually possible for the world at large.
#COVID19 #Equality #USA #SanDiego #California #LGBT #Black #EqualRights
