We're Losing Our Humanity, and the Pandemic Is to Blame

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Sarah Smith
@sarahesmith23
A pregnant woman asked her colleague to don a mask because she was afraid of what COVID could do to her baby.

Her colleague said: I’m not worried about it.

My first @ProPublica story is about how we’ve treated each other through a 19-month pandemic.

We’re Losing Our Humanity, and the Pandemic Is to Blame
“What the hell is happening? I feel like we are living on another planet. I don’t recognize anyone anymore.”
propublica.org
4:56 AM · Oct 7, 2021

https://www.propublica.org/article/were-losing-our-humanity-and-the-pandemic-is-to-blame


Kurt Thigpen clenched his hands around the edge of the table because if he couldn’t feel the sharp edges digging into his palms, he would have to think about how hard his heart was beating. He was grateful that his mask hid his expression. He hoped that no one could see him sweat.

A woman approached the lectern in the center aisle, a thick American flag scarf looped around her neck.

“Do you realize the mask, the CDC said it’s only 2% effective?” she demanded. “You’re failing our children, you’re failing our country, you’re failing our students’ future ….”

Thigpen fixed his eyes on a spot in the back of the blue-and-green auditorium. He let the person speaking at the lectern fade. It will be over soon, he told himself.

A dark-haired woman in a red vest removed her face shield as she moved to take her turn at the mic. As she began to speak, the school board employee responsible for queuing up public commenters interrupted: “Ma’am, I’m gonna have to ask you to please keep your shield on —”

*snip*

[PSPS]

1. "The pandemic?" Hardly. It's the MAGA and trump's decision to make it part of their culture war.

[Sherman A1]

3. MAGAs, Hardly

This was going on long before Trump Bear and his playmates cobbled together their program. They exploited the divisions in society, they didn't create them.... They are simply not that bright.

[lagomorph777]

2. No, Republicans are to blame.

They have deliberately exploited and amplified the evil tendencies which were already prominent in most Republicans.

[Walleye]

5. And deliberately destroyed public education

[marie999]

36. Republicans are doing what many Americans want them to do.

Hitler blamed the depression on the Jews and the German people agreed with him. And it wasn't just the Germans. They didn't have any problem finding Polish people to work in the concentration camps and the French helped them round up Jewish people living in France. In WWII we put American citizens of Japanese ancestry in camps and Americans agreed with it but did not arrest Germans living in this country. We didn't destroy fascism in WWII. This is a never-ending war between good and evil. Genocide is even considered a holy thing in the Old Testament. Look at the Protestant Reformation, Protestants and Catholics killing each other. I don't even know how many wars are being fought right now in the world. Yes, I have a very low opinion of humans in general.

[Lovie777]

4. No, shithole, hate tv and radio and the republicans are the blame . ..

[sanatanadharma]

6. When some among USa justified Bush's torture...

When some among USa justified Bush's torture, the lack of humanity among some of USa was obvious.
That 'team' has become more deplorable over time.

[Irish_Dem]

7. The pandemic crisis just revealed what was already there.

[Wingus Dingus]

12. This, yep.

[GoCubsGo]

13. Yep. People have been shitty to each other since the first settlers arrived on this continent.

What we're seeing now is nothing new. Far from it.

[Effete Snob]

15. Are you suggesting that slaveholding white men have been less than kind in the past?

Yeah, this "OMG, people suddenly got mean" thing is kind of late to the scene.

[XanaDUer2]

24. This. Nt

[Ka-Dinh Oy]

8. I blame trump and his criminal followers.

They made COVID into a major pandemic.

[Phoenix61]

9. It started with Rush and am hate radio.

Fox amplified the message and businesses around the country freely promoted it by playing the station 24/7. Throw in the personification of it all, Twitler, and here we are. The pandemic doesn’t have thing to do with it.

[electric_blue68]

30. It really got ramped up, and spread via 🤬 Rushbo & Co...

Then 🤬🤬 drumph "Federalized" it.

[Solly Mack]

10. I think the pandemic is exposing more of what already existed.

I think Trump did as well. He fed it and nurtured it. He still is feeding it and nurturing it. As are many in Congress who embrace the madness. Same with certain media outlets and pundits.

But this fear and ignorance already existed - and it is fear and ignorance. Fear and ignorance can make a person mean. Can make groups of people mean and hateful.

They're human. Just not very nice humans. And they have people with power who validate their fear and ignorance for their own purposes. They need to keep it fed.

They have feelings and concerns but their fear and ignorance prevents them from understanding the world isn't out to get them simply because the world is changing. Their fear and ignorance causes them to blame the wrong people for their problems and to lash out in completely inappropriate ways.

They build a reality in their minds they can feel safe in and anything, everything, and everyone who threatens that reality must be stopped.

Even when they present no threat at all because for those who live in fear and ignorance, not being just like them is the biggest threat of all.

[Effete Snob]

17. Ya think?

You're not pining for those kind days of yesteryear?









Someone was rude at a school board meeting! Oh my, what have we become!

Some of the wrong people are on the receiving end of what's been dished up in this country to many for a long time.

[Solly Mack]

19. I think it's more than simply a case of someone being rude - there's rude behavior and then there's

behavior indicative of something truly ugly behind the words and actions.

I do agree that the ugly in America has plenty of examples and our history shows it.

If you click on my sig-line link you'll see more of what I think.

It's a link to the Salon expose on Abu Ghraib.

The comment, "Shared narrative of deceptions and delusions delivered in good faith", is my way of saying America agreed on a false narrative to explain away its war crimes (fear, DOJ said it was legal, didn't go beyond the memos, shit happens, more or less).

Based on a comment from a politician at the time who said we had to agree on a narrative about America's actions under Bush.

[MiHale]

20. Bingo Solly Mack, well said...nt

[GETTINGTIRED]

11. fools long before.

there are other folks that face greater stress than those brought on by the pandemic, and those folks don't have a choice and they carry themselves with dignity and fortitude everyday,
if asking someone to help protect themselves and others by wearing a mask causes folks to act a fool they were fools long before.
the pandemic just as trump gave folks a gateway to show their true ugly nature.

[Crunchy Frog]

14. We were losing our humanity long before the pandemic.

The pandemic is just throwing it into sharp relief.

[Effete Snob]

16. Can someone remind me in what year we hit "peak humanity"?

When, narrowed down to a particular year, was the pinnacle of the US generally being a place overfilled with kindhearted people overflowing with goodness?

[Caliman73]

18. The pandemic is not to blame, All Media is.

There are certainly gradients of blame here with Right Wing propaganda AND politicians who spout it it in the first place being those with the most blame. However, to just pin this on right wingers is not getting to the core of the story. All media, operating on the profit motive in the Capitalist system, is to blame.

I am not touting Marxism here. Lord knows that the application of Marxism in actual society has lead to poor results. One of the critiques of Capitalism from Marxist point of view however, is the alienation of labor, or laborers from their work, from each other, and from community. The competition pits people against each other and the promotion of scarcity promotes the idea of selfishness. There are certainly finite resources, but what I am talking about is money. People compete for access to money. Media competes to bring the "latest" most sensational news and they drive the narratives that we see.

Right wing guilt is obvious. They plain and simply lie, all the time. Mainstream media, while attempting to be objective, rarely is. They push what sells. If it isn't sensational, don't flat out lie, but make it sensational. Instead of reporting how Republicans are pushing for policies that put economic gains over public safety, make it about how Democrats and Republicans are FIGHTING about policies.

This "us v. them" mentality has been promoted by both right wing and mainstream media outlets to the point that we do fail to see the humanity in each other.

[Initech]

21. It's not the pandemic. It's Facebook.

Facebook was supposed to unite us. Instead it's had the opposite effect - it's made us more divided than ever. People live in their own bubbles and get propaganda thrown at them 24 hours a day, which has made them become radicalized and very weird. And you can almost instantly tell what side people are on by what talking points they begin spewing - and most are either from Fox News or far right sources on Facebook.

[stillcool]

22. None so blind. The pandemic is not to blame

what is to "blame", is the breakdown of a society based on lies. To this moment in time, I am incredulous at what people in this country do, think, and say. I got involved in politics to understand my own life. How politics shaped the world and the people in it. Not to blame, but to follow the cause and effect, after effect, after effect that led to Here. I know my birds-eye view is unique, as is that of us all. The problem, or 'blame' I see, is the complete obfuscation of truth.

[Biophilic]

23. No, we are not losing our humanity.

A small, vocal and violent group within our country (and also within other countries) are acting out and hurting themselves and others, but most of us are NOT losing our humanity. Every day I see acts of kindness and courtesy to both friends and strangers. Do not believe this lie. I'm beginning to think that articles like this are plants to get us all to question each other and our motives. We are NOT losing our humanity, by golly.

[leftstreet]

29. +1

This should be an OP

[traitorsgalore]

25. Did grocery pickup today, maskholes going in and out and I thought "germ warfare"

Going to a Wegman's store, even though I don't go in and do curbside pickup instead, is like going into a germ warfare battle. Multiple pandemic soldiers and variant breeders opening fire on everyone, is what I thought. Less alarming but still horrible, I thought of all the disease-spreading, filthy, self-loathing, stupid-as-fuck, selfish pseudo-murderers that couldn't give a shit about how many lives they're endangering.

That's just going to a store! We have lost our humanity. Those covidiot maskholes shouldn't be allowed anywhere indoors that is as crowded as a grocery store. There's no enforcement of mask policies, just an acceptance that it's your decision to go in and expose yourself to germ warfare because stores have to make money, period.

Our lives are meaningless, money is all that matters in our covicidal culture of death.

[irisblue]

33. Enjoy your tombstone pizza DUZombies.

[irisblue]

35. The assholes are out today

[Elessar Zappa]

26. People haven't changed.

Humanity has always been filled with assholes. Look at how black people and other minorities (and women) have been treated for the entirety of this country’s history.

[dalton99a]

27. Proof that many people are irredeemable trash

Dangerous irredeemable trash

[I_UndergroundPanther]

28. The people with

Dark triad personalities are to blame.

And these abusive toxic manipulating pieces of shit in human suits are more numerous than you'd think.

They suck at being human.

They are evil hearted monsters.

[electric_blue68]

31. I agree w Biophilic - Still MORE Kind People than not...

🤔
Dark Triad, and lesser versions types have always been around. They often do get amplified by modern news, and social platforms. TFG certainty give them "permission" to really get out there.

Then there's the "if it bleeds, it leads" adage.

Anyway, I see kindness, and consideration often in my
big ole 💖 NYC. I've the giver of, and receipiant of such

Look at the kindnesses often shown right here on DU.

[SunImp]

34. People who are super loyal to their teams are cancer