or LOOKING BACK IN A PANDEMIC
I know that I am not alone. It’s all a little blurry looking back to life before covid. Heavy traffic, crowds, line-ups, actually seeing peoples faces even. Going to a concert, a movie, a mall or a festival was gone in a heartbeat last year and this one looking like more of the same at least for half of it.
There is a world of people hurting, confused, angry, denying, coping and for the most part, we’re getting by.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikToc and all the other social media sites have been our only connection to the world and family and friends. It’s also been the bane of our existence in some circumstances. Family members we rarely see physically are now shunning us, or we them, because of differences of viewpoints that we can no longer overcome with small talk. Loved ones are leaving because somehow our point of view makes it impossible to find any common ground anymore.
How did this happen? Why did it happen. Like a multi-car collision that just keeps building, it continues to create victims. Stopping the flow of false news is tough when no one seems to recognize what’s true or false anymore. Getting back to science, medicine and basic human dignity would help but a growing number of people have succumbed to the conspiracies drifting through social media like a tidal wave. There seems to be no common sense anymore. Some have a penchant for believing that maybe everyone is lying to them – so it’s easy to follow the bread crumbs and just fade into a world of fear, hate, and conspiracy. I don’t condone or pander to it. I have tried to have conversations but it’s difficult when everything we do revolves around the pandemic and they think it’s a hoax. There is no common ground any more.
Conspiracies have been around since man could speak and point. We need that ability to question what’s before us and freedom to say what we think. With that freedom comes great responsibility and consequence. If you say something that doesn’t really affect or hurt anyone directly, no problem. If you say something that defies science but still doesn’t really hurt or affect anyone directly, no problem, but now you’re bringing attention to yourself. If you say something that will affect people directly and cause them to put themselves in harms way, now you’re crossing a line. You will get attention, you can still say it, but now the consequences come in to play. Hate, racism, violence, threats are examples of speech that will get you in hot water.
Here’s a little pyramid to help you know where to draw the line and when you’ve stepped over it.