It's Not Going Back to Normal

We are doing ok. My husband and I both have jobs. I work at home. He goes in every day as an essential employee.  Our twins are protected as much as we can from this virus. We don't know if we need special precautions and we are not going to risk it.

So I get to spend a little extra time wondering why some folks want to open up businesses like YESTERDAY when it is not in the public health's interest to do so.

I can make the fundamental attribution error and claim that they are individually selfish assholes or I can look at the environment as say they are good righteous people and they are not being adequately supported during the pandemic. As a human, I make the first attributional error and think Jerks! As a professor, I take a breath and think about what is going on in our country that people can't survive in a health crisis and are willing to die (or cause someone else to die) to make money for themselves or someone else? Have you seen the latest about COVID-19 and premature births?  Heard about Boris Johnson's premature baby?

The environmental factors here in America:
We don't have adequate healthcare.
We don't have an adequate safety net.
Our tax dollars are going to support large corporations and not the small businesses that actually need the money.
Our tax dollars are not helping the people who actually paid the taxes.
Creative solutions like extending rent or home loans by three months on the back end of the lease or loan are not being created. (that I know of)
Where is the student loan forgiveness right now?
People cannot get the unemployment they have been promised because the staff cuts have left the agencies with no one to answer the phones.

The growing disparity between average income and the rich means that the working class in America needs to put their lives on the line so that the super rich's portfolio stays sound. Have you seen this about lobbyists' funding the Open Now protests?

For folks who arguing (even screaming) that there is no pandemic and this is not a real threat, you are wrong.  The facts and the science don't back you up.

It's ok to be angry that you are not being supported right now when you need it most.  You are NOT being supported right now when you need it most. 

But it's not going back to normal anytime soon.  It is magical thinking to believe that if the stay-at-home orders are opened your business will automatically start back where we left off and people will gather and laugh and interact and spend money like we did in February. That is not going to happen. We are not going back to a February type of living and thriving at any time soon.

So direct your anger where it ought to go:  You paid taxes. Who is benefiting from the taxes you paid? Why do executives at cruise lines, hotels, and large airlines need money right now when their employees and the owners of small businesses and the employees of small businesses need unemployment and healthcare benefits?

Karl Weick's advice to Trust and Doubt what you think you know as a truth in this world is a beneficial skill for everyone to develop.