This time none of us are sitting this one out which isn't something we've ever experienced. It would be difficult not to at least be aware if not concerned because people do have irrational and angry opinions. It can be about not maintaining social distance, people not covering their faces, race, how this will impact those with wealth or lack of wealth, a particular nation being responsible, politics, specific politicians, etc.
We've read and heard a great deal about everything COVID-19 related. Some people are as concerned if not more concerned about the precedents this setting and the implications of future government involvement in our lives. I'm grateful to the Tuggers who have posted about this because I'm not politically astute and need people like them to make me think about these things.
You can't watch the news, look at Facebook, read on TUG, etc. without almost everything being about COVID-19 in some way. Unfortunately the media has been influencing all of us. I know some people feel it's intentional, part of some big plan that the media is deliberately attempting to inflame and divide us. I don't know about any of that but it's not difficult to see the effect it's having. No matter what any elected official or appointed head says or does it's either too much, not enough, too late or whatever angle makes the best story in the news. If elected officials and appointed heads want to keep their positions they have to care about public opinion. I can say that I feel that how they are handling things is too much in reaction to the public opinion as formed by the media.
Look at Michigan. I don't think the media missed any possible aspect of fear mongering, spreading discord and distrust for the people living there. It may not have been deliberate but it certainly happened. I may be more aware of what has gone on in Michigan over the last several decades because of where I grew up and have family. The governor of Michigan recently issued some new very harsh restrictions. It seems she and her people are out of touch with the people who live there not to have foreseen that this was going to blow up in her face. We saw people carrying signs and protesting outside the state capitol building. Yes they were angry. Cities like Detroit have never recovered from the lost automotive industry jobs. What happened to those cities and how it effected and still effects the people living in them isn't a pretty story. It also hurt the whole state. Right now too many people in Michigan are all too aware of how close they are to being in the same economic situations that they have been witnessing other people being in for years. Michigan has been slowly improving and I'm sure people who live there don't want to see that progress lost. The pictures the media showed us were of white people protesting their governor's recent restrictions and the media worked race into the story. No argument or even comment from me about the COVID-19 statistics. I bring it up because this is Michigan and people of every color get concerned. It may have been 53 years ago but people in Michigan remember or if they aren't old enough to have been alive then have heard the stories of the Detroit race riots. If you don't know about it look it up. Detroit, Michigan, the summer of 1967, was one of the most violent, deadliest and most destructive urban revolts in the 20th century. Lastly people are being reminded of the Flint area water problem because this week the statute of limitations for trying the people responsible is coming up. Of course it's in their news and reminds people in Michigan that they have reason to distrust their elected and appointed officials. For 5 years the water in the Flint area was dangerously unsafe and the people living in that area were lied to about it.
