Within the next two weeks, people will anxiously be waiting to see if anyone from yesterday’s protest at the governor’s mansion gets sick. Most are hoping no one does even if they disagree with the protesters’ politics. Some though, at least online, appear hopeful that illness breaks out among the people who attended so they can be the first person on social media to say, “I told you so.”
Even before I got home yesterday, social media blew up like a virtual case of TNT over the Re-open Indiana protest in front of the governor’s mansion. Many small business owners and citizens weary of what they consider to be government overreach took to the streets to show their anger and frustration with what they claim is a failed definition of what it means to be essential.
Too bad somebody didn’t get some sidewalk chalk and mark out spots on the ground for where everyone should stand during the protest. That alone would have added a few blocks length to their size and showed the general public at least a modicum of social responsibility. Instead, it was a free for all where some people took precautions and others didn’t.
Hunkered down at home, many watching online took to social media convinced that the protesters would soon find themselves ill, and/or quite possibly dead, and/or responsible for the death of countless others. Anger over what was considered to be the protesters’ selfishness was intense and in high volume.
Not everyone online was angry. Some were giddy with excitement about thinning the herd. They’ve hated these people for a while and anything that speeds up their demise is welcomed and appreciated with open arms. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a death pool going around in some circles since yesterday. For would be players, it is simply a numbers game, Darwinism at work.
While the protesters did make some valid and even solid points, they lost a lot of support yesterday with the way they went about expressing themselves and exercising their liberties. For people who probably exercise that freedom responsibly most of the time in every other situation (give or take), I can’t understand why someone didn’t think this through a little better. In fact, it was so poorly planned that it seems designed to highly politicize the Covid-19 pandemic and create maximum partisanship. Thus, the divisive nature of the protest yesterday was a like a lot of others I’ve covered.
Many people, no matter their politics, want to support local business. If all the small business owners attending the protest had shown some sort of respect for the general public’s fear and legitimate concern, they would have gained a lot more support. Instead, we’re right back where we’ve been since before Covid-19 and are as partisan as ever with variables of fear and death heightened reaching extreme levels.
Ironically, coming up with a plan to get back to work is allegedly what the Governor was up to at the State House while protesters were haphazardly gathered on Meridian Street. It appears we may gradually phase back to work starting in May, but the pandemic is still a moving target hard to pin down precisely. Any plans to get back to work are, and will, remain in flux for the time being.
I’m not sure where the world is going to end up on the other side of this pandemic. All I know for sure is that I exist in this moment right now. I’m trying to understand everyone’s point of view, but a lot of people are making that really more difficult than it should be. It’s a good thing I can still skate the stress away.
Good health and divine prosperity to you all.
