Diary 29

Diary 29

Thursday, April 16th

Today brought the somewhat bizarre news that right wing groups in Michigan (and other places) had mounted protests demanding to, quote, “End the Lockdown”. Many of these individuals were heavily armed, none seemed to have masks and very few had gloves. None were practicing social distancing.

I am not sure what to make of this. Truly. Do they think that just because they say so something becomes fact? I’m keenly aware that had most of these people been black there is a strong possibility that there would have been a shootout. But I saw only white faces and very few women.  Several were carrying Trump/Pence placards, at least in the press pictures. 

This seems to me to be a classic case of some folks not knowing what’s good for them.

With 658,000 confirmed severe cases and 32,000 deaths (an extra 3800 today alone) in the US so far, I wonder what it is that they, or I, am missing.

But I think there’s something to be learned here. I’d suggest that, in times of stress, people tend to do somewhat bizarre things. Carrying an AK-47 in a protest against a fact of nature (a virus) is not an entirely logical response. It’s like shaking your fist at storm clouds.

We must all watch out for things like this. We must watch for our own slightly odd responses, and ask what we are doing, what we’re expecting. It’s easy to condemn others, and yet their frustration is real. So is ours.