As of today, over 210,000 people in America have died from the effects of Covid-19, and more than 7 million have been infected. These are profoundly sad numbers precisely because they are much more than numbers. Each one represents an individual person. Each one of those 210,000 had dreams of building a life, developing relationships, doing meaningful work, raising a family — or for the many elderly victims, of completing a well-lived life with dignity, and in the presence of family. All this has been taken away.
The deaths alone are tragic, but to truly understand those tragedies we would need to understand the depths of pain experienced by the families and friends left behind. For these people, the pain is multiplied when they realize that many of their losses could easily have been prevented.
And now, we have an infected president who seems to recognize only the number One. This, of course, is nothing new for him. Instead of an epiphany, an awakening, a teachable moment for the nation, we only see more of the same: a hideous facade of strength covering the bones of victimhood and meanness. We are already seeing the emergence of a “spin” so Orwellian and dangerous that it threatens to multiply the suffering and pain in Trump’s America by another huge and preventable factor.
Here is the false logic that first began to appear yesterday. It goes something like this: President Trump got infected by the virus in spite of the herculean precautions that he and the rest of the White House have taken; if he can become infected in spite of these extraordinary measures, then the measures themselves are suspect; in fact, the argument concludes, we should relax the restrictions that our country labors under because they are doing nothing but bringing down the economy; they are not protecting us.
Of course this argument is blindingly easy to refute with one simple question: what “extraordinary measures” are these, exactly? The refusal to wear masks to protect (primarily) those around us? The obvious lack of distancing at gatherings like the Judge Barrett celebration at the White House or the indoor and outdoor rallies which have continued unabated? The insistence upon attending events even after known exposure?
1984 has arrived late, but it is finally here in force. A shockingly large percentage of our population seems quite happy to believe that black is white, truths are lies, and lies are truth. The upcoming election is an important remedy for our sad situation, but it will only be a start. It may take years, or even decades, to undo the deep and fundamental damage that this president and his followers have done. But start we must.