Lessons Learned During the Pandemic
(so far)
There are three tenets that serve me
well when talking about political or societal matters. First, it is better to try
to learn as opposed to trying to win at a debate. In life, people rarely ‘win’
at a debate, one person may have more evidence, another may be more eloquent,
but it doesn’t really matter as we generally change our opinions in inches, not
miles. My time is better served trying to learn and grow than trying to find
some sort of angle that will “reveal the truth” to anyone I disagree with.
Second, there are multiple truths. I
don’t mean different opinions (of which there are many as well), but important
political and societal issues affect us differently. What is a burden to one
person may very well be salvation to another. What is important to one is
trivial to another. What is loud to one person is quiet and distant to someone
further away from the source. Our individual perspectives hold valid,
legitimate truth, but not an all-encompassing, universal Truth.
Third, even the best, most inclusive,
most well-thought-out solution will almost certainly harm someone who doesn’t
deserve it. By harm I don’t necessarily mean physical damage (though am not
excluding it), but whether it’s an increase in taxes, cutting a struggling
program, or building a new road, someone will likely be worse off for it. It is
up to us how many it is, who those people are, and how deeply they are
adversely affected.
So it is with this pandemic, where I’ve
been trying to learn, I see how it affects people very differently, and how
there are no solutions that don’t have serious negative repercussions along
with the good. To the first point of learning, here are a few of the insights I’ve
had recently:
Privilege is not Static and Rigid,
but Dynamic and Fluid
Privilege has been on my mind a lot.
As a cisgender, white, male, in my 30s, extroverted, well-educated, etc., etc. who
is both taking classes to obtain a Masters in Humanities (social justice track)
and is in a cross-cultural marriage, I’m facing new situations and
understandings to how so much of society from language, to careers, to even talks
of diversity favor me.
The pandemic is not some old truth,
it is not an always-existing privilege that I’m able to stay at home and still
get a paycheck while so many others have lost jobs, been furloughed, are told
they are essential and must put themselves at risk with comparatively little
pay. It is a new reality we live in, the privileges I have are taking on a new
form, are dynamic and fluid in a changing economy and society. My wife and I
are able to take this time to save a little more, get a little closer to
meeting our financial goals and eventually get out of the rat race while many,
many more are facing burdens that will take months or years to just catch up to
where they were at the start of the year let alone achieve their long term
financial hopes.
I can only guess then that if my
privilege has adjusted itself to the times, so too must disadvantage and
prejudice be equally flexible in exploiting the vulnerability of others.
Feminism is on Hold, Bigotry is Not
As part of my new graduate program, I’ve
started a monthly blog series with a professional organization for local
governments. I work in local government, and my series takes the most relevant
lessons I learn and applies it to our industry. Just as my third post, one
covering some elements of feminism, was about to be posted, it got put on hold
for COVID-19 resources. It’s understandable, and I agree that at the moment
there are many other pressing matters.
Still, when my feminist class met
again through Zoom, and I made the joke that “feminism was on hold”, though it
earned some laughs it also highlighted a deep problem. Women (and other
disadvantaged groups) have been, are, and will be, more adversely affected by
the economic fallout on average, but we are too busy scrambling for ventilators
and trying to hold up what businesses we can that I’m unsure if we can also pay
attention to any nuance of which businesses, which workers, which regions get
resources and which do not.
Bigotry is not staying silent. There
is no pause, no self-reflection, no sense of shame to take the time to wrongly
target Asian-Americans as plague carriers. There is no pause button to try to
turn people’s fears, uncertainties, frustration towards minorities in explicit
and implicit ways. Those of us who see ourselves as better, as more enlightened,
act within a set of rules that restrain us and hold us back in a way that hate
is liberated from.
And admittedly, I was given an option
to make another professional blog post about social justice if it related to
the pandemic. I opted not to, as I have no real knowledge or insights into the
pandemic itself more than the next person. I felt doing so would be unearned
and half-assed compared to what I’ve written before and will write after. I do
question this decision though, if it isn’t better to clumsily promote equity if
it can make some positive difference compared to holding off for weeks, even
months to do things the “right way” while bigotry presses onward.
Fragility of our Economy, our Institutions
I can’t help but marvel how terribly
fragile our economy and institutions are after having witnessed the 2008
recession and now this. It seems to me from my amateur perspective is that the
genius of Wall Street isn’t that it is built upon a solid foundation of
knowledge and wisdom, but that it has now been saved twice with hundreds of billions
of dollars with few to no strings attached while the poorest among us must show
proof to prove they’re not abusing welfare. I can’t say I can completely blame
them if they don’t change much after all is said and done, as there appears to
be few if any real consequences for them to seek short term wealth over long
term stability.
Our hospitals are overburdened, our
grocery stores trying to keep up with demand, our political divides showing old
scars and developing new ones by the day. Yet, the biggest trouble I’m seeing is
most of us appear to only be further convinced that we’ve been right all along.
These times are definitive proof to the socialist that the private healthcare
industry has failed and we need a stronger centralized government. The
libertarian is vindicated that government will use any excuse to expand its power,
and now more than ever we need to be self-sufficient. New York is a testament
to the failing of Democrats. The federal response is proof to the inability of
Republicans. Our narratives seem not to challenge us, but reaffirm us in these
troubled times.
I see the sentiment of a “new normal”,
of “times changing”, and though I believe it on the surface level that some
things will be unfamiliar, I’m unconvinced there’s going to be a change in our
mindsets enough to do any different when the next challenge comes.
A Question of Urgency
My activism is a relaxed, privileged
one. I do take pride in taking the time to study and learn theories, practices,
etc. in equity, and then sharing it with professionals in my field. I honestly
believe there’s a lot of value and good in it. However, I’m under no illusion I’m
not also benefiting from the rewards of another degree or getting my name out,
that any “sacrifice” in time or money is better defined as an “investment” for
what I can already afford with little to no risk. The plan has been to take
things slow and steady, to month by month share another thought, another idea
and see what, who, and how it takes hold, to observe what change happens and
what opportunities present themselves.
Seeing my small part get postponed,
watching as systemic and overt inequalities reshape our country and world (or “redistribute
the wealth” if you will) so rapidly makes me feel like I’ve showed up to play
ball after everyone’s already played and gone home. I’m left stuttering, “Wait,
just give it a few years then I’ll be all good to go,” as crickets chirp back.
I have a sense of urgency, yet no real direction to take it in yet, and frankly
should be staying at home doing my part in social distancing anyways.
I have no good answers to this last
one yet, only for now to accept the urgency and to admit that there are holes
in my big plan that I can’t readily ignore.
-
To any who read this, I do wish the
best. That I’m able to take this time to reflect deeper into my position, my
beliefs, my options is a sign of how I’m sheltered from the worst (and many of
the lesser problems) of the pandemic, have the freedom and time to do this. My
silver lining, my hope is that enough of us will learn to do better tomorrow. We
will see whether or not it happens.
