Officials insist, with complete justification, that it will take all of us to slow the spread. Maine Sen. Angus King has thought up a creative new expression for that team effort. Creative, though, doesn’t always mean good.
The senator wrote the top dogs of several streaming services, recognizing the “unique role that [their] companies play in providing content-based activities this holiday season,” and asked them to let people watch for free as an incentive to stay home rather than participate in holiday gatherings. “Content-based activity” sounds kind of formal, but it just means watching TV.
“I encourage you to temporarily remove any cost considerations for use of your services for current non-subscribers as a public service to who [sic] are seeking to remain safe and indoors this holiday season, as opposed to the risks involved as the nation sees a dramatic surge in pandemic cases,” King wrote. It’s a top-shelf idea encased in award-worthy prose, or something.
“We believe that your companies are in a unique position to help families cope with the effects of this health emergency on typical holiday traditions,” the letter continued. That strikes me as off-base, sad, and dystopian. Don’t go see your parents. Stay home and cope by streaming Disney+. Who knew that watching television alone could be good for your mental health and stop the spread?
It kind of puts the streaming companies in a weird position. King is basically panhandling them. Perhaps they will tell him they don’t have any cash. Or perhaps they will happily oblige. It might build their customer base. They could go on marketing their commitment to public health.
Either way, King’s idea promotes a really dangerous notion about handling loneliness. You don’t need a background in immunology to conclude that more streaming isn’t a serious stop-the-spread strategy. You also don’t have to be a virus denier to justify participating in holiday activities, which can be held in relative safety.
Dr. Anthony Fauci made the qualifying statement of the week. After saying that “this cannot be business as usual this Christmas,” he told Fox News in a subsequent interview, “I’m not saying that everyone should cancel the family gathering. I’m saying that people will need to make individual choices.”
That’s exactly right.
