Certain members of the press who cheered the crowded, sweltering protests over the wrongful death of George Floyd have gone back to the well of shaming political opponents for failing to adhere to coronavirus social distancing standards.
Put more simply, now that the Floyd protests have died down a bit, many of the same people who applauded the massive anti-police brutality demonstrations, all while appearing to be totally indifferent to the loosening of lockdown restrictions, are back to using the pandemic as a cudgel against their enemies.
It is like they think no one remembers.
CBS News’s Alex Wagner, for example, remarked on Wednesday after the Trump campaign announced it would resume campaign rallies next week, “Someone should tell him there’s a pandemic spreading across the United States.”
Just a few days earlier, however, as Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts joined the Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., an enthusiastic Wagner cheered the show of solidarity, tweeting, “Can’t stop won’t stop.”
There are many more examples of this sort of thing, this sudden, renewed interest in endorsing social distancing guidelines, as cataloged by author Stephen Miller (no, not that Stephen Miller).
On June 4, the New York Times’s Nicholas Kristoff bragged that his 88-year-old mother, Jane, joined an “anti-racism protest” in which “hundreds turned out.” Six days later, Kristoff criticized Texas’s efforts to reopen, writing, “It’s deeply troubling – and a reflection of our governance problems – that Covid-19 is gaining ground in 20 states.” Hopefully, he has communicated his concerns to his octogenarian mother, who, by the way, is in the demographic most at risk for catching the virus.
Earlier, on June 1, Politico’s Jake Sherman attended outdoor rallies on Capitol Hill. He had no criticism or warnings for the protesters, many of whom did not wear masks. Days later, Sherman rediscovered that social distancing rules are very, very important after Vice President Mike Pence’s office tweeted (and then deleted) a photo showing staffers crowding together.
“Is this today?” he asked. “Is everyone standing shoulder to shoulder with no mask in an office?”
There is much more of this sort of thing from entire newsrooms.
National Public Radio, which sounded few, if any, public health warnings for the Floyd protests, wasted no time criticizing the announced Trump rallies for running contrary to the established social distancing guidelines.
“President Trump will hit the campaign trail this month — despite the deadly coronavirus pandemic, which continues to impact the lives and livelihoods of households across the country,” read a particularly scolding headline.
Politico, which was similarly silent on the coronavirus dangers posed by the protests, published a headline this week titled “Trump to restart MAGA rallies this month despite coronavirus.” And from NBC News: “Trump could resume rallies this month despite coronavirus concerns.” NBC published no similar headline for the demonstrations.
Some defend the double standard on display here, the one that says the Floyd protests are OK but Trump rallies are not, by arguing that the anti-police brutality demonstrations are necessary whereas political rallies are not. Others argue that the health risks posed by the Floyd protests are worth it because the demonstrations represent a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to address and right systemic wrongs.
All true.
And you know what else is true? The virus does not discriminate. It does not care whether your mass gathering is more righteous than another. If, as our elected officials claimed as they closed our churches, mosques, and synagogues, it is too dangerous for groups of 10 or more to convene, then it is too dangerous for groups of 10 or more to convene.
We were told to “flatten the curve.” We were told social distancing rules were necessary to save lives. We were told that we are all in this together. But then many of the same people who used shame and call-out culture to enforce these social distancing guidelines, the rules we were told were necessary to protect the most vulnerable among us, were not just OK with the loosening of the restrictions for the Floyd protests but actively cheered them.
Clearly, we are not all in this together.
The protests happened. Streets and cities clogged with hundreds and thousands of demonstrators cheered every inch of the way by many of the same people who previously ridiculed and attacked anyone who did not adhere strictly to the social distancing guidelines. And now that the protests are mostly over, many of these same cheerleaders in media have gone back to social distance-shaming, as if nothing happened over the past few weeks.
It is nice to see they care again about public health. It is just hard not to notice that their renewed interest in distancing coincides exactly with Republican activity.
