Perhaps. But the virus isn’t going away because we wear masks and stay 6 feet apart. It’s going to run its course. Protesting racism and police misconduct may (let’s hope) result in some progress in the right direction.
Take a look at this video, and ask yourself what is a greater threat to the future of our nation, people like this or the virus?
The pandemic is acute, police brutality and institutional racism are chronic. I picked racism as a more important problem because battling a disease is fairly straightforward and the end goal is clear and uncontroversial.
I reject the premise of the poll. The protests should continue, and other measures against covid should be strengthened/reimposed in those areas that improperly reopened or see an increase in cases.
First, the effects of racism and policy brutality are not as bad for you. Stop looking at this strictly as number of people killed or jobs lost, and consider how many people experience negative effects of racism every day. It’s a lot more than 113K.
Second, this comparison is ridiculous from the start (and that’s the fault of the OP’s premise, not you). If staying home from a protest means those 113K people wouldn’t die and those jobs wouldn’t be lost, then hell yes I’d stay home. But that’s not the choice before us. The fair comparison is what can I accomplish by staying home versus what can I accomplish by protesting, not “cure coronovirus or cure racism.”
Fair enough.
Sure, a lot more people experience racism on a given day than die of Covid-19 on that day, but death is a whole lot worse than experiencing racism.
I’m not sure I agree that’s a “fairer” comparison, if I’m understanding your point correctly. The side opposite yours seems to think that going out and protesting in large crowds is a public health matter, maybe a reckless and unacceptable risk for people of all walks of life getting sick. Why should they give a damn about “what you can accomplish”? It doesn’t seem to me to be relevant to their point of view.
Similarly, I thought the question “is this the best thing to do right now?” also carried with it an implicit assumption: that protesting now and protesting when the virus threat is over, however long that may be, are equivalent, and as we’ve already seen, there are arguments to the contrary.
This is why I decided to be blunt and let people interpret it as they would. I’ve certainly seen folks whose words made me wonder if they didn’t think that coronavirus was inherently more of a threat to life and limb than the police.
George Floyd (apparently) experienced racism. The guy serving twenty to life when he would’ve only served five if he were white experienced racism. Racism is not just lost jobs and getting yelled at.
Regardless, I think the results and discussion so far are really interesting. Keep it up!
What about the dreams and opportunities that are killed by racism? To be condemned to a life of poverty and little to no opportunities to advance yourself? To live in consent fear because of the color of your skin? Is that not a living death?
On rereading, my “ridiculous” comment came out different than I intended. It’s an interesting question and poll. Apologies for that.
But I think to answer it, what you can accomplish by your actions is the heart of the matter. These people can’t say that any possible action must be taken to prevent the spread, and whatever is accomplished by that action is irrelevant. I can reduce the spread of the virus by not buying groceries, but I can accomplish not starving to death by doing it. Likewise, it would be unfair for me to say these people must protest racism and police brutality, because I don’t give a damn what they can accomplish by staying home.
These things are tradeoffs. A risk/reward calculation must look at rewards too, not only risks.
I can’t speak for others, but I’d far prefer this “living death” over an actual, physical death.
I dare say that I have known, worked and friended more African-Americans than most here on this board and most really don’t think this way. Just my observation.
Then you have not been watching the news. What do you think they are marching about? It’s not about one man.
And you don’t know how many blacks friend I nor anyone else on this board has. As if that even mattered.
And what about the black people who will get the virus because they’ve been imprisoned by a massively racist law enforcement system? Or just die from the virus because America’s extreme racism amplifies the effect of the pandemic among non-whites?
This question artificially separates two issues that can’t be separated.
Can’t vote, False dilemma.
It’s not an either/or thing. Racism is a cause of death of many coronavirus victims, in that they were stuck in jobs where they couldn’t work from home or social distance or didn’t have access to decent health care. And that they have underlying problems like diabetes or obesity which makes them more likely to die.
However, while no one here expressed this opinion, anyone who thinks bars and churches should be open while protests are closed is being hypocritical. Out here protesters seem to mostly wear masks, since it is socially mandated.
I’m confused…are we supposed to be considering police brutality, or racism?
To those saying things like ‘it’s not either/or’ or ‘can’t vote, false dilemma’, I think you’re missing the point of the question. It’s not a poll to decide which one will be throw out, it’s simply asking which is a more important matter.
As for my own opinion, the reality of police brutality is far exceeded by the perception of protesters. Police brutality exists, but it is rare. Racially-motivated police brutality is even rarer, and statistically insignificant. Therefore, the answer is clear as day – coronavirus is a more pressing issue in USA and the world.
Because this is the SDMB:
Cite?
It is a round number estimate. Around 23 percent of Covid deaths in the US are black. If that percentage has held up, that’s 26 thousand deaths so far this year. If the percentage holds up and a second wave happens, it might be another 25 or 50 thousand black deaths by the end of the year. Unless police are killing blacks at a rate of 500 to 750 per year, Corona is winning the point score. (And if not, is killing more than the police in 50 years–for example–better?)
(To be clear, by a century I don’t mean from 1920 to 2020, I mean an average modern year, multiplied by 100.)
I would have liked a “slightly” left of centre option. In any event, I picked the pandemic option. Not even close, IMHO.