Is the Grind Worth It?
- fionacsweet
- May 18, 2020
- 2 min read
As some states start easing restrictions more broadly than others, people are getting more and more frustrated as they do not see the progress they feel their state should be making. These frustrations have led to large protests in places such as Lansing, Michigan and San Diego, California, with the media widely condemning them for the obvious danger associated with large groups and no masks. Trump has publicly stated his support for the protests, citing that the people protesting were great people that simply love their country.
Interestingly, the most recent protest was broadcast on Fox and Friends. The owner of a gym in New Jersey pushed its reopening when no public places were yet open except for curbside pickup or delivery. The group of people were mostly wearing pro-Trump attire and holding signs that said things like “My freedom doesn’t end where your fear begins.”
The gym co-owners Ian Smith and Frank Trumbetti told the Fox News reporter on the scene (Pete Hegseth) that the crowd was following all social distancing guidelines. Unfortunately, this was not true. While the two owners were wearing masks, the majority of the crowd (including the reporter) were not and stayed much closer than six feet to each other. Hegseth is known as one of the more heavily conservative Fox News reporters, and has been heard saying that "healthy people" should "have some courage" and attempt to get COVID-19 to build "herd immunity." He called this protest "the definition of responsible civil disobedience" despite the fact that many of the crowd was obviously disobeying social distancing guidelines.
Now, here is my take on it. I get that people want to get back to grind season. I get that everyone wants that summer body. But to be honest here, if the people of America keep pulling stunts like this, we will have no opportunity to show off our perfectly sculpted summer bods. We will have no summer whatsoever. I think that Fox and Friends encouraging this type of bad behavior that goes against our government's guidelines is in bad taste. I want things to open up; I personally miss being able to go to movies, but my disappointment at not being able to see a movie on a gigantic screen is not so soul-crushing to me that I feel the need to protest for it.
The main problem that I have with protesters wanting their "freedom" is that it comes at a heavy cost. That cost is to those around them. Wearing a mask protects others, it's not for your own protection. Freedom always comes with a cost. In this case, the cost could be thousands of preventable COVID-19 deaths. We must ask ourselves questions such as, "Does my muscle matter more than people dying?"
You cannot be truly free until everyone around you is as well. Cuomo says it best:
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