Lines, Q’s & Coups
With the holiday grub fest almost upon us, apparently America’s inner most gluttonous desires will not be deterred by a global pandemic, despite the CDC’s pleas urging people not to travel. Nope. 1.4 million people have hopped on a plane in the last few days right here in NYC. And God knows how many came in here from highly infected states this week. 2020’s holiday will likely be a national COVID superspreader event, making it less thankful and more thoughtless. With a sense of civic responsibility, I turned up at a Manhattan testing center on the eastside this week to get tested for COVID-19, so my family and I could hopefully spend Thanksgiving with my elderly in-laws in Queens. I’d stupidly read on some Facebook post that this spot only had a 30 minute wait, since it wasn’t an overrun testing centre like a CityMD site.
After freezing my balls off outside in a line for nearly six hours (I was completely underdressed for the cold and now at risk of getting the flu), I managed to get within five people from the front door, when a local hood rat, appearing out of nowhere, stepped right in front of me, and for some bizarre reason thought I’d be ok with that. Words were exchanged. The gist of it was I thought I was going to be stabbed, as our verbal back and forth angrily escalated. I also felt obligated to protect the 70 year old Spanish lady who was waiting behind me. Six hours of waiting instills a false sense of bravery and indignance. Luckily, I’m already at the hospital I thought if things get more out of hand. My luck held out and I managed to get him to move three people behind me. And remain stab free. (update: Negative).
The waiting got me thinking. If I’m honest, I’m not the most patient of people, particularly when it comes to my time. I’d first encountered it on a university trip to Russia back in the early 90’s. Gorbachev’s glasnost & perestroika had not quite eliminated lines.
In Moscow, if you saw a line you got on it. As far as the Russians were concerned, it didn’t matter what was at the end of it, but it must be good. If you were lucky, they’d still have whatever it was they were flogging when it was your turn. There were lines for everything, likely instilling a saintly patience in the Russian psyche. Not so for the rest of us.
Living in New York City, we expect everything quickly and efficiently. The joy of going into a deli, ordering a sandwich with four thousand things on it and having the deli guy make it and give it to you in 50 seconds is a sight to behold. When I tried this in Dublin, I’d either be waiting half an hour for the same thing or be thrown out for asking for too much. NYC – Fast walkers, fast deliveries – no lines. Things just felt easier pre-Covid.
Q’s
Now under COVID, I’m ruefully reminded of my trips to the Soviet Union all those years ago. The idea that the entire city would be lining up at test sites for on average of 6 hours to get tested is depressing. And hardly an incentive to get tested. Waiting in the neighborhood Trader Joe’s line can take up to an hour. Waiting to vote in lines up to three hours. Waiting for pharmacy pickups another line. Waiting to eat outside in a local restaurant more lines (although that’s great for restaurants in all fairness, having been decimated during the shutdown and now open with restrictions). And then there’s the sad depressing sight of people lining up at food banks. We have gone from being one of the fastest, most efficient cities in the world, to what feels like Russia under communist rule back in the 1980’s – long lines and bad times.
One major difference here is there appears to be no shortage of stuff for us to buy, just that the lines are longer and slower. But is social distancing to blame for all the long lines? I’m not sure. Not in the case of testing. As I’ve argued at the outset on this blog, short of an effective vaccine, without adequate testing and contract tracing it will be hard to contain the virus. That has not changed since March. As of writing, there are currently 12.6 million infected and 260,000 deaths. Many likely preventable had we had a coherent national response. Nearly 2,000 die each day. Imagine other generations who fought for freedom in world wars, endured greater pain and made sacrifices far worse than us, than having to wear a mask and socially distance? Seems unthinkable. Surely with an end in sight and a vaccine by early summer, we can cajole the population’s better angels into being couch potatoes and Netflix demons until then? I mean, who wants to die just as we get to the finish line?
Coups
Standing in those long lines has given me much time to dwell on America’s attempted coup these last two weeks. The breathtaking gall of “Stop the Steal” was a gaslighting on steroids. Whatever Trump accused anyone of, was in fact what he was doing himself. A tip of the hat to the sheer brazenness of it. This country is very fortunate that it was attempted by an inept president and a team of unhinged clown lawyers or as they called themselves “an elite strike force team” made up of a melting Rudy Giuliani, apparent QAnon conspiracy loon, Sidney Powell and a contemptible Jenna Ellis. And let’s not forget the shit show that was Four Seasons Landscaping.
I couldn’t help but think of the movie “The Death of Stalin” a black comedy gem by Armando Iannucci (Veep), the whole events surrounding Stalin’s death were so farcical that the movie only used some of the stories for fear no one would believe what they were watching was actually true. Drawing parallels to Trump’s lawyer, Sidney Powell, who alleges with a straight face I might add, that the dead Hugo Chavez, George Soros and Chinese communists orchestrated the greatest election fraud in history (they didn’t), that the votes were counted in Spain and Germany (they weren’t), mixed in with an overdose of Qanon conspiracies, will be one for the ages. In fact, forty years from now when Hollywood makes “that” movie, people will be rolling in the aisles from laughter. And then shocked to find it’s all true. The last four years, preserved for history.
In the hands of a smarter person we may have faced a worse outcome. Which is why I believe a number of things need to change. Firstly, social studies & civics need to be front and center in school and adult life. Clearly half the country does not understand how elections or governance is supposed to work. Just as disturbing, 70% of polled Republicans believe there was fraud or that the election was rigged. (There was zero evidence presented to the courts allegeding fraud, and even if there was, it was never going to be on a scale enough to sway the election).
Secondly, in order for this to never to happen again, laws should be strengthened to protect the gaps that were so clearly exposed during this election. There should be investigations (and prosecutions, if warranted), as a signal to future usurpers. And if we learned anything, it’s that Democracy should never be taken for granted. And lastly, social media takes the lion’s share of disseminating false information and giving voice to crazy on equal terms to trusted news sources. That crazy is then amplified by algorithms that serve those same people more insane conspiracies over time, letting the rot and brainwashing seep in. I know well educated people who I respected fall for this. It’s alarming to watch. The bigger question now is what does one do about that? A thought for another day perhaps.
In the meantime, let’s give ourselves a break this holiday season and make it a lighthearted holiday that gives thanks to our health and to being alive while we look forward to an end to this pandemic by summer. Happy Thanksgiving!
