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How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right
(www.theatlantic.com)
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this post was submitted on 20 Feb 2025
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I can only judge based on my own self and the people around me. Before the lockdown, I was pretty far on the left. I voted Stein in 16 after Bernie got (inevitably) screwed by the DNC. And I have to admit, Trump 1 wasn't a bad time for me economically. But the actual shift happened during the lockdown.
I'm in NJ. I found myself abruptly unable to live my life, unable to see my friends, unable to do anything but live in fear - not of a virus or deaths, but of the laws put in place by Democrats - specifically Phil Murphy. I had a friend die with COVID-19, so I wasn't untouched. But I was unable to mourn that friend because we couldn't hold a wake for him for three years. I didn't have a chance to process what I was feeling, because I was being told that I should be afraid of being next - even though unlike him, I haven't had multiple strokes or a heart attack. I also saw my friends who were teachers be unable to teach properly, denied the ability to do anyone hands-on or stop students from losing focus. Most of.my friends who were teachers before 2021 have changed jobs because it was so disheartening. And when the teachers wanted to go back to the classroom, it was the Union that refused, and who influenced the governor and his people, rather than real classroom teachers.
All I saw was the policy of the Democrats trapping me at every turn. So my feelings turned otherwise. And I still say, no one who claims to be Democrat or caucuses with Democrats will every get my vote or my donation again. I don't care what happens otherwise. I can't hurt them the way I was hurt. But I can do that one thing. So I will. I can't change the massive wealth transfer that happened because the normal people were trapped like animals in cages. But I can vote against the people who put us in the cages. It's a totally worthless gesture, but it's the one that is mine to make. After all, if voting mattered, you and I wouldn't be allowed to do it.
I expect that younger people see the same thing. Their lives were put on pause, their education was stunted, and their few years of freedom were curtailed by Democrats and the American Progressive Left. Why should you support the people who hurt you?
A virus hurt us all and it wasn't one political party or another. Right off the top, making the connections you have made and expressed is simply bizarre.
I never felt trapped by policy or weird restrictions. I felt trapped because I had to do what I had to do to prevent getting sick and spreading COVID and not hurting my own family even more.
Your story sucks, for sure. Most of us all lost friends and family, so a lot of us get it.
How you were able to wrap politics into it like you did was beyond me though. You do know how any virus spreads, right? It's simple proximity to each other. This was discovered years before COVID and separation is an effective measure to prevent getting more people sick.
I am sure you are a great person and all, but I haven't heard a viewpoint so skewed since I was tracking Russian troll farms on Twitter.
The virus isn't a conscious force that shut businesses down, stopped mass transit, discouraged or outright banned local economy, or closed schools. That's the government. It's up to each person to make the choices they see fit for themselves, their loved ones, and their community. The Democrat-run government stripped us of the right to make our own choices. They trapped people in their homes.
The policies put in place are the problem. The virus just existed.
If it's your right and your choice to become a biological weapon and spread a lethal virus amongst the public, then it's my right to put a bullet in you to save everyone around you.
This is not a path you really want to go down
If I was still in the state of mind that I was in during that time, you would have been doing us both a favor. I'm only recovering now, and engaging over it is pushing me backwards.
I have a feeling this is going to go into conspiracy theory territory really quick and that was probably the dumbest grouping of words I have read since the pandemic.
Upfront, I am not going to respond to anything you say after this. There is no point since you are just going through a fit of "nobody can tell me what to do".
Nobody has the right to put others at risk. If you didn't notice, all the things you described were spaces were people gather, and people did go out. Schools being closed is huge. Kids get sick fast. When kids get sick entire households gets sick. This is normal even during the best of times.
These policies were put in place to protect others from people like you, who have a serious misunderstanding of freedom of choice and freedom of speech.
And thanks to Trump and everyone else who fought against preventative measures, immunocompromised people have to live like that for the rest of time. It's no longer safe for them to go to a restaurant or a bar or go shopping because every season is COVID season, and the newer strains are even more infectious and deadlier than the original. My mom, a cancer survivor, has to think about that every time she leaves the house. And she's lucky, because she can get vaccinated and therefore actually can go out and do things, while so many others don't have that option because their immune system is just that weak. The fact of the matter is that we should still be masking in public. Not just for COVID, but for the flu as well.
We could have literally killed off COVID in about 6 weeks with a total lockdown of society. It never would've happened, or even truly been feasible, but we could have been back to normal so much faster if society at large had gotten their shit together instead of whining about having to take responsibility for not killing those around them at the expense of their own comfort. The reason it lasted as long as it did and killed so many people is because Republicans fought tooth and nail against doing what stopped the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu in their tracks: putting on a mask and isolating to prevent spreading it to others.
Your whole thing comes off a lot like this:
So you're throwing a tantrum basically.
Do you not remember that Trump was president during the lockdowns? Are you that stupid or are you trying to rewrite history for your masters?
What I remember is that Trump wasn't the one who impacted me directly. Sure, his mad "warp speed" policy gave the pharmaceutical companies an even more powerful blank check, but that doesn't impact my day-to-day life. It was ridiculous, and should never have happened, but the transfer of wealth and rights between the government and private industry isn't something that changes based on the party in power anymore.
The direct impact was all from Phil Murphy and others on his side. Now, I'm going to be clear: the government of the state of New Jersey has the right to do what they did. If I had the means and the ability, I would have had the right to move to a different state. The right of self-determination and nearly unfettered intranational mobility to live in the way you see as best is a large part of what makes the USA a strong nation. My situation is such that I didn't have that option to leave. Had I been able to move, I might have very different views now.
But all that doesn't mean I have any desire to support that administration, or anything aligned with them. So I'm not going to vote for them ever again. Because I was hurt and the people around me were hurt by the policies and laws they put in place and supported, and I'm not going to forgive them.
You should've switched with me. My state did little to nothing as our hospitals were overran and refers trucks were called in to hold the dead.
Chucklefucks like you are the reason people with trivial medical needs were dying because there was no room in hosptials.
You don't have to worry about the coming bird flu pandemic locking down anything this time.
And the government will tell you that the people who disappear in your social circle never existed, it's you that remember wrongly.
And don't worry about the new uniforms for all government workers includes a gasmask.
It may sound very dystopian, but that's what you get with a totalitarian regime.
While I was imagining how the muskrat, headworm and lil-t regime will handle the next pandemic it reminded me of what we see in Half-Life 2, Ultraviolet (2006), Brazil (1985).
What social circle? I don't have one anymore thanks to losing contact with them over the last few years.
That might have to do with your batshit Insanity. Just saying.
So it's a skill/personality issue then.
I have kept up with friends I made and live across the country from me. If you lost touch with friends that live near you, you either didn't try hard enough to keep touch or they chose to let friendship with you wither away. You have access to technologies that allow you to get text, audio and video in real time with someone on the other side of the world. Losing touch with a friend means one or both of you didn't care enough to do the work to keep it up.
If physical proximity is the only thing keeping your friends around, you didn't have friends, you had acquaintances who you misjudged their participation in the relationship. I've had plenty of "friendships" go this way as well, but the people I care about I make a point to stay engaged with, even if it's not as often as I should.