June 1, 2020
The 73rd Year
Day 74
Fickle!
The front page is a fickle place.
That is such a 20th century reference. More accurately the home page is a fickle place. Twenty-four-hour broadcast news is equally mercurial.
History is fickle too but we will get to that later.
The home page is where news organizations emblazon its most important stories online. For three months the Covid-19 pandemic has been breathless, breaking news on all media platforms all day long.
Until now!
The coronavirus, which in less than three months has infected more than 6.2 million and killed about 370,000 across the globe, has been demoted to a position “below the fold,” journalist-speak for stories on the lower half of a folded newspaper. The online equivalent might be “well down the home page scroll.”
America has been burning for the last six days. Protests, most peaceful but some violent, have spread to more than 140 cities. Police cars and buildings have been torched. People have been shot. Arrests have been made. Curfews ordered. The national guard has been activated to manage the crowds and counter the violence in 21 states.
The protestors flooded our nation’s streets in the wake of the senseless police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minneapolis. The execution was videotaped and the graphic images awakened restless Americans from a two-month, pandemic-induced stupor.
This is certainly front page news. It belongs above the fold; at the top of the scroll.
It illustrates however the transitory nature of the news, even news of a world-wide pandemic.
Coronavirus deaths are old news. Or more accurately in news parlance, they are yesterday’s news, even when they are first reported today!
Americans have grown tired of all things Covid-19. Social distancing was hard to find among the protestors. Many wore masks to protect themselves from tear gas not the invisible coronavirus.
Does anyone else find it odd that Americans will eagerly wear a mask against an in-the-moment irritant like tear gas but refuse to don a mask to protect themselves from a virus that has killed more than 100,000 of their neighbors?
It is not big news or even blog-worthy that breaking news is transitory. But we can be assured that the Covid-19 virus will at least be chronicled as an important moment in our nation’s history.
Or will it?
History tells us otherwise.
The Spanish flu erupted in 1918 and before it was vanquished 50 million were killed across the globe, including 675,000 Americans. About 40 million soldiers and civilians died in World War I, among them 117,500 Americans.
Most every American city and town of any size has a prominently situated, impeccably maintained World War 1 memorial. Memorials acknowledging the Spanish flu dead are rare and those that exist are not well known.
In fact one of the few memorials honoring the Spanish flu dead is in a cemetery in Barre 10 miles from my home. Barre bills itself as the “Granite Capital of the World.” The cemetery there is celebrated for its elaborate carved memorials, produced by Italian immigrant artisans that settled there.
I’ve been there several times and have never seen the Spanish flu memorial. In fact, I did not even know it existed until the New York Times reported on it earlier this month.
Why do we recognize our war dead and not victims of a deadly virus?
War is sexy; disease is not.
Is it that simple?
We revere and honor the soldiers who fall in war. They are heroes. The victims who fall to a virus are, well, victims. They are not heroes.
We lionize heroes, not victims!
Predictably President Trump has shown little empathy for the coronavirus dead. He cannot relate.
President Woodrow Wilson behaved similarly during the 1918 pandemic. Focused on the war in Europe, historians tell us Wilson rarely mentioned the virus that was killing hundreds of thousands at home. An author quoted in the British publication “UnHerd” noted recently that it was “unmanly” to be killed by a virus back then and there was “a mass decision” to forget about it.
Novelists and film makers are constantly examining wars long past for lessons applicable today and in the future. When is the last time you read a fictional account about the Spanish flu?
The Spanish flu was central to Katherine Anne Porter’s novella “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” the story of a woman felled by the flu, cared for by a soldier who later succumbed to it himself. More recently it provided a backdrop in Dennis LeHanes’ novel “The Given Day” about the Boston police riots.
There may be other examples but they are hard to find.
The peaceful protests and rioting in the streets this week are not as significant as a world war. They may not endure as an important historical moment in our history.
But they should be because the protests have revealed a long-suppressed, ugly secret. Racism is alive and well here. Black American men are being hassled regularly and killed too often by the police sworn to protect them. The police reflect a smoldering anger and fear that exists silently inside many white Americans.
The coronavirus will soon again be breaking news. Later this month we will read that the coronavirus death toll has surpassed the number of Americans who died in World War 1.
America is on the cusp of a civil war. It is being fueled by the most polarizing president in our history, 10 years of the rich getting richer and everyone else getting screwed. Now we face a crippling depression spawned by the pandemic. Bullets may not fly but Americans are at war with each other and will be for some time.
We need the press now more than ever. We need transparency now more than any time in our history. Historians need an accurate record so others may better understand this moment in our history.
History can not be fickle.
Americans must not be allowed to forget. There can not be a “mass decision to forget.”
And one final point.
Where the hell is Joe Biden?
Be safe!
The 73rd Year
Day 74
Fickle!
The front page is a fickle place.
That is such a 20th century reference. More accurately the home page is a fickle place. Twenty-four-hour broadcast news is equally mercurial.
History is fickle too but we will get to that later.
The home page is where news organizations emblazon its most important stories online. For three months the Covid-19 pandemic has been breathless, breaking news on all media platforms all day long.
Until now!
The coronavirus, which in less than three months has infected more than 6.2 million and killed about 370,000 across the globe, has been demoted to a position “below the fold,” journalist-speak for stories on the lower half of a folded newspaper. The online equivalent might be “well down the home page scroll.”
America has been burning for the last six days. Protests, most peaceful but some violent, have spread to more than 140 cities. Police cars and buildings have been torched. People have been shot. Arrests have been made. Curfews ordered. The national guard has been activated to manage the crowds and counter the violence in 21 states.
The protestors flooded our nation’s streets in the wake of the senseless police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in Minneapolis. The execution was videotaped and the graphic images awakened restless Americans from a two-month, pandemic-induced stupor.
This is certainly front page news. It belongs above the fold; at the top of the scroll.
It illustrates however the transitory nature of the news, even news of a world-wide pandemic.
Coronavirus deaths are old news. Or more accurately in news parlance, they are yesterday’s news, even when they are first reported today!
Americans have grown tired of all things Covid-19. Social distancing was hard to find among the protestors. Many wore masks to protect themselves from tear gas not the invisible coronavirus.
Does anyone else find it odd that Americans will eagerly wear a mask against an in-the-moment irritant like tear gas but refuse to don a mask to protect themselves from a virus that has killed more than 100,000 of their neighbors?
It is not big news or even blog-worthy that breaking news is transitory. But we can be assured that the Covid-19 virus will at least be chronicled as an important moment in our nation’s history.
Or will it?
History tells us otherwise.
The Spanish flu erupted in 1918 and before it was vanquished 50 million were killed across the globe, including 675,000 Americans. About 40 million soldiers and civilians died in World War I, among them 117,500 Americans.
Most every American city and town of any size has a prominently situated, impeccably maintained World War 1 memorial. Memorials acknowledging the Spanish flu dead are rare and those that exist are not well known.
In fact one of the few memorials honoring the Spanish flu dead is in a cemetery in Barre 10 miles from my home. Barre bills itself as the “Granite Capital of the World.” The cemetery there is celebrated for its elaborate carved memorials, produced by Italian immigrant artisans that settled there.
I’ve been there several times and have never seen the Spanish flu memorial. In fact, I did not even know it existed until the New York Times reported on it earlier this month.
Why do we recognize our war dead and not victims of a deadly virus?
War is sexy; disease is not.
Is it that simple?
We revere and honor the soldiers who fall in war. They are heroes. The victims who fall to a virus are, well, victims. They are not heroes.
We lionize heroes, not victims!
Predictably President Trump has shown little empathy for the coronavirus dead. He cannot relate.
President Woodrow Wilson behaved similarly during the 1918 pandemic. Focused on the war in Europe, historians tell us Wilson rarely mentioned the virus that was killing hundreds of thousands at home. An author quoted in the British publication “UnHerd” noted recently that it was “unmanly” to be killed by a virus back then and there was “a mass decision” to forget about it.
Novelists and film makers are constantly examining wars long past for lessons applicable today and in the future. When is the last time you read a fictional account about the Spanish flu?
The Spanish flu was central to Katherine Anne Porter’s novella “Pale Horse, Pale Rider,” the story of a woman felled by the flu, cared for by a soldier who later succumbed to it himself. More recently it provided a backdrop in Dennis LeHanes’ novel “The Given Day” about the Boston police riots.
There may be other examples but they are hard to find.
The peaceful protests and rioting in the streets this week are not as significant as a world war. They may not endure as an important historical moment in our history.
But they should be because the protests have revealed a long-suppressed, ugly secret. Racism is alive and well here. Black American men are being hassled regularly and killed too often by the police sworn to protect them. The police reflect a smoldering anger and fear that exists silently inside many white Americans.
The coronavirus will soon again be breaking news. Later this month we will read that the coronavirus death toll has surpassed the number of Americans who died in World War 1.
America is on the cusp of a civil war. It is being fueled by the most polarizing president in our history, 10 years of the rich getting richer and everyone else getting screwed. Now we face a crippling depression spawned by the pandemic. Bullets may not fly but Americans are at war with each other and will be for some time.
We need the press now more than ever. We need transparency now more than any time in our history. Historians need an accurate record so others may better understand this moment in our history.
History can not be fickle.
Americans must not be allowed to forget. There can not be a “mass decision to forget.”
And one final point.
Where the hell is Joe Biden?
Be safe!
Great job. Joe has sounded so good when he appears. It needs to be daily.
ReplyDelete