The People Who Love Never-Ending Lockdowns Have Jobs
The rest of us are getting more concerned about our future with each passing day.
When people talk about keeping states shut down indefinitely, or insist on slowing down efforts to re-open society, more often than not, this sentiment seems to come from people who are working or have some sort of income at the moment. Policymakers, journalists, and cable TV news pundits often choose to wallow in fear and confusion. They see the world differently. They can afford to. They still have jobs. Similarly, those who are employed by multinational corporations aren’t feeling the pain of perpetual uncertainty.
These professionals are hell-bent on distributing panic porn and perpetuating the non-stop drumbeat of doom and gloom. They feel very little is improving in society, and we must stay vigilant against the coronavirus — whatever that means. The people making this case are the ones who have maintained their standard of living. These so-called experts may feel as though they’re doing important work and oftentimes influence policymakers.
Conversely, the working-class and blue-collar American worker has likely just joined the millions of unemployed Americans due to lockdowns across the country. He may read the news and constantly hear medical experts, academics, and journalists explain that we must keep the economy closed indefinitely — in other words, keep him unemployed — because “public health” is essential. His job is suddenly irrelevant and not needed. His lifelong pursuits are not considered essential — even though it’s essential to him and his family. He might have feelings of worthlessness, and he’s terrified about his bills, his future, and his family’s day-to-day survival.
Furthermore, the blue-collar worker may see others enacting policies on his behalf that are presented as good for the whole country, but most benefit people from the ruling class — whose lives have gotten better over the past few decades. Issues like trade and immigration affect college-educated professionals in different ways than they do the working-class. The working-class may actually be hurt by the influx of legal and illegal immigrants. So when they hear from experts about the inevitability of globalization and technological change and the need to accept it, they resist. It does not resonate with their lived experience.
Is it so hard to comprehend why people like this might be skeptical of these self-proclaimed experts?
Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said he understands that maintaining guidelines set by government agencies is “inconvenient.” For many people, especially those who are part of the working-class, not being allowed to work isn’t just inconvenient; it’s life-shattering. The truth is; not all of those blue-collar workers or people who work with their hands are Trump voters — but they certainly understand that it is a luxury to be able to work from home.
People who want to keep cities and states on lockdown indefinitely, tend to do so from their comfortable homes. They generally aren’t stressed out about how they are going to pay next month’s rent or their health insurance premium. They aren’t a working parent of a developmentally disabled, autistic, handicapped, or otherwise special needs child who depended on services offered in the public schools; those services his parents are not able or qualified to provide him. They most likely aren’t a person close to retirement whose savings could be decimated or even just evaporate in an economic depression; making the difference between the dignified and comfortable retirement she expected, and a miserable, impoverished, and yes, attenuated old age. I’m also sure they aren’t an hourly worker who has been fired or laid off from a mostly cash job who soon won’t be able to pay for their children’s educations due to a prolonged shutdown.
In an Op-Ed, New York Times columnist Charles Blow wrote:
If you touch people for a living, in elder care or child care, if you cut or fix their hair, if you clean their spaces or cook their food, if you drive their cars or build their houses, you can’t do that from home.
Such is the life of the working poor, or those slightly above poverty, but still struggling. Our entire discussion around this virus is stained with economic elitism. In social media commentary about images of packed buses and crowds of delivery workers outside restaurants, people chastise black and brown people for not always being inside, but many of those doing the chastising do so from comfortable homes with sufficient money and food.
It’s galling to watch celebrities or well-paid journalists boast of their social distancing “staycations” in comfortable homes as their checks keep coming in during the pandemic. They can literally afford those attitudes. All public health problems cause greater and longer-lasting harm to the poor, the marginalized, and those without access to adequate health care.
We should recognize the need to hear many voices that are affected by the pandemic, not just the well-financed. As policymakers create guidelines and policies that affect us all, we should have empathy for all Americans — those whose lives are at risk, but also those whose lives have been turned upside down in other ways by this horrible disease.
Clayton Craddock is an independent thinker, father of two beautiful children in New York City. He is the drummer of the hit broadway musical Ain’t Too Proud. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Howard University’s School of Business and is a 25 year veteran of the fast paced New York City music scene. He has played drums in a number of hit broadway and off-broadway musicals including “Tick, tick…BOOM!, Altar Boyz, Memphis The Musical and Lady Day At Emerson’s Bar and Grill. In addition, Clayton has worked on: Footloose, Motown, The Color Purple, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Evita, Cats, and Avenue Q.
