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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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It's almost like when you reduce people's freedom, belittle them, and make them feel weak and useless, they turn against the forces they see as the limiting factor. Lockdowns have hurt us all politically, socially, and economically.
While that may be true, people are forgetting that the recent trend of shit started before the pandemic. The pandemic absolutely amplified a good deal of idiocy, but in this case, the fire was already started.
If anything, political polarization just got worse than it already was, but still, I don't think there was a huge swing from one party to another. Democrats lost this election because people didn't vote, not because the Republican base grew.
I am not denying that lockdowns sucked ass, because they did. Did it contribute to a weird political climate? Absolutely. Did it cause a rise of fascism? I have my doubts because it was bad beforehand.
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?
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: