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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.