The pandemic has brought out the best of the worst on Facebook.
Love it or hate it, social media in general is now woven into the fabric of human discourse. It’s an omnibus forum for debate and discussion of all kinds. Sometimes this is healthy and maybe even useful. Where can I get the best Chinese take-out these days? Who has an affordable landscaper looking for work? What color should I paint this wall?
It’s also a place where one can get answers to questions that nobody asked: What does Mindy from high school think about mask mandates? Why does Allison never get a flu shot? Who did Patrick vote for in the election? (Who does Patrick think I should vote for in the election?)
As we’re creeping up to the holidays, I’m seeing lots of folks offer unsolicited advice on how to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Some of this advice is quite passionate, especially here in New York where we have an additional talking point on the matter: The governor’s 10-person limit on group gatherings.
Here’s what he said according to an official press release:
“If you look at where the cases are coming from, if you do the contact tracing, you’ll see they’re coming from three main areas: establishments where alcohol is served, gyms, and indoor gatherings at private homes. The reason we have been successful in reducing the spread in New York is we have been a step ahead of COVID. You know where it’s going; stop it before it gets there….
He then added that, “local governments are in charge of enforcement… I need the local governments to enforce this.”
I don’t always align with the governor’s ideologies, but he has earned more of my respect based on (some) of what he’s done (and has been doing) to manage COVID statewide. With that, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. This measure, as drastic and over-reaching as it seems, is being taken to save New Yorkers from themselves.
Not everyone sees it that way, according to Facebook.
“I refuse to live my life in fear.”
“Who is this dictator to tell me who I can and cannot have in my home? It’s my business.”
“I’m just going to call Thanksgiving with my family a protest and then it will be fine.”
“Don’t you dare rat on your neighbors unless you want long-term trouble.”
“This may be the last Thanksgiving I will be able to have with [insert name of older relative]. I’m not going to let this pass.”
I may not agree with everything I’m seeing, but folks are not wrong to be upset. I, too, am uncomfortable with the dystopian-novel nature of all of this, but I’m even more uncomfortable with the idea that I’m not sure if all who are planning to have their big Thanksgiving celebrations in spite of what the governor says are fully aware of the potential consequences of their actions.
Or worse… maybe they are aware and just don’t care?
Sure, my husband and I could hop on an airplane and spend Thanksgiving in restriction-free Florida with our families. That would assume that we’re making the governor’s action a jugular issue.
We’re not.
There’s an issue with the travel restrictions and the fact that I would probably lose quite a few days of work. Though the restrictions may appear to be more-relaxed, they are certainly quite a bit more confusing. Further, the personal risk that I would assume in forcing the “Happy Thanksgiving” tradition… as a person with a compromised immune system, as a child of elderly parents with various comorbidities, as an educator working in a public school… it just isn’t worth the risk.
Not for one heavily-symbolic meal.
But I’m also hopeful that this overwhelming feeling of “ick” will only be for one Thanksgiving. One Christmas. One New Year’s. Hopefully by next Easter we can be together again without breaking any state mandates or putting loved ones at risk for the sake of tradition.
So I went to the market early yesterday morning to pick up, with my regular grocery haul, an overpriced bone-in turkey breast for two. We will make the best of a safe and low-key holiday, and we hope that our restriction-free Florida family will do the same.
Because, well… we’d really like to see them next Thanksgiving.
Inside the Launch Window 