Items

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  2022-05-26

  From COVID-19 to shootings: Is mass death now tolerated in America?

  This is a news story from The Associated Press. Just recently, there have been over one million COVID deaths recorded in the United States. The author of this piece asks if Americans have just begun to tolerate mass death. Racial and social inequalities are also cited, where the author claims that those of certain backgrounds are more likely to die sooner or more violently. The COVID deaths are then related to the recent shooting deaths, such as in Buffalo and in Texas. While the gun violence deaths are lower than the COVID deaths, the author uses this to show that little is being done for either to help lessen the amount of deaths. I don't agree with the author completely on this due to dying from COVID being very different from dying from a mass shooter. With COVID, people could pass it along unknowingly and get someone infected, as it is an asymptomatic spread. With a mass shooter, it is much less predictable and far more sudden. From what I have seen on my social media, I did not see anyone I follow really mark the 1,000,000 COVID death milestone, but many have expressed outrage over both the Buffalo and Texas shootings. I don't think the question should be whether Americans accept mass death or not, but of methods of prevention. Obviously, gun ownership won't solve all problems. The police that had guns were waiting outside the school as the shooter was slaughtering kids and adults. Though, one man with a gun, a border patrol agent, is who finally shot the mass shooter and killed him. This is more of a question of character, as well as how competent police forces are in these scenarios. I do not think the author made a fair comparison because protecting yourself from COVID to prevent death would be an entirely different process than protecting yourself from a mass shooter. While the goal of preserving life is the same, the methods differ. Outrage isn't an issue because I have seen people upset over death from COVID and mass shootings. The main problem I see is that people have trouble coming together on a solution.
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  2022-05-21

  Is monkeypox the next big pandemic? Here's why it's not time to panic.

  This is a news story from NBC News by Tara C. Smith. This is comparing COVID to the recent monkeypox outbreak. Unlike the COVID, Smith says that monkeypox has had more understanding due to it being related to smallpox. Monkeypox is milder than smallpox and is more difficult to spread compared to something like COVID. However, monkeypox and COVID do have some things in common. One of them is that both are respiratory viruses, meaning that they can be spread through cough, sneeze, and sometimes breathing. One very good thing about monkeypox is that there are already vaccines available that can work against it. The smallpox vaccine is similar enough to monkeypox that it can help prevent both.
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  2022-02-18

  Covid Has Made Me Hate People

  This is a news story from Scary Mommy by Samm Burnham Davidson. This is a story written from the point-of-view of someone who has experienced some of the negative social effects of COVID. She says that before the pandemic, social media posts that annoyed her would only be mildly so, but with COVID and lockdowns, she started to feel senses of inadequacy compared to other parents. She thought that she needed to overhaul her entire wardrobe, her son should get ice skates, and that her four-year-old needs to learn to ride a two-wheeler bike. She has three young kids, and a 2020 baby. She describes feeling very isolated and the exposure to social media made her feel like she had to measure up to some imaginary standard of parenting, like trying to forgo all plastic toys for Christmas to help the environment. This is a good story for the perspective of mothers with many kids to take care of, resulting in even more isolation than what would happen for adults with no kids, as kids caused her to stay home more even before COVID.