I'd honestly trade the zombie Apocalypse over what's happening right now. Face-mask plus face-shield, combined with a baseball bat, spear, or sword. Ironically I ordered an actual sword (not some wall-hanger) a couple of months before I even heard about the Coronavirus. Japanese style, two-handed, 24-inch very manageable blade. Would love to put it to use on the Undead. Thing is.... a zombie is big, slow, and noticeable. Much easier to deal with than a microscopic horror you can't see. Easier to track too. Let me deal with something I can literally fight back against. Just saying....
But okay, not trying to go off topic into the realm of the supernatural. As far as the protests go, will only say that the pandemic is now likely to hang around far longer than perhaps it would have; if all the protests had stayed confined to Minneapolis MN. Not one NYPD officer was involved, protests in NY. Not one London constable was involved, protests in London. I don't get that.
In
The Walking Dead, everyone was/is infected, yet not everyone died from it. Perhaps it will be the same with covid-19. The virus will die/become no longer viable, once everyone is infected, or there is a vaccine, and everyone (who has not yet created antibodies) is inoculated. One can argue that herds of people congregating together, will quicken the pace of everyone getting infected, and that is a good thing. Personally, I am not taking that position, but at this point won't argue forcefully against it.
Regarding protests in areas outside of Minneapolis, MN. I don't get the riots, and looting. IMO that defeats the purpose of "The Cause". Living in the NYC Metropolitan area, I follow NY Governor's daily briefing, and am happy to report, that he has stressed the fact, that the looting and rioting was NOT done by the protesters. He has gone to great lengths, to separate the two groups: looters/criminals, and peaceful protesters. I am glad to see that the politicians are making a distinction that will, hopefully teach the children, and youth of today, the lessons that weren't taught to me during the 60's and 70's era riots.
I like to say that I am not prejudiced, but I am. Its been ingrained in me. While a youth, during the riots, it was continually pointed out that the blacks were destroying their own neighborhood. I wasn't taught that there were essentially good and criminal blacks, but rather, how stupid, and violent they are.
Considering, that I was raised in a blue collar, white, (Irish, Italian, Polish, German) neighborhood, I don't recall having a black friend, or even knowing a black person. I don't know if there was a black family in our town. Therefore never being exposed to a decent black person, and only hearing of the negative connotations placed on them, I have become inherently prejudiced against them, or at least distrustful.
I can be easily disarmed by a warm smile though.
I remember a time when a really large, tall and muscular, black man came to my office unannounced. I was startled, and it must have shown on my face, because he just gave me a warm smile, and we were good. I imagine, that he learned to accept the fact that being black and huge, that it is best to smile, to reduce tensions from the outset.
I have a friend, performer, a large muscular black man, who at the time was with a professional traveling troop, and was scheduled to perform at "The Papermill Playhouse" in NJ. He needed to get a haircut and a shave. He went to a local barber, and took a seat and waited his turn. Each time another "white man" came in, he got pushed further back in line, until there was no one else left, except him and the barber.
I think it was the early 80's that my in-laws went to Delaware, to check out the area, because my father-in-law's job was expanding to there, and wanted him to consider moving. He was stunned to see that as they walked along the sidewalk, that black people walking in the other direction, would step out into the street, to give them wide birth, to allow them to pass.
In 1979, I took a tour of Macon, Georgia, with a friend, and he pointed out that there were still bath-rooms labeled, Men, Women, and Blacks.
I spent an hour with an elderly Polish immigrant a couple of years, ago. He told me that he didn't experience prejudice until he came here to America. He got a job, down South, as a welder. He worked the morning and was fired at lunch time, because he bought a soda pop for a black man, out of the white man's pop machine.
All this to say, that it must get pretty tiring/trying, to so often, just because of the color of your skin, have to prove that you are a good guy, before people will relax around you.
So do I "get" the protesting in areas around the world? Yes I do.
