Friday, May 22, 2020

Blame Game

Every single day the blame, the recriminations, the looking for scapegoats, the hope for failure continues.  I really don't think I've ever seen anything like it.  At least I don't remember seeing anything like it. The country has been through hell in the last few months.  The global pandemic is like nothing nobody alive has ever seen.  The virus that was unleashed from China, whether in a lab or a "wet market" has reeked havoc on the world  and our country.  Most people were in denial early on and talked about "getting back to normal".  Most people have followed the recommendations from the experts in our government who have counseled social distancing, wearing masks, washing hands, etc.  The infection numbers and deaths are terrible and I think higher than anyone imagined.  And they are likely to go higher.  The stories of the people who have died are heartbreaking.  And it mostly involves a rapid deterioration and death while alone and isolated from your loved ones.  It's tragic.

It seems to me that our governments, both federal and state, have done the best they can.  There have been horror stories of missed opportunities, wrong decisions, and callous disregard of personal needs.  But there have also been heroic stories of people coming together, helping each other, and going the extra mile to save lives.  Our first responders and medical professionals have been nothing but heroic.  And it hasn't all been fun and games.

But as I said at the beginning, the searching for failure is getting really, really old.  I have come to hold the media in contempt but this crises has only heightened that opinion.  They do absolutely everything they can to find fault and blame when it comes
 to Trump.  They only want to find ways in which he has failed and plant blame squarely on him.  I won't list them all but you've seen them.  Just today he told the Governors that he wanted to see the churches open.  He declared them essential.  So the media immediately sprung to the question of how he could make this mandate.  They were only looking for ways to accuse him of being a dictator.  With literally any other President, they would see this as the President using the considerable power and prestige of his office to persuade the Governors to come around to his way of thinking.  But in this case it was all about how they could get Trump.  Disgusting.

When there is a crises or a tragedy, most people believe that the focus should be on solving the immediate problem and bringing people together to attack issues.  But in this case it's been nothing but blame Trump.  No credit for reacting early and stopping travel from China and then Europe.  No credit for creating a task force that has had great success in so many areas, no credit for trying to rally the people with various ideas to defeat and at the same time live with the virus, no credit for projecting an optimistic attitude that people can rally behind.  Once again the media as a whole has failed us.  Failed badly.

One of the Priests at my church told us all that, "Everything is messy and difficult and everyone is doing the best that they can".  I think that is true and we all should give the benefit of the doubt to people who are trying to do the right thing.  Everyone that is except the vaunted press who only are in the gotcha business.  I guess we'll just have to get used to this bullshit.  Not only is Covid-19 bringing us a "new normal" but the cowardly, prejudiced, smarmy, smart assed press have brought us a new normal in listening to them.  

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