Weren't We All In This Together?

I'm listening to NPR's podcast Throughline. It's a great series. But... I just got to March 2020. You'll never guess what topic has come up.

Ok, first, I'm not really paying attention to when the podcast came out and at the end of one recent episode the hosts said "Stay safe" "really" and it was so different from the usual sign off, especially the intonation of "really" and I thought to myself "oh, I've made it to pandemic time" and sure enough, the podcast had been released on March 19.

But here's the thing... here's the really depressing and enraging thing: in the next episode, "1918 Flu", they had on someone who walked them through the similarities and differences between COVID-19 and the 1918 Flu and he said that he was hopeful about how we might all come together and realize that we need to not just protect the most vulnerable but that we need to come together and protect everyone. And I remember during the first wave watching ads saying "together we'll get through this."

Where did that feeling go?

When did it become "if you're vulnerable or live with or want to visit indoors with someone that is, your protection is entirely on you so have fun being entirely on your own in this"? I'm not talking about the early 2020 level of this belief that was led by the Republicans but the seemingly wide-spread level of belief in this principle that came with 2021 and has only increased with time.

When did it become the us vs them where those that are vaccinated believe that because they aren't likely to die from the disease, it's 100% fine to fill the hospitals in wave after wave? When did it become fine to spread a disease that may cause someone have long term health impacts such as heart inflammation, kidney damage, neurological issues (such as brain fog, fatigue, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), mental health issues (such as depression or symptoms similar to PTSD), onset of type 2 diabetes? The list of ongoing health issues that are not uncommon goes on and on... but there's no need to worry about people you've caused this harm to so long as the person you infected either didn't die or had chosen not to get vaccinated or had an underlying condition, right?

When did we go from "we're in this together" to "I feel safe, so screw you"?

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