Your brief coverage of “religious” population and people being meaning-seeking creatures is worthy of more writing. My observations over several decades is that religion has been replaced by ‘cause’ in much of the population and that is why we see so many fervent ideologues. In my case, I would say religion was replaced with service.
Thanks Jen, you have put into words a lot of what I have been thinking and feeling. I do find on the whole that our leaders have been inept in communicating to the public...this in an age full of communications personnel but no common message...it becomes a din of mixed messaging and only the rage pushes through, and around we go again.
"our leaders have been inept in communicating to the public..."
Maybe it depends on where you are? In BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry has been leading the public-health response, with a press conference every day, accompanied by the health minister, Adrian Dix. People here really appreciate her calm and reassuring presence ("Be calm, be kind, and be safe"), and I think her evident emotion when reporting on the early deaths got people to start taking Covid seriously if they weren't before. BC did really well during the first wave, with fewer deaths per capita than any other province, state, or European country. We're struggling with the second wave, but the latest restrictions are bringing the rate of new infections down slowly.
In my East Van neighbourhood, you can still hear horns honking every night at 7 pm (and sometimes bagpipes). Health-care workers are the ones who are really on the front lines. They're telling us that the best way we can help is to stay home, so we don't get infected and end up in hospital, or even worse, infect other people.
Beyond that, I think the other major expression of social solidarity has been income support for people who can't work from home, in the form of CERB and other programs, which were passed by Parliament unanimously.
Unlike a war, this doesn't seem to be the kind of crisis where you need a lot of volunteers - you just need everyone to stay home. This German video which went viral expresses it pretty well: https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1327718075370786816
Where Dr Henry misses the mark for me, and don’t get me wrong she is doing a great job, was her refusal to implement masks earlier and the lack of more data of the spread.
Again, inconsistency in message across the provinces which results in the intransigence of a albeit small segment of the population to defy orders.
The other area I think BC could be more transparent on us the data which is not as robust as other provinces. Saying for example there are 20 cases in IH, when it covers a large swath and population makes it slightly meaningless to those residents and does not convince them to adhere as well to directives IMO.
There have been some really good articles in the past, but this one hit home and caused me to hit “subscribe”. Looking forward to the future posts!
Great piece, Jen.
Your brief coverage of “religious” population and people being meaning-seeking creatures is worthy of more writing. My observations over several decades is that religion has been replaced by ‘cause’ in much of the population and that is why we see so many fervent ideologues. In my case, I would say religion was replaced with service.
More than one person in Alberta has shared with me "In Alberta we show our appreciation by paying people well. We let our actions do the talking."
Thanks Jen, you have put into words a lot of what I have been thinking and feeling. I do find on the whole that our leaders have been inept in communicating to the public...this in an age full of communications personnel but no common message...it becomes a din of mixed messaging and only the rage pushes through, and around we go again.
"our leaders have been inept in communicating to the public..."
Maybe it depends on where you are? In BC, Dr. Bonnie Henry has been leading the public-health response, with a press conference every day, accompanied by the health minister, Adrian Dix. People here really appreciate her calm and reassuring presence ("Be calm, be kind, and be safe"), and I think her evident emotion when reporting on the early deaths got people to start taking Covid seriously if they weren't before. BC did really well during the first wave, with fewer deaths per capita than any other province, state, or European country. We're struggling with the second wave, but the latest restrictions are bringing the rate of new infections down slowly.
In my East Van neighbourhood, you can still hear horns honking every night at 7 pm (and sometimes bagpipes). Health-care workers are the ones who are really on the front lines. They're telling us that the best way we can help is to stay home, so we don't get infected and end up in hospital, or even worse, infect other people.
Beyond that, I think the other major expression of social solidarity has been income support for people who can't work from home, in the form of CERB and other programs, which were passed by Parliament unanimously.
Unlike a war, this doesn't seem to be the kind of crisis where you need a lot of volunteers - you just need everyone to stay home. This German video which went viral expresses it pretty well: https://twitter.com/newschambers/status/1327718075370786816
Where Dr Henry misses the mark for me, and don’t get me wrong she is doing a great job, was her refusal to implement masks earlier and the lack of more data of the spread.
Again, inconsistency in message across the provinces which results in the intransigence of a albeit small segment of the population to defy orders.
The other area I think BC could be more transparent on us the data which is not as robust as other provinces. Saying for example there are 20 cases in IH, when it covers a large swath and population makes it slightly meaningless to those residents and does not convince them to adhere as well to directives IMO.
I agree. Early on Dr. Fauci in the US said in a pandemic you cannot err on the side of caution.