Why I Don’t Sympathise With Lockdown Protesters
The protesters aren’t who you think they are
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From the early days of lockdown, a vocal minority of Americans have taken to the streets to oppose the restrictions imposed upon them. While all available data shows that a clear majority of Americans oppose such protests, many people who disagree with the protesters have still defended said protesters; arguing that the re-opening advocates are primarily motivated by economic anxiety and fears about being able to feed themselves and their families.
However, the reality is quite different — only a small number of protesters seem to have noble, reasonable motivations. The vast majority of protesters seem primarily motivated by partisanship, conspiracy theorism and prejudice. The idea that these protests are comprised of the most economically vulnerable elements of society is quickly debunked under further inspection. While black-Americans are dying of Coronavirus at a rate three times higher than white Americans, the vast, vast majority of protesters are white.
It’s high time the media stopped using lazy and inaccurate narratives that create wrong impressions and let bad-faith people off the hook for acting selfishly
The polling data backs this up, with black Americans being the least likely of any racial group to support the protests. On top of this, the polling data shows the opposite relationship between income and protest support than one would expect — the poorer you are, the less likely you are to support the protesters. This is hardly surprising given that protests took place last month in Newport Beach; where the average yearly income is roughly equivalent to the price of a Porsche.
Instead of attracting the economically vulnerable, the protests have attracted conspiracists and cranks — as well as a number of people who are very, very passionate about getting haircuts — even if it means risking the health of themselves and their hairdressers. Believers of the Q-anon conspiracy theory — that theorises the existence of an anti-Trump ‘deep state’ — have been seen at protests, as have white supremacists and, confederate flag promoters. Meanwhile, most of the protesters have wilfully ignored advice from scientists and local governments; with many refusing to wear masks and nearly all failing to social distance.
The ‘economic anxiety’ argument, both now and in 2016, is hugely insulting to working class voters — taking away their agency and infantilizing them
Ultimately, its clear that the majority of these protesters are not vulnerable and impoverished — as we’ve been led to believe — and, even if they were, many of the protesters actions (embracing dangerous conspiracy theories and not social distancing) would still be inexcusable.
The same flawed ‘economic anxiety’ argument that has been used to justify the protesters actions was also used to justify Trump’s victory in 2016, and it was just as wrong-headed then as it is now. Just as this argument is being used now to exaggerate working class support for the protest, it was used in 2016 to massively overstate working class support for Trump (voters earning under $50,000 yearly supported Clinton in a landslide).
Polling data shows the opposite relationship between income and protest support than one would expect — the poorer you are, the less likely you are to support the protests
The ‘economic anxiety’ argument, both now and in 2016, is hugely insulting to working class voters — taking away their agency and infantilizing them. In 2016, this argument was used by some to downplay the role of racism in Trump’s election and by others to suggest that such racism was understandable because it came from people with a poorer economic status. Now, it is being used to give people a pass for disobeying medical advice and putting their fellow citizens at risk. Once again, the argument makes the insulting assumption that working class people are less capable than others of acting in the best interests of themselves and others.
It’s high time the media stopped using lazy and inaccurate narratives that create wrong impressions and let bad-faith people off the hook for acting selfishly and disregarding common sense. The same mistakes made by the media in covering lockdown protests have been made time and time again in the past — from incorrectly blaming bad decisions on the working class to infantilizing those who make said poor decisions. For the media to regain credibility, they need to begin questioning the conventional wisdom and become unafraid to report on uncomfortable truths. If a deadly pandemic doesn’t make the media do this, nothing will.
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