COVID Journal Entry 5

[whiteraven191]

There is this thing I have seen floating around the internet where people are like "oh wow, carbon emissions are down! The canals of Venice are clear! Isn't it great?" I get that they mean well. I think people who say that sort of thing are going for a sort of "finding a silver lining" thing, but that isn't what I hear. What I hear is people saying that it is a good thing that the coronavirus pandemic is happening. That the canals in Venice being a bit clearer is worth the thousands of people dying (fun fact - the reason the canals are cleaner is because the gondolas aren't stirring up the water. The only way we could keep them that clear is if no one ever used them for travel ever again). It seems like a very privileged point of view. It also tells me that people who are posting stuff like this are not thinking about who might see their messages at all. I can't imagine how upset I would be if I had a loved one who was in the hospital or who had died and I saw someone acting like the pandemic was a good thing.