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Where Is the Public Square in the COVID Era?
Lockdowns are coming back and blue-state authoritarians keep granting exemptions to their friends but not their struggling subjects. We all know the impact this has economically and on our dignity. But the hypocrisy of politicians and their buds enjoying lavish entertainment together despite their own restrictions opens a new gap: the social and intellectual stimulation of a public square is available to the few, but not to the masses.
I’m not in a situation to blow my savings at The French Laundry—“Maybe one day,” I sigh to myself. But what’s being withheld by not letting us go to The French Laundry or its more-affordable equivalents goes beyond just entertainment. But we don’t wine-and-dine only for the pleasure of it, and certainly not for survival. We often do so because it’s a manifestation of the public square—a place not in the home where ideas are exchanged, motivations are explained, and alliances are formed.
Restaurants themselves are an example of the exchange of ideas—our greatest chefs are great because they come up with culinary ideas that you would not have realized yourself. But that’s only a minor function of these public places. The great businesspeople of the distant or recent past didn’t invite potential partners they barely knew to their homes, nor to a Zoom call; they invited them out to lunch. The great writers as recently as the year 1 P.C. (Pre-COVID) didn’t just move from the living room to the kitchen when they had writer’s block. They went out to cafés, or bars, or the park, with the company of friends or strangers surrounding them. The public square is critical as a place of exchange, as neutral ground, as an entertainment venue, or as a place to clear your head from the repetition of the home.
So where is the public square in the Corona era? I’m in Chicago and I can’t find it. At the park? It’s 30 degrees out. At the bars and coffee shops? To-go only. At fancy restaurants that can provide tents and outdoor heating? I don’t have the kind of cash to do that every day. At your church’s meeting space? Forget about it. This complaint is being put to writing as I sit on a bakery’s freezing patio, and I don’t foresee that becoming a regular habit, either.
I know that not meeting is kind of the point. But social-distancing extremism is damaging not just our first-order health and prosperity. It chokes the zones where the exchange of ideas occurs, stunting the human innovation that makes us healthier and more prosperous as time goes on. It’s getting really hard to be an active-ish, social-ish person in a blue state, and as social and intellectual ties themselves are being criminalized, the rationale for staying is rapidly disappearing.
Published in Politics
Absolute Power, once achieved, is rarely yielded.
People like to control people. It’s human nature.
You’d think an expensive restaurant could come up with a better name . . .
Eliminating the public square is one component of leftism. The public square is where we peasants gather with our torches and pitchforks before we storm city hall. Banning puiblic gatherings (other than BLM riots or Biden rallies) keeps us from getting organized – they think.
“They” have said explicitly that “they” don’t intend restrictions to end with a vaccine. For this virus.
As I was leaving the local gun range yesterday morning, the parking lot was full of people signing petitions to recall the Mayor and city council over their “authoritarian” stance on COVID lockdowns.
Any possibility of any transmission. Half of the language I read in major news outlets treats the elimination of COVID — not a drop in the death rate, not a decrease in the number of cases; the total annihilation of the virus — as the point at which a full reopening should happen. This is a ludicrous goal.
And don’t get me started on the “let’s lock down for flu season” rhetoric . . .
I have no idea. But I also have no idea why they’re still in place when they obviously aren’t doing what they’re intended to do. We’ve reached a stage where people are suffering more and more because of the lockdowns, and yet some of the powers that be are in no hurry to lift them so they obviously don’t care about the suffering they’re causing. Given that, why should I believe won’t be inclined to keep them in place?
But, flu kills more kids than the ‘Rona, so we got to close schools for flu season, because “It’s all about the Children!”
And if the lockdowns do become a thing of the past, the landscape will be completely different. I’m envisioning a Demolition Man future where every restaurant is Taco Bell.
And the book This Perfect Day keeps simmering in the back of my beard (read it about 50 years ago). Every thing was purchased through one central “company”. (No money was exchanged – but every purchase was monitored and you were approved or declined). I see Amazon disapproving a purchase: no more TP for you!
The only thing I’ll add to my above comment – so many of the edicts make no sense. We are safer out doors, for instance, yet are told to stay at home.
Schools, parks closed. For no good reason whatsoever
I am convinced this stopped being about the virus long time ago. If it was about the virus, those who had it would be given more aggressive treatment. There would be an easier way for them to isolate and not endanger their families.
Work environs would be dangerous regardless whether essential or non essential.
There’s no excuse for Ca to close outdoor dining.
Something else is going on here. And our inability to meet in the public square is desirable
This stopped being about a virus 6 months ago. This is about our “betters” controlling every aspect of our life. We don’t have to worry our pretty little heads about anything, just do as we’re told.
In a totalitarian state there is no “Public Square”. Your level of oppression can be determined by how many oppressors show up if you try to create one, and the level of their weapons. A “four tank” rating seems to be getting there. Big Brother would be higher … we need a rating scale to understand how we are “progressing”.
Hmmm… I have this theory that technology makes totalitarianism easier. I’m find more to bolster that idea that otherwise.
And plenty of software/computer engineers are sufficiently Luddite for the same reasons.
Well, you could do what my wife did . . .
I haven’t booked THAT fun of a procedure, but I admit I’ve been getting examinations I never thought I needed. You make friends that way.
I work for a mortgage broker. We have everything set up so that people no longer need to come into the office.
I got in touch with a couple last month to let them know I was emailing them some documents that required signature. They asked if they could please please please come in and sign.
We shared a delightful hour together, along with a cup of coffee.
It didn’t really help the “public square” and sharing of ideas, but today I bought a tablet computer. The local Best Buy store didn’t have it in stock. Rather than have it shipped to my house, I chose to drive 20 miles to another Best Buy store that did have it, just to have a reason to go somewhere. And I walked into the store to pick it up.
It is not going to go away, because it is not about a virus.
I don’t know, but I’ll wager on this: when we next have a public square, it’ll feature stocks. Either way.
I hope the bonds of those stocks in the marketplace constrain only those who’ve been convicted of crimes, not those who have criticized or disagreed with those in power.