On Lockdown day 3
This is the 3rd day in my 2021 lockdown diary. Something shocking has happened. Not the storming of the Capitol Building in Washington DC but 1041 Covid related deaths in the UK in a single day.
The link between the two stories is that both were preventable but that’s it. Apart from one woman being shot, the story of the Capitol being beseiged is little more than an embarrassment. The most powerful nation on earth allowed a disorganised group ,who have little idea what they are about, to take over its capital. The resistance was random and half hearted. There are pictures of police helping protesters out of the building, moving barricades themselves and even videos of protesters taking selfies with cops. That’s how serious this is.
Trump has been warning about this for months and tweeted a few days ago calling for the protests against the Capitol. There were some scenes of guns with cops and tear gas yet its not at all reminiscent of BLM protests where protesters were either walking peacefully or being seated, facing heavily armed cops. The contrast is incredible and the conclusion obvious. You can be white, right wing and directly threaten the government and be able to barge into the seat of power with no more than a gesture of resistance. Or you can be black, simply stand up for your inalienable rights and be bludgeoned over the head or shot in the face. This is not theoretical.
Scroll through Twitter and Facebook and everyone is talking about an event happening across the Atlantic that will have no effect on our lives in the UK whatsoever. Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer are lending their voices to the condemnation of the protesters. No one is defending the Trump supporters and of course they shouldn’t. But this is not a real attack on democracy — its the final scene of a reality TV personality who blagged his way into the Oval Office, aided and abetted by the American mainstream media. What did they expect? Its a pantomime with white guys in MAGA hats and draped in Trump flags taking a curtain call.
The American news is the story of a story which will end up being an ink stain on the American collar rather than a blood stain on its hands while Covid-19 rages on with real victims, real deaths and real lives ruined. 1041 deaths in the UK would, in any other circumstance be unbelievable. 20 die in a train crash and we are in national mourning. 50 times that number die in hospital and its a line in the news. Of course the answer is that 1041 is just a number. For someone who just lost a loved one it’s the number 1 that’s most significant. 50 times 20 is less significant than 1 times 1041. And for a nurse or doctor in a Covid ward its the loss of real people they lost that they take home with them.
Its a little cloudier today but the weather is still fine. I can take my daily exercise and it will feel like all is well with the world. Its important to enjoy the sunshine while all around feels bleak. Its unfortunately depressing to attend a funeral in the rain. We have to get on with our lives in the bleakest of times and a friendly smile is always appreciated, even when your world is falling apart. Maybe the storming of the Capitol is a welcome distraction for some (especially when its so remote) but for me its a reminder of how upside down the priorities of the media are and I don’t want to engage in it.
The real link between the event happening in Washington and the death toll in the UK is injustice. The storming of the Capitol Building is a clear demonstration of white privilege. The death toll in the UK is a demonstration of the government’s priorities where people come last. And let’s also not forget that Julian Assange still rots in Belmarsh Prison simply because he embarrassed the Americans. Which of those MAGA protesters will face torture for doing the same only criminally.