I know you’ve banned the NY Times, but they did run an article back in June titled “Are Protests Dangerous? What Experts Say May Depend on Who’s Protesting What.”
The Washington Post opinion page offered a justification from a public health worker for the discrepancy in September 2020: “But there is one key difference between social justice protests and Trump rallies: Those attending BLM protests by and large grasp the danger and are motivated to reduce their risk, while a large share of those attending Trump rallies deny that there is a danger at all.”
It does seem, then, that there was at least some explicit reckoning with this discrepancy. We might not buy their justification.
When I look at this picture, I see that it is taking place outside, with some distance between participants, that there is widespread mask usage, and that they are not apparently protesting against anti-pandemic measures. So it seems to me that a “COVID risk” framing is inappropriate, even under the justifications offered for supporting the BLM protests and not the anti-lockdown protests.
I know you’ve banned the NY Times, but they did run an article back in June titled “Are Protests Dangerous? What Experts Say May Depend on Who’s Protesting What.”
The Washington Post opinion page offered a justification from a public health worker for the discrepancy in September 2020: “But there is one key difference between social justice protests and Trump rallies: Those attending BLM protests by and large grasp the danger and are motivated to reduce their risk, while a large share of those attending Trump rallies deny that there is a danger at all.”
It does seem, then, that there was at least some explicit reckoning with this discrepancy. We might not buy their justification.
When I look at this picture, I see that it is taking place outside, with some distance between participants, that there is widespread mask usage, and that they are not apparently protesting against anti-pandemic measures. So it seems to me that a “COVID risk” framing is inappropriate, even under the justifications offered for supporting the BLM protests and not the anti-lockdown protests.