“Η παραμονή στο σπίτι είναι προνόμιο, το ίδιο και η κοινωνική απόσταση Πηγή”:
“Staying at Home is a Privilege, and the Same for Social Distancing”
Translated by Amanda Kubic
There are countless occurrences of people who are facing a terrible dilemma these days: stay at home to starve, or go to work with the hope that you won’t get infected.
April 6th, 2020
The whole world says it, the line that Coronavirus is totally indifferent to class, race, or the country one belongs to, that Covid-19 is able to strike anyone, anywhere.
Theoretically, this is true. But only theoretically. In practice however, in the real world, this virus behaves just like everyone else, targeting the weakest in society. Not because it has some specific preference, but because they are the most vulnerable, the most susceptible, the most unwell, the easiest targets.
This is partly the reason why we gullibly accept so much misinformation. This perception that the illness is allegedly supposed to strike representatives of the “jet set,” as it was rumored especially at the beginning of the spread of the pandemic, or the foolish, privileged youth, has to end immediately. Beyond the virus itself, we must also eliminate the idea that it’s supposed to be a killer that does not make social distinctions.
We must also not overlook the callous message that says defense against the virus is strictly a matter of individual control and individual responsibility: simply stay at home and maintain social distance.
We easily forget how many jobs–a very wide range of occupations that rely on personal contact– are not at all able to take place from home.
Staying at home is a privilege. And the same for social distancing.
There are countless occurrences of people who are facing a terrible dilemma these days: stay at home to starve, or go to work with the hope that you won’t get infected.
Almost all of the public conversations regarding the virus bear a stain of economic elitism. Social media is full of critical posts against those people who crowd together on the buses or at the parks or who wait in line outside of fast-food restaurants, instead of being shut up inside, like those who judge them from their comfortable and well-stocked homes.
The truth is that most of the world is not able to understand what it’s like to live in a small space full of family members, to not have enough money for food, to live in a food desert without a variety of fruits and vegetables, with access only to cheaper ‘junk food.’
Furthermore, even panic constitutes a privilege for those who have rarely been panicked in their lives under the weight of dire circumstances.
We wish we could all be shut inside, without exception, for however long is necessary, but we must understand that everyone is not able to do this, and not because they are pathologically indifferent to the common good.
For the rest of us who are able to stay in and for whom the greatest concern is the boredom and stress of confinement, it would be good not to criticize those who are struggling for survival, now so more than ever.
From the article “Social Distancing is a Privilege,” published in the New York Times.