History Will Decide

When the history of COVID-19 in NYC is written, there will be lots of stories about how people broke the rules of quarantining and social distancing to keep doing the two things that were most miserably impacted by it -- making money and partying.

Back in the 19th century, in the horrific days of slavery, there was the Underground Railroad; a hundred years ago, back in the days of Prohibition in the 1920s, there were speakeasies and bathtub gin. Now, in 2020, in the year of the plague, there are secret parties where people hang, dance, rage, do drugs, hook up, and act like nothing has changed since last year. Sure, these are "superspreader events" (another word added to the popular vernacular this year) but these people don't care if they get sick or get anyone else sick. 

They're partying -- and no one will stop them!

History will, of course, have the final word. The Underground Railroad is now properly celebrated as the great act of rebellion, of liberation, against the evil institution of slavery. The legacy of prohobition is more mixed -- the speakeasies are romanticized as places where people escaped the moralistic tyranny and stupidity of prohibition, who showed how dumb and unworkable it was, even though doing so unwittingly led to the rise of organized crime in America. 

But how in the hell are people engaging in risky behavior that spreads a virus, blatently ignoring medical and pubilc health advice, going to be viewed by history? Probably the same way it looks at the people in black and white photographs protesting the racial integration of public schools in the South -- shameful and stupid.