Ep. #21: Why Aren't We Collectively Mourning?

Today we look at why we aren't mourning COVID-19 deaths collectively, as a nation, why collective mourning is important,  and what we can do about it.

First, we look at a couple of articles that may be of interest to OTW listeners: an NPR story evaluating the risks of various summer activities, and a piece from the NYT on erosion of trust in the government (wonder why!)

For our main topic we start with the cover of Sunday's New York Times, which featured the names and short descriptions of the lives of 1,000 COVID-19 victims, 1% of the 100,000 American dead.

Why has there been no national day of mourning to honor these Americans? Why is the President only lowering the flags now, and only for two days? Why does it seem as if the Republican Party is intentionally trying to downplay what has happened here?

Because acknowledging the dead would be to acknowledge the failures of the Trump administration to adequately prepare for this crisis. The GOP, as always, would rather scapegoat, distract, and pass the buck.

We look at a couple of key GOP talking points designed to undermine these deaths, including the Republican contention that older Americans basically don't count and the baseless GOP assertion that measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus are worse than coronavirus (the GOP loves to invoke Sweden here - we look at that, too).

But just because the GOP refuses to honor the dead doesn't mean we have to play along. We look at Teju Cole's essay, "We Can't Comprehend This Much Sorrow," as well as pieces on the importance of ritual and on "new ways to mourn" in the age of coronavirus.

What can we do?

Find ways to acknowledge and honor those who have died and continue to die, either through ritual or by sharing their stories through social media, in a letter to the editor, and with your elected representatives.

And, as always, if you aren't involved in a campaign at the local, state or federal level, now is the time to get involved. We shouldn't have to have a long conversation explaining why we need to collectively grieve in the midst of a national catastrophe. We should have leaders who get it, and leaders who lead. This administration has failed, and it's on all of us - collectively - to replace them. 

This episode was recorded on Monday,