Thread by @jwpnfld

The so-called "learning to live with it" phase of the pandemic is the most brutal so far.

It is showing precisely who and how many our society is willing to sacrifice in the name of supposedly "returning to normal."

That is not to say earlier stages of the pandemic (and before) were without cruelty. But now there is no longer even the pretense of decency.

People openly express who they think should be excluded or made disposable so they can "get on with things" and "live their lives."

The brutality has become all too clear to disabled people, older adults, and anyone who is vulnerable. They see people in their community, or even some of their family and friends, who are unwilling to do the bare minimum to keep them safe, as though their existence is a burden.

On the broader social level, more people are dying of COVID-19 this year in Canada than in any previous year of the pandemic, while mass infection and reinfections debilitate and harm people of all ages.

The impacts of long covid are becoming a threat to every aspect of society.

As more people become infected and reinfected, and as more people have ongoing health issues related to COVID-19, they too become acceptable sacrifices and disposable.

Yet for so many, it is only after the fact they realize this unapologetic brutality could apply to them.

Any ethically oriented people looking at this situation, seeing the cruelty and a society with a set of bared fangs, are not going to be able to feel good about participating and "returning to normal."

The only thing moral people can do is turn away and resist.

The effects of this brutality are immediate and embodied for those who are made disposable, but it also has broader social and political effects.

Once these attitudes are mainstreamed, it is frightening to imagine what else can be considered acceptable and where it leads next.