Four Uncheerful Articles

[minoanmiss]

Fun times in small towns
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/pandemic-leads-to-shunning-and-shaming-in-small-towns/ar-BB12gccQ?ocid=spartandhp

hospital chaplain's POV
https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/chaplain-nyc-coronavirus-interview.html

doctor in charge of Riker's Island jail
https://slate.com/technology/2020/04/coronavirus-covid19-rikers-island-jail-conditions-infections-freedom.html

"Who do we expect to sacrifice?"

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/04/coronavirus-deaths-essential-workers.html

" Anytime a group is hailed as “heroes,” you’re hearing a costless effort to elevate that group into an exalted category in payment for their lives—as we do to soldiers before sending them off. "

Comments

[cjsmith]

There sure is a bunch of uncheerful out there right now.

[cmcmck]

My nursing friends hate being called 'heroes', 'angels' or even (lord help us) 'saints'.

[minoanmiss]

Of course they do. They know that means they're being awarded a nonexistent medal instead of being given actual resources to do their job within human capabilities. I've been uncomfortable with that phrasing since it started and that line in that article crystallized my thought.

[amaebi]

I don't know that the chaplaincy article is uncheerful, really, though also not cheerful.

[thnidu]

I couldn't finish the last article. I started crying.

[lindahoyland]

Heartbreaking.