Read on Twitter
the whole "medical workers are heroes" thing is definitely largely to cast them in a role where they& #39;re thanked for their "sacrifice" and never given proper PPE and the like, just like everyone& #39;s saying. but it& #39;s not just that
it& #39;s also an attempt to put them above question and in the troop/cop category so that can be used to deflect from the racist biases of the healthcare system and the racist actions of individual healthcare professionals that& #39;s happening here
so that as this goes on and people of color, especially Black people, end up dying at higher rates than white people, there& #39;s a built in "how dare you question the morality of these brave heroes" to shoot down criticism with
i think we& #39;ll see plenty of other forms of bigotry at work too-- i bet that central park tent hospital where the workers have to pledge themselves against gay marriage is letting queers die at higher rates than cishets-- but racism is gonna be the big one
there& #39;s been a lot of talk about how Black people are dying at much higher rates than whites and how a lot of it is class and environmental racism but the medical system has always been racist and it& #39;s not gonna stop just because of daily sessions of everyone clapping
with risk of going into the american civic religion again, this elevation of doctors/nurses to troop/cop status is used now to make them safely, heroically disposable, and tomorrow it will be used as a shield against pointing out the biases in who disproportionately died
just like troop worship is used as a shield against criticism of both american military policy and against abuse performed by the military
if you want context for the civic religion thing, here& #39;s my previous thread on it https://twitter.com/NoraReed/status/1117297885647757313?s=19">https://twitter.com/NoraReed/...
civic religion side note: the "treat this like a war" thing is also partially an attempt to create a narrative that fits into the civic religion; Americans are simply easier to manipulate and manage when we& #39;re talked to in those terms
that sucks but is not related to what this thread is about
that is also unrelated to what i am talking about, sorry
