There is a storm brewing and it’s not weather related. There are a few hotbed topics floating around the public right now that simply can’t be ignored. This is not a call to action in support of your personal opinions on the matters at hand, but simply an effort to draw your attention to the current societal climate.
It’s been about 6 months since Canada saw it’s first case of Covid-19 and there are still hot spots here and there, mostly in urban areas with a high population density. This has become a concern for local health authorities and a few cities are considering or have already mandated that masks be worn in public places. The province of Quebec has made masks mandatory in indoor public spaces over the entirety of it’s territory, regardless of regional case loads.
As with any new regulation of this manner, there are supporters and there are opponents. When these two factions collide, the typical insults ensue. One has only to look as far as their social media feeds to see this. This, in and of itself doesn’t really pose much of a threat to society. In fact, most issues like this quickly fade away into memories much like the riots and looting that ensued after the death of George Floyd.
Here in Canada, even though the riots and looting have all but stopped, the George Floyd incident brought another public outcry to life; that of police overreach (for lack of a better term). What happened next is the public policing the police. Nearly everyone now has a high definition video camera with them at all times, and they have proven that they aren’t afraid to use them!
So what do these two social issues have to do with each other? In normal times, absolutely nothing. Masks are a public safety vs personal rights issue while police scrutiny is for the most part a racial issue. However, these two issues have become one, much bigger problem. We can see these two issues merge as we see police being called on shoppers that refuse to wear a mask.
The results are often anticlimactic and result in a fine or police just simply talking down the two parties. Unfortunately, that isn’t always the case. On July 15th, a 73 year old man was shot dead by police. What led to the shooting was a simple refusal to wear a mask while grocery shopping. Let that sink in for a while as you begin to understand just how fast an easy to solve situation gets way out of control. From beginning to deadly end, that whole incident lasted a matter of hours.
So here we are, a society divided over somewhat trivial issues such as masks. On the one side there are people with itchy fingers, overanxious to dial 911 on an elderly man who doesn’t want to wear a mask. On the other side are people who are looking to record anything they deem as police overreach. Hopefully y now, you can start to see where this could go and just how fast it can get there.
For now, society as a whole is still intact, but under the surface festers any number of issues that can add to the narrative without warning. There is the BLM issue, political discontent, and others. Who knows what will pop up next to add to the drama.
I’m not saying that societal collapse is imminent, I think we are still far away from anything widespread, but locally speaking, you might want to keep an eye out. Nerves are frayed close to the breaking point for a lot of folks, and it won’t take much to push a few of them over the edge. Keep an eye out when the next event triggers a social outcry. I have no idea if the next event will be the straw that breaks the camels’ back, but it just might do more harm that it would if it were a standalone issue.