Virus vitriol shows a nation that’s ailing
If no one in America succumbs to the coronavirus it will nevertheless have kicked open the door to understanding just how sick we already are.
There’s a corrosive divisiveness afflicting our land. It’s as potentially lethal as cancer and every bit as indiscriminate, and the most disheartening aspect of it is that it’s intentionally passed on.
Watch TV. Read the papers. Listen to speakers.
As Pogo the Possum of comic strip lore famously noted, “We have met the enemyandheisus.”
Once the colorful embodiment of our democracy, our politics have become infected with Pavlovian malice, toxic rancor and poorly scripted cheap shots.
When did we become so nasty?
We used to be better than this, remember?
Perhaps, having watched how those in our government’s highest places engaged in the lowest forms of gamesmanship — the Brett Kavanaugh inquisition, the farcical impeachment proceedings — it should have surprised no one that Donald Trump’s initial response to the coronavirus global menace was quickly followed by Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, et al., racing to the nearest microphones to say what a jerk the president is.
This had nothing to do with his thoughts on the economy, or immigration, or foreign relations.
Reasonable people can debate those topics all day.
But coronavirus? Like a forest fire, hurricane, flood or nor’easter, it ought to have a unifying effect, causing otherwise quarrelsome elements to pull together, if only to acknowledge we’re all in the same boat.
If ever there was an issue of common concern to everyone, transcending party lines and philosophical differences, it should have been the emergence of this deadly plague.
Instead there are those whose political biases saw it as an opportunity to pounce, offering ideology where leadership was needed.
In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Ned Martin — an Iwo Jima Marine who later spent 32 seasons broadcasting Red Sox games — saw that evil attack as an occasion for American oneness.
“No matter what you think of New York,” he said, “and we’ve all heard the ‘I hate New York’ foolishness for years, it’s the big town in our country; these people picked the biggest buildings in the biggest town in America, and that made it personal for all of us.”
That’s what coronavirus ought to be: Personal for all ofus.
Listening to the Pelosis and Schumers shamefully exploit this potential pandemic for political gain is repugnant, recalling the unforgettable question Boston-based attorney Joe Welch indignantly asked Congressman Joe McCarthy during the latter’s destructive hunt for Communists in Hollywood and government:
“Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?”
It’s a question that could be asked this morning.
There’ll be plenty of time for political combat later.
But right now, we’re in this together, or ought to be.