It seems like certain people, especially those who don't believe coronavirus is a problem, think that those who do believe that coronavirus is a problem must think that coronavirus is the largest problem in the world, and thinking of other issues as being maybe more important is somehow hypocritical.
And this makes a certain amount of sense, since those people tend to believe that racism really isn't a very important problem, so beliving the very small problem of racism trumps the arguably more important problem of coronavirus seems hypocritical to them.
That makes sense, if you pick the maximally uncharitable position that eliminates most good arguments. Instead of a strawman, try the common sense approach: COVID-19 required a state-wide lockdowns, closing of international borders, hospitalization of thousands and the death of, it's argued, hundreds of thousands, and in many cases a ban on work. This is
unprecedented in history. Europe during the plague didn't go this far (although they should have!). And you are comparing that to a probably not even elevated level in police crime, and saying that comparisons to this show that people critiquing it probably don't care about either?
Now it may be true that some right-wingers never actually cared about either. But why don't you ignore that and use your own logic if you think some people are less able to:
does it make sense to ignore social distancing to help curtail a few police deaths? The people on these forums on the left were arguing profusely that perhaps millions would die, which is beyond anything other than a world war. The borders were closed, people jobless. But risking an uptick in that is ok if it means protesting the death of one person? And you don't see how that can
very reasonably be seen as hypocritical? I'll make it easy for you: it *is* hypocritical. There, I've done the math for you. Actually it's more: it proves that the fact that it was a public health hazard actually meant less to those protesters than the fact that it was a social justice cause. And when a new, hotter social justice cause came along, it supplanted the old one as the cause du jour. It's no mystery, the fact pattern fits this perfectly. As an anecdotal case in point, prior to the protests I saw countless "stay home, it saves lives" posts, mask posts, etc etc. It was relentless, and the only topic I saw posted about. Starting
the day of the protests and since then,
I have not seen one singe post about "stay safe" or "wear a mask. Not one. They are *all* about the protests.
Now tell me, are all of those activists concerned about medical safety, or are they chiefly concerned with being seen as saying the right things about the right topics? It is all too clear which it is.
This does not, btw, reflect on my views about each topic. I am personally quite serious about the police issues, as you know, and will welcome reforms if there are any. But that's not the point; what we are talking about is groupthink and social justice pressuring. You should beware of the bulletproof shield around people on the left causing you to attribute any strange thing to some error from those on the right.