Stay-at-home protests have been rising up all across the country. Protests have popped up in Annapolis, Maryland, Austin, Texas, Lansing, Michigan, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, San Diego, California, and so many other cities nationwide. Some of these protests have had #FireFauci chants break out. People are fed up with not working and having our economy shutdown for the extended period of time it has thus far in order to "flatten the curve". People think enough is enough and some believe this has been a huge overreaction; has it been? Millions have gotten laid off causing the unemployment rate to skyrocket...it appears that the state of the economy has been a far greater concern to these protesters than the actual virus itself.
Social media platforms such as Facebook have actually pulled down posts and information on these stay-at-home protests claiming they qualify as "harmful misinformation". Mark Zuckerberg told Good Morning America that there is a "line on this" stuff. If events posted on Facebook violate local state laws, they will be taken down. However if there is an event organized to protest the stay-at-home order by way of organizing cars to demonstrate and block off traffic in order to protest, that event will remain up regardless of if Facebook agrees with it. According to The Hill, a spokesperson told them: "Unless government prohibits the event during this time, we allow it to be organized on Facebook. For this same reason, events that defy government's guidance on social distancing aren’t allowed on Facebook."
Overall, what do you make of these protests? Are you for them or against them? I personally understand why people would want to protest and I believe their voices should be heard but I also think people need to be smart about it. Just because your life has been affected financially but maybe not physically with the virus in terms of being laid off, is no excuse to act like the virus is not an actual threat to SOME and maybe doing your part means reducing the risk of infecting others regardless of if you actually get sick or not. Why not a virtual protest? In this age of social media and the best of the best technology, there are limitless ways you can protest and express your freedom of speech without physically breaking the guidelines. It's a matter of still voicing your opinion and expressing your freedom of speech while also protecting others. There is indeed a way to accomplish both and I think people need to use common sense with this stuff. If you are out there physically protesting you actually might do more harm than good in prolonging this stay-at-home order. No one is telling you you can't express your opinion (even Facebook allows that), it's just the physical action in public that they are asking you to abide by the guidelines for public safety concerns so be smart about this. What are your thoughts?
Dr. Fauci was asked by George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America today how he feels about the protests that are popping up and people calling for him to be fired. This was his response:
"It's going to backfire, that's the problem". That's honestly my concern, that while people are upset and want to protest, this action by them could prolong the very process they are railing against.
-Producer Lightning