Anna: Today, brought to you by the “everything is political” school of thought, I’d like to spend a header discussing some COVID related life changes. My own state will be lifting the stay at home order on May 29th, at which point I assume most of the people in my county will immediately pretend nothing ever happened, will happen, or is happening. So my curiosity is this; in this shifting time of government declarations that aren’t technically laws, the politicization of if it even exists, and the rising tensions of election year…. How are y’all supposed to be dating right now?
This subject fascinates me. The government could effectively end up accidentally (or intentionally, your state legislature’s evangelical ratio may vary) criminalizing the concept of dating depending on how long and how bad this crisis goes. There are health concerns to meeting up with strangers, and it’s a bit hard to plan a date when everything is closed. Also, many cities have been accused of enforcing social distancing and stay at home rules disproportionately on non-white and marginalized populations. Now imagine the implications of this.
Americans are at massively high rates of unemployment, meaning social security is about to take a hit. We already have a lower birthrate, it could very well drop again from this. The people most likely to carry on are those who aren’t concerned about the virus, meaning any children being born are being raised with parents who uh…. Maybe won’t raise the most educated and aware next generation, heading into a school system that has been hobbled by the crisis. College students aren’t even sure if they’ll be on campus next semester yet, a time when many young people start seriously dating for the first time or allowed to date without their parents’ expectations. Also, if birthrates are down AND your leadership seems determined to close all immigration where are you getting people from? The butterfly effects could go on forever.
Monty: Let’s please not treat Idiocracy as a documentary.
Anna: I said could.
Monty: In my life right now, it’s a matter of trust. Israel lifted the lockdown nearly three weeks ago now, and the government succeeded so effectively in mitigating the crisis that people now believe there was never a crisis to begin with.1 That actually cost me a date I had been looking forward to since March, but I haven’t looked back. It is strange though, because I know I’m making progress with someone intellectually but don’t feel it instinctively. Maybe I’d be more excited about hand-holding if I was in middle school.
Incidentally, I looked it up and there are no Evangelical Christians in the Knesset.
Anna: Meanwhile I’ve been in a relationship for five years and I still get excited about hand holding. I saw a couple holding hands at the store and recoiled. They probably live together but why would you risk it right now!?
Monty: It is at this point that I feel I can no longer comment on what’s going on in the US in a meaningful way. I’ve been gone too long and our situations are too different. Most Israelis aren’t paying attention to the situation there, and the few that are are either into what Trump is doing or watching the disaster with the same sense of resignation as the rest of the world.
Anna: Listen fam, it’s American allergy season. I gotta be on high alert.
