I think it's hilarious that people were outraged about the stay-at-home order protests that were happening a couple of months ago, but they seem to have no problem the protests that are happening now.
I have a problem with the protests happening now, and think they're a bad idea as far as controlling spread of this disease.
Surely you see a difference between protesting decades of ingrained violence and oppression by a largely white police force against people of colour (where the majority of protesters are wearing masks to attempt to limit spread of the virus), and protesting the medically advised action taken by state leaders in response to a global pandemic (where most people were not wearing masks, but many were carrying guns - I guess to shoot the virus if it showed up?) though, right? They are being executed in a very different manner, and are taking place for very different reasons.
So, while both sets of protests are bad, I view the former as more valid a cause and generally executed in a slightly safer manner.
From a medical standpoint, I don't see much difference between the two. And I don't remember any property damage, looting, or violence taking place during the stay at home protests.
Agreed, the virus doesn't care for what reasons people are congregating. If it's a bad idea to get a haircut or get your nails done, it's probably also not very smart, from a medical standpoint, for thousands of people to gather in the streets, shoulder to shoulder, screaming their lungs out. Obviously, BLM is a good cause, and I support it, but watching the gymnastics my mostly left-leaning neighbors seem to be attempting in order to justify BLM protests one day, and then condemn ReOpen protesters the next, is pretty amusing. As far as the narrative that left-wing BLM protesters are more likely to be wearing masks than right-wing ReOpen protesters goes, I haven't see that play out in real life experiences here in our (state capital) city. The ReOpen protesters have come twice in the past month, but only for one day, each time. BLM protests have been happening almost every day for the past 3 weeks. Two days ago, I rode my bike past the steps of our capitol, and there was a small crowd of about 50-60 people standing around listening to a series of speakers. Some were wearing masks. Some not. I noticed nobody was bothering to wipe down the microphone between speakers, who were YELLING into it.
As far as "property damage, looting, and violence during the protests" goes, right-wing, almost all white, ReOpen protesters were met by a small group of sympathetic, almost all white police officers, none of whom were dressed in riot gear. There were no police helicopters hovering overhead during the ReOpen protests. There were no police snipers posted on the roof of the capitol. During the ReOpen protests, most of the protesters who came to the capital were from more rural parts of the state. It's true that many of them came carrying big, showy, assault rifles. It's also true that there was no violence during the ReOpen protests.
During the initial BLM protest over George Floyd's killing, HUNDREDS of police officers (state troopers, city police, and capitol police) were dressed in full-on riot gear, with full length body shields, helmets, batons, and pepper spray. Friends who attended the first rally told me that the police made no attempt to communicate with them. When protesters decided, at one point, to march around the area of the capitol, suddenly, out of nowhere, a line of capitol police officers in full riot gear appeared and started pepper-spraying the crowd of, until then, completely peaceful, non-violent protesters. It was only
after the police instigated violence against non-violent citizens exercising their constitutional rights to express themselves that some young people (antifa?) threw some bricks and ended up burning a couple of police cars. Had the police done a better job at communicating with protesters, beforehand, about where it was okay and not okay to march, there wouldn't have been any problems. A few days later, our police chief, mayor and governor all marched with BLM protesters and, of course, then the police left them alone and there was zero violence.
So, it's true that there has been violence associated with BLM protests, and also that the gun-toting protesters at the ReOpen rallies in our city have been completely peaceful. The REASON for that difference, though, is BECAUSE of police officers' reaction to the protests. The police CAUSED the violence at the initial BLM rally in our city. OTOH, my white neighbor, who attended the first ReOpen protest (carrying his pistol with a CCP) told me, "The police were REALLY nice to us. One officer even took off his mask, shook my hand, and told me he totally agreed with the ReOpen movement. Then the policeman even posed for photos with me and some of the other guys with their big "machine guns."" Let's just say, there were no white cops posing for selfies with the BLM protesters. They were all hiding behind their riot shields, with stone faced, cold, scared(?) expressions on their faces.
