You’re on your own, kid!

April 27, 2022

How the new masking guidance leaves most Americans high and dry ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

April 27, 2022

Dear Meteor readers,

I hope last night was as good for you as it was for me.

OMG, I don’t mean like that.

Last night was incredible because the Meteor team gathered a small group of friends to attend the first installment of our global summit: 22 For ‘22: Visions for a Feminist Future.

Hosted by The Moment Symone D. Sanders—we listened to brave, courageous stories from activists, journalists and artists: Filmmaker Janicza Bravo talked to #metoo leader Tarana Burke about the power of owning your own story; Amandla Stenberg chatted with Raquel Willis about making space for trans and non-binary voices in our movements; the great Dolores Huerta in conversation with Chris Smalls—a historic meeting between two generations of labor leaders—brought the crowd to their feet. I am still buzzing.

We laughed. We wow’d. We cried. We hugged. You literally cannot miss this. Register ASAP for our May 9th event—where we’ll go live with these conversations and more!

In today’s newsletter journalist Rainesford Stauffer considers how the “best of luck to you” attitude of the new masking guidance might feel eerily familiar to many of us.

But first, the news.

Xoxo,

Samhita Mukhopadhyay

WHAT’S GOING ON

Blue bird billionaire: The richest man in the world has struck a deal with Twitter to acquire the company for $44 billion. Elon Musk’s potential rule set off protests across the platform and raises several questions about the future of the tech giant. If he, as he has suggested in the interest of “protecting free speech,” pulls back many of the safeguards that have made Twitter a slightly better user experience than some other platforms—especially if you are a woman or a person of color—it could very well once again become a cesspool of hate speech. Twitter, I wish I knew how to quit you.
La loser: French President Emmanuel Macron has won his reelection bid against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen—but it was, for many, too close for comfort. While world leaders celebrate this victory of a more democratic France, it’s worth reading up on how a nationalistic, anti-immigrant candidate garnered so much support and what the global community must learn from her rise.
Burnt to a crisp: A survey released this week found there is a “burnout epidemic” among women, and it’s pushing some out of their jobs. “Fifty-three percent of women reported stress levels higher than they were a year ago, with mental health lagging and work-life balance nearly nonexistent,” NBC reports. It’s like the second round of The Great Resignation, but with more crying and less mental stability. Come on, folks, it’s been two years already, and workers are still SCREAMING for some sort of sign their employers care about their sanity. *Taps mic* Is this thing on!?

AND:

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s texts to Mark Meadows during the Jan. 6th insurrection are a wild ride.
You NEED to read this extensive report on one private equity firm’s abuse of hundreds of disabled people under the guise of providing them quality care.
We are literally obsessed with Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
In Texas, Melissa Lucio has been granted a stay of execution. Lucio was convicted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, but new evidence and testimony have cast doubt on her guilt.
The Anti-Defamation League said reports of antisemitic “assaults, vandalism and harassment” in 2021 are the highest it has ever seen on record.
What if motherhood is the hero’s journey?

—SM

MASK ON MASK OFF

“Toxic Individualism Is Just Classic Americana”

The confusing and downright unclear mask mandates are a reminder of how little America cares for its most vulnerable

BY RAINESFORD STAUFFER

STUDENTS IN NEVADA PROTESTING THEIR CAMPUS’S MASK POLICY (PHOTO BY TY O’NEIL VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Last week, a video raced around social media feeds: Airline passengers, upon hearing that the mask mandate for planes and public transit had been lifted mid-flight, were seen waving their masks and cheering as if they were crossing a finish line. Those who had booked their flights under the impression that passengers and crew would be masked were trapped with no escape, the cheers drowning out the concerns of those who didn’t want to risk contracting COVID. It was a viral version of a common pandemic theme: You’re on your own, good luck!

Un-American selfishness? Hardly. It’s “classic Americana,” says Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Vice President of Programs and Strategy at Insight Center for Community Economic Development. “The end of the mask mandate on public transportation is a perfect example of how toxic individualism has a stronghold on American society,” she said.

There are examples of extreme individualism everywhere: Teachers are resorting to pooling their own leave to “donate” to colleagues who have been denied paid time off or run out of sick days; parents and caregivers exiting the paid workforce with little support at home to manage childcare and work; millennials and Gen Xers having to care for their children and their aging parents with little support; high costs of health care; and unbearable student debt. Young people are regularly told to go vote when they are upset about their lived conditions, even when that vote doesn’t necessarily make their material lives much better.

Even before the mask mandate was lifted, the government was failing disabled, chronically ill, and immunocompromised people, systemically devaluing their lives and refusing to address accessibility and safety concerns. Kathryn, a disabled mother who works full-time from home and is the parent of a seven-year-old, doesn’t have faith in their daughter’s school’s ventilation–their daughter brought COVID home during her first week of in-person school. “Children can’t decide for themselves not to go to school,” Kathryn said. “We can’t say that a child’s ‘personal choice’ had much to do with it.”

THIS SIGN MAY AS WELL BE A FOSSIL (PHOTO BY JUSTIN SULLIVAN VIA GETTY IMAGES)

Most of Kathryn’s concern has to do with their long history with Epstein–Barr virus, which, reactivated, could cause long COVID symptoms. Additional debilitating fatigue and brain fog would likely take them out of the workforce permanently. They see the lack of attention to COVID safety as just another example of not prioritizing disabled people–similar to the lack of seating in public places, a “strong signal that the community doesn’t want me out in public,” they said. Kathryn has mobility challenges, but the “solutions,” like hauling their own chair, put the weight on personal choices and removes the impetus on systems to make changes.

That’s the highly American tendency toward “individualizing responsibility,” says Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist and Health and Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University. That’s the academic term for reframing a collective problem as an individual one to deflect blame from the state or corporations—similar to the way the disposable packaging industry proposed personal recycling as a solution to waste.

“The end of the mask mandate on public transportation is a perfect example of how toxic individualism has a stronghold on American society”

But the truth is, our government officials have acted as if masks are a burden—and issued contradictory guidance about them. For example, even the CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, called masks a “scarlet letter ”; politicians have been unwilling to continue implementing mask mandates; the CDC reported that N95 and KN95 masks are best for avoiding infection, especially in indoor settings, then shortly after, announced it was safe for most Americans to go without masks in indoor settings (despite lack of mandates rendering those spaces inaccessible to wide swaths of people).

Masking being framed as an individual choice–as opposed to a collective effort–disproportionately harms people who are most marginalized by a society rooted in systemic racism and ableism: disabled and immunocompromised people, working-class people of color who are more likely to be in “frontline” jobs that require in-person work and commuting, older people and families with children under five–for whom there is no vaccine.

Some transit systems, including New York’s MTA and public transit and airports in Los Angeles County, are still requiring masks. As writer and public health researcher Abdullah Shihipar wrote for Slate, “one-way masking exists on a continuum of risk mitigation, with universal masking—using masks that filter well—being the best case.” Just as you can’t bootstrap your way out of a pandemic, you can’t wish it away in pursuit of personal freedom, either; the risks are still real.

That’s what Bhattacharya asks us: “What if we framed masking as a way to eliminate a virus that then gives us all collective freedom to live our lives without threat? This kind of thinking is not available to us within the confines of toxic individualism.”

Rainesford Stauffer is a freelance writer who has written for Teen Vogue, the New York Times, InStyle, Vox, and Scalawag, among others. She’s the author of An Ordinary Age, which came out in 2021 from Harper Perennial, and All the Gold Stars, forthcoming from Hachette Go.

JOIN US!

Don’t forget to register for what we’re sure is going to be the most invigorating virtual event of Taurus season, 22 For ’22: Visions for a Feminist Future presented by The Meteor and Gucci’s CHIME FOR CHANGE!