1. A lot of American systems were one big shock away from disaster and this is that disaster. Healthcare, but also public education, libraries, childcare, firefighting, policing, and food systems. And democracy. I suspect infrastructure will be next.

2. The pandemic has made people’s beliefs about compassion, personal and communal responsibility and altruism abruptly visible. Once you could be friends with someone and never know if they felt a responsibility to care for their community. Now you know. We’re saying the quiet part out loud and it’s not nice.

3. Marginalized people: like poor people, people with disabilities, and BIPOC have always lived with a constant risk calculation for every decision. Now middle class white people have to do that too and they don’t like it. (Because no one likes it.)

4. Historically middle class white people have been able to opt out of thinking about difficult/ complex issues and they are so mad right now that they can’t.

Being “apolitical” was always a privilege.