A million years ago, March 21st to be exact, a Scottsdale, Arizona business woman wrote an editorial that was somewhat brave considering Stay At Home Orders were only just beginning elsewhere and Arizona was lightly affected. In it, she pleaded with her city, state, and business community to take COVID-19 seriously, including shut downs:
The city’s haphazard statement released yesterday does not even come close to taking any sort of significant step to contain the spread of COVID-19.
This delay is shameful and it will not only cost us our livelihoods, but it will cost us precious lives too.
I implore you to use whatever influence you have to encourage [Mayor] Lane to swiftly act now.
If you have already made the very difficult and previously unfathomable decision to restrict your business operations due to the global health crisis, thank you.
Your swift leadership is commendable and exactly what is needed at this time. But right now, acting alone is not enough.
This is a straightforward, rational argument, in line with the recommendations of public health officials. One might consider it prescient since it was published on a day when Arizona only had 108 cases. As of today, Arizona has reported 1,000 TIMES that number, 108,614. Deaths climbed in the same timeframe from none to 1,963.
Later, she writes:
Yes, reported cases of COVID-19 are currently somewhat low in Arizona. That is changing rapidly on a day-to-day basis. We must act now to keep it that way to protect our state.
We must all collectively make the decision to put people before profits now. We must.
The author is Melissa Rein Lively. You may know her better as Target Karen or Rolex Karen. Yes, she is the same person who, some 3-½ months later, tore up a mask display in her local Target then claimed to be a member of Qanon and a spokesperson for Donald Trump while she was being arrested.
I am not going to pretend to understand the mental health issues that cause such a erratic shift, but I doubt those issues just occurred upon entering Target. It’s likely they were present when she submitted her rational and timely editorial as well. In fact, a writer in the comments section of the editorial seemed to be conducting an unrelated feud with her even back in March. If one wants more background, the ionizing radiation of Twitter is probably done converting her life in a pile of like-worthy cinders by now.
My point isn’t to excuse her actions or words. She caused damage. She caused grief for the people that had to deal with her. And of course her privilege meant she never had to worry about pistols being unholstered during her rant at the police. But once again, as I try to enjoy a cartoonish object of ridicule, that damn third dimension pops up.
It reminds me of how little we know of people, good and bad, through the novelty lens of social media. It also reminds me that individuals with significant mental health issues can produce positive contributions to the world, even if they get overshadowed by the sensationally awful.
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