{"id":19630,"date":"2020-06-17T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=19630"},"modified":"2020-06-16T12:26:11","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T19:26:11","slug":"student-editors-letter-dont-call-covid-19-unprecedented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/06\/17\/student-editors-letter-dont-call-covid-19-unprecedented\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Editor\u2019s Letter: Don\u2019t call COVID-19 unprecedented"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard\u2014and at this point, probably glazed over while hearing\u2014the word \u201cunprecedented\u201d at least once or twice lately. I\u2019m only starting to realize now that, in most contexts, it was a misused and fey platitude used to describe a frightening scenario that we didn\u2019t know what else to call. Labels serve an important function in helping us to make sense of, and feel safe during, what\u2019s happening around us, and we had to call the sudden upheaval of life as we knew it something. But it wasn\u2019t exactly unprecedented.<\/p>\n

There was, and still is, quite a bit of anxiety about the state of things, and much of that is necessary and rational, but hardship also doesn\u2019t get made better by the idea of COVID-19 resulting in unprecedented realities\u2026 and it\u2019s not that unprecedented. I find the past comforting when it\u2019s used to better understand the present.<\/p>\n

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A sign at Camosun College’s Lansdowne campus (photo by Greg Pratt\/Nexus<\/em>).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 1973 oil crisis, the Spanish flu, the World Wars: these are three examples on a much longer list of crises where peoples\u2019 lives were suddenly and dramatically changed and threatened. Of note, our most basic needs of safety, food, shelter, and health were threatened, which is scary. It makes you realize that you\u2019re one piece of sand on an ever-shifting bluff, and that, at any moment, a strong gust can sweep you to a new place. But you physics majors out there know that what swipes your feet out from under you will bring you back down\u2014with calmness, hopefully, and not ferocity.<\/p>\n

We will all be put back down to what is familiar. Don\u2019t let the possibility that it won\u2019t be the same trick you into thinking this as unprecedented as some narratives and dialogues would suggest.<\/p>\n

There are aspects of the unprecedented (particularly around social media and misinformation), but a global pandemic is not unprecedented; neither are economic turmoil, massive unemployment rates, and enormous political unrest.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s hard to stomach, let alone digest. Until I started changing my behaviours in recent weeks to really kick reality in the ass, I was feeling very depressed about it all. But we\u2019ve been through this before and came out changed and stronger, and we can, will, and must do the same here, together, and with critiques according to the errors of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve all heard\u2014and at this point, probably glazed over while hearing\u2014the word \u201cunprecedented\u201d at least once or twice lately. I\u2019m only starting to realize now that, in most contexts, it was a misused and fey platitude used to describe a frightening scenario that we didn\u2019t know what else to call. Labels serve an important function […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-views"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t