Class, Not Race, Is the Issue in the Pandemic
21st April 2020
Audacious Epigone does some sociology.
An April 8 article in the New York Times breathlessly revealed that the coronavirus is killing blacks and Latinos in New York City at twice the rate of whites. This fits in with the Times thesis that race has been the most important issue influencing American politics and society since 1619. This allows the Times and other liberal commentators to bash right wingers, who “everyone knows” are racists.
But the issue with coronavirus, as with so much else in America, isn’t really about race; it’s about class. The middle class is winning, which isn’t surprising since most policy decisions today are made by middle-class bureaucrats and managers. Meanwhile, the working class is losing, which is sad because it actually forms the majority of people. If there is a right-left divide in the battle between middle-class elites and working-class victims, then the left is firmly on the side of the elites while Trump has brought working-class whites, at least, to the right side.