City Safari: Philadelphia’s End The Lockdown Protest
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Photo: Protest. Stock image.
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Wed, May 13, 2020
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By Thom Nickels
Contributing Editor
Last week I made the decision to hop the Market Street El and head to City Hall to observe an End the Lockdown protest. Reading about the protest online I learned that it would mainly be a procession of vehicles circling City Hall. A car protest, of course, leaves a lot to be desired but given the current crackdown on large gatherings of people and the emphasis on social distancing, it was to be expected.
I didn’t expect much in the way of a protest, however. If this had been a free Mumia Abu-Jamal protest, or a rally celebrating Meek Mill, perhaps there would have been hundreds of people near or around Dilworth Plaza. While End the Lockdown protests have generated hundreds, even thousands of participants in other cities in the nation and across the world that would not be the case in Philadelphia. Generally—historically—Philadelphia has never been much of a ‘protest-marching’ city. Whatever the cause or issue—gay rights, women’s rights, Black Lives Matter—the protest numbers in the streets here have always been lower than they’ve been in other cities in the country.
When I emerged from the SEPTA clothespin subway exit near City Hall, I spotted scattered albeit small groups of people on the Plaza. Trump supporters, old grey haired veteran types in faded baseball caps carrying huge American flags and holding Trump 2020 posters.
Walking deeper into the Plaza, I noticed small groups of women, none of them wearing masks, earnestly engaged in conversations with passersby. They carried small print (homemade) End the Lockdown signs. The drivers in the cars circling City Hall honked their horns vigorously as some waved miniature American flags from car windows. Round and round they went, waving and honking to onlookers. I looked around for signs of a counter protest but saw nothing. What I did see were random street people types talking to the air. One man seemed especially angry but his indecipherable comments made it hard to know where he was coming from. One man did speak clearly and commented that he wished that "the Left people would get out there with their signs.” Ironically, he was not wearing a mask and probably had the Trump 20020 supporters in mind when he said this.
Police officers were everywhere, lines of them in yellow vests with some odd undercover types in suits glued to their phones. This was typical City Hall protocol. I watched as two old veteran codgers pulled a Macy’s like rack draped with Trump sweatshirts, T-shirts, buttons and MAGA hats. The sight was a real anomaly in this left progressive city, a catchy photo op moment in a town where the norm tends to be political philosophies and activism bred in Mt. Airy and Powelton Village kitchens.
Many things crossed my mind as I stood there watching the cars circle City Hall under grey skies and dustings of light rain.
My first thought was how some on Facebook, when they write posts about doing things outdoors with friends and family, go out of their way to add that they did this or that "at a safe social distance.” This mantra has now become part of our everyday language: "We had lunch on the patio, each of us of course "at a safe social distance,”; we played quoits in the backyard and laughed till we cried, "at a safe social distance”; we rode our bicycles along a country road, "at a safe social distance”; we toasted marshmallows at night around a campfire "at a safe social distance.”
It’s not keeping a safe social distance that I’m criticizing but the compulsive need that some people have to make sure they appear "correct” in public when describing what they’ve been up to. This creepy reaffirmation might only be a warding off of potential attacks and criticism from covid ideologues, many of whom can get pretty ugly when it comes to virtue signaling and scolding people for not obeying the rules.
Fanatics, as they say, are everywhere.
The social distancing mantra has even affected casual phone chats with good friends. Recently one of my friends told me, "I took a walk to Rittenhouse Square the other day and I ran into my good friend ----- and we had a good chat while keeping a safe social distance.” Okay, terrific, you get a gold star on your forehead and a plaque on Hollywood Blvd. but do I really need to hear this? I’m not your covid-19 parole officer, and I’m not going to report you to anyone if you spoke to your friend two feet apart instead of six. I won’t even report you if you two rubbed noses at the end of the conversation.
Getting back to that City Hall protest, I was startled to read in The Philadelphia Business Journalthat there were counter protests at the rally. I did not see any counter protests. Perhaps they went by in a flash when I had my back turned, or perhaps they appeared fifteen minutes before I arrived at City Hall. Whatever the case, they didn’t hang around very long. The only protests I spotted were lone individuals who seemed to be talking to themselves.
The Philadelphia Business Journalreported on the rally before it took place and quoted PhillyReopen’s (organizers of the protest) comment on Twitter:
"Let's fill Broad Street and Market Street, from all sides, circling City Hall, and let Mayor Kenney, whose administration still collects their full paychecks while they raise our taxes, know that we won't be left behind and won't comply to his disastrous budget plan.”
As someone once said, "Thus do we build castles in the air when flushed with wine and conquest.”
End the lockdown protests tend to enrage certain types of Philadelphia journalists.
A writer for Philadelphia Magazine, in writing about a massive end the lockdown protest in Harrisburg in April, wrote:
"These individuals, by flouting social distancing mandates and potentially exposing others to a deadly virus that spreads in crowds as a way to tout their political views, are threatening the public safety of countless others. It’s one thing to disagree on politics; it’s another thing to rebel against the Department of Health’s current mandates, against science, against basic math.”
But what about those scientists who dispute the scientists supported by WHO, or the physicians and experts who take issue with the so-called numbers and "basic math?”
Calling End the lockdown protesters "terrorists” reminds me of something I read by Elizabeth Nolan Brown last month in Reason:
"After last week's protest around the Michigan Capitol, a picture of someone holding a large swastika flag that said "TRUMP PENCE" began circulating on social media as a sign of the supposed Nazi leanings of Trump supporters and the people protesting. But after some viral outrage about the kind of people the conservative organizers of these protests were in cahoots with, it turns out that the picture in question actually came from a March 2 Bernie Sanders rally in Boise, Idaho.”
Censorship of alternate views concerning the virus and those protesting the lock down on You Tube, Facebook and other social media has become its own pandemic, so much so that—as many have stated-- one has to wonder if the collateral damage from all of this will be greater than the damage inflicted by the virus.
Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago, in a truly horrifying, angry speech (her face bunched up like a clenched fist) threatened anyone—businesses, etc—that broke lockdown rules. "We will shut you down,” she said, "We will take you to jail.” The only thing missing from her speech was the heel-clicking sound of "Sieg Heil!”
Bill Maher, hardly a Trump fan, questioned the necessity of a continued lockdown and stay-at-home orders. "Hospital inspired infections kill more people than covid-19,” Maher said. As does lacking health insurance and being jobless in a ruined economy. "We need the news to calm down and treat us like adults. Trump calls you fake news…don’t make him be right!”
The views of dissenting physicians and scientists are squashed at every turn. Whether it’s Dr. Dan Erickson and Dr. Artin Massihi in California, whose famous 5,000,000 hit You Tube video on covid-19 was removed because it "went against community standards,” or Dr. Judy Mikovits’ testimony on You Tube (also removed) that countered the "Shut up and obey” narrative that has people hiding in their homes and fearing for their lives. The list goes on to include reasoned testimony from world renowned Epidemiologist Dr. Knut Wittkowski, whose videos, miraculously, still remain on You Tube.
One can disagree with a Dr. Judy or a Dr. Erickson and present the medical facts as they see them. But let’s have debate and open dialogue and not censor or eradicate opposing views because some (or many) find them disturbing, intimidating or "false.” Shutting down the opposition only increases the opposition. Censorship lends credibility to banned counter narratives.
I look forward to the day when Philadelphia’s lockdown restrictions are lifted. Like many people, I need a haircut, and it would also be nice to be able to go to church again. During this time I’ve noticed that some friends and acquaintances have become so immersed in self-isolation that they’ve lost the ability to reach out and communicate. This might be the psychological effects of long term lockdown. The lockdown has affected their psyche, forcing them to retreat further into themselves. I know because it’s happened to me, and it’s an odd phenomenon to say the least.
Philadelphia has faired pretty well during this trying time. The police here have not acted irrationally by ticketing or harassing people who might violate a rule or two. I’ve yet to hear of police breaking up private patio or beer parties which sometimes occur in my neighborhood. Some pawnshops and phone stores are still open in Kensington. I’ve also heard my fair share of stories about barbershops that have a back door to let in select customers. I’ve even met massage therapists and tattoo artists who have quietly moved their businesses to their homes so that they can work to pay their bills.
As oft been said: You gotta do what you gotta do.
