Tag Archives: Patriotism

Unvaccinated people targeted

Virtually, from the time he took office, Biden’s administration can be seen as incompetent, at best. Destroying various laws, purely because Trump passed them, rambling speeches, and let’s not forget the Afghanistan situation, Biden will undoubtedly go down as the worst president. America couldn’t help but wonder what nonsense would he come up with next? Now we know.

For months, he has pressured the 80 million unvaccinated Americans to get the vaccine. When that failed, he resorted to insults, calling them selfish among other things. However, because that also failed, he is now stepping things up. If you refuse to get vaccinated, you will simply lose everything. In what many platforms are calling, ‘a declaration of war against Americans,’ it appears that Biden is going to make moves that will harm his own people.

In his all so wonderful plan, Biden intends to punish unvaccinated individuals by forcing businesses to require the vaccine. Those who refuse, simply can’t work. If this sounds like fascism, that’s because it is. Across the country, protests are breaking out. People, who are fed up with the political nonsense, are demanding that Biden back off, uphold the constitution as he swore. Although this is effective, it appears to be having no effect. Biden, who simply laughs or ignores the American people, seems to be content with doing whatever he wants, and his approval rating has suffered, as a result.

While he, nor his administration seem to care, the people clearly do. Across the country, people are calling for his resignation over the Afghanistan fiasco, people have protested virtually every action taken by this administration, and people have even gone as far as to question his mental competency, some to the point of trying to invoke the 25th amendment. For Biden, the future is unclear. What is clear is he, without doubt, will not serve a second term. For the American people, the future currently seems even more bleak, results that are courtesy of illegal laws being passed by the Biden administration.

Disabled individuals targeted?

It goes without say that we should all be entitled to medical care. For some people, this form of care means life or death. However, in all the splendor joys that 2020 has already provided us, we are finding that, for many people, medical care is outright being denied. In fact, for specific groups of people, they aren’t even being allowed in the door before being asked to leave the facility. Why? It all boils down to the mask mandate. I understand that many people will disagree with this article. I also understand that I will most likely catch a lot of grief for writing it, however, I simply refuse to sit back and watch as specific groups of disabled people continue to be targeted, denied their basic right to medical. After all, we have already seen other rights be stripped away, we’ll get into that also.

Mask Mandate

First, and foremost, it is important to understand that the mask mandate is that: a mandate. Although many people will try to claim this to be law, it’s not. The difference in a mandate and law comes down to a variety of factors, how it came to be is among them. While state and federal laws get run through every government house known to man, the mandate had never undergone such a process. Basically, this makes it unenforceable by law enforcement, though they are attempting to enforce it anyway. The issue in them enforcing it can be chalked down into what the very definition of their occupation: to uphold and enforce the law.

Initially, the mask mandate was a suggestion. Never intended to be required, the government composed a list of “safety” procedures for people to follow, if they so wished. However, what we ended up seeing completely opposed this initial stance. In a progressively slow measure, this request grew into the mandate. Some of the “safety” guidelines are as follow:

  1. Stay at least six feet apart from one another. Apparently, we are facing the only known virus in history that has a travel distance of six feet.
  2. Wear a mask. This is something we are going to really get into shortly.
  3. Avoid large crowds. Goes back to the whole six feet portion.

Enforcement vs. your rights

In enforcing this potential violation to the constitution, as well as civil liberties, we have seen the outright measures our very own government are willing to take. In the past several months, we have seen churches forced into closing their doors and their ministers arrested upon refusing to do so. If you aren’t well versed in the Constitution yet, let’s just recap, shall we?

Under the first amendment, you have the right to free speech, the press, religion, and so on. In regards to religion, the amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Hence where their idea of enforcement now becomes a problem.

By forcing religious institutions into closing their doors, they directly violated the first amendment. Regardless of the reason as to why this was done, it changes nothing in regards to the result. To take it further, those who refused to cease practicing within their religious institutions, were simply arrested. Never, in the history of the United States, has a minister been arrested for refusing to terminate their religious practices; of course, this is no longer a truthful statement.

Within the mask mandate, there are exemptions that must be noted. It is these exemptions that have lead to this article. The exemptions within themselves aren’t the problem, it’s how businesses treat individuals who are exempted that has become the problem.

  1. pre-existing respiratory conditions.
  2. seizures
  3. sensory disorders, such as those associated with autism.

The above are only a few examples of things that are exempted. Regardless of this, corporations, and even medical facilities, are making blanket policies that force everybody, exempted or not, to wear these masks. Furthermore, for those who are exempted, there doesn’t appear to be any form of help with fighting these illegal policies. So, let’s go ahead and arm our disabled friends with a few pieces of legal information that may be of assistance.

The ADA

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is quickly becoming a critical law to know. Within this law, there are protections that could translate into the enforcement of these corporate policies, as well as the mandate itself though the mandate has exemptions for this very reason. The two titles that we are going to specifically focus on are II and III of the ADA.

Title II

“Title II applies to State and local government entities, and, in subtitle A, protects qualified individuals with disabilities from discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs, and activities provided by State and local government entities. Title II extends the prohibition on discrimination established by section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 794, to all activities of State and local governments regardless of whether these entities receive Federal financial assistance.”

Title III

Title III focuses on private businesses (also known as public accommodations). All new construction and modifications must be accessible to individuals with disabilities. For existing facilities, barriers to services must be removed if it is readily achievable. Public accommodations include facilities such hotels, restaurants, bars, theaters, grocery stores, hardware stores, dry-cleaners, banks, professional offices of health care providers, lawyers, and accountants, hospitals, private bus or train stations, museums, libraries, zoos, amusement parks, places of education, day care centers, senior citizen centers, homeless shelters, gymnasiums, health spas, bowling alleys, and golf courses to name a few.

To read this in its entirety, please visit this link.

Essentially, these titles prevent corporations, etc. from denying disabled individuals services solely on the grounds of their disabilities. For those who are being denied, as we’ve recently seen, this act will quickly become your best friend in fighting these unjust policies.

The mandate has been met with such controversy that lawsuits are currently ongoing. States such as Ohio, Wisconsin, and Texas are just a few states to mention. Rather or not you are for, or against the mandate, one thing must be clear: For the disabled individuals who cannot wear such devices, life has become a much more difficult challenge than what was ever needed. Rather it requires a revocation, overhaul, or even clarification of the mandate, to resolve the issues that are apparently present, it is, without a doubt, that action must be taken.

Jacob Blake: shooting review

Update

It’s been discovered that Jacob Blake had a warrant. It’s possible this may have played into his encounter with police. Photos sent to us by an anonymous source

This article is my review of the shooting. In it, we have the video, as well as screenshots from that video. You may, or may not agree with my statements. Ultimately, it is up to you to make your own conclusion.

The video of the shooting.

From the video, we can see the events as they unfold. There are several problems that I have observed within the video, let’s just dive right into this situation.

Image one, showing the two involved officers.

From the very start of the video, two officers are seen holding weapons. While it is unclear if both are lethal force, we know that at least one officer has a pistol. At this point, Jacob is observed going to the driver side of his vehicle, where his children are currently located. Though one officer (left of the one pointing a weapon) maybe holding a taser, based on how he’s holding the weapon. I am left to question why the other officer has a pistol. At this point, Jacob shows no signs of aggression, though I cannot speak for events that may had arisen prior to the video.

Jacob makes a disasterous choice.

Upon arriving to his door, Jacob makes a choice that may prove fatal. For unknown reasons, he is seen bending to a 90° angle. While this may not seem like much, it was more than enough for officers to believe a threat was present. This is where things become very questionable. The officers are seen standing behind Jacob, placing them into a position of power. This means that, even in a hand-to-hand situation, the officers have the advantage as it is difficult to fight when your opponent is behind you. With this, I question the fact that this officer chose to open fire when he clearly could had taken Jacob down with no problem. After all, they are trained to do tactics such as this.

Even if Jacob had been reaching for a weapon, the officers would had been able to react faster than him. By the time Jacob could had grabbed the alleged weapon, turned around, and fired, he would had already been taken to the ground. This, if anything, demonstrates not only the flaw within their department’s training, but also a severe lack of competency from its officers.

Jacob attempts to get into his vehicle as the officer fires.

Seven shots were fired into Jacob’s back. In training, we are told to “fire to stop the action or threat.” After one, maybe even two, shots, any potential threat Jacob had posed, would had been eliminated. So why did this officer shoot seven rounds? Again, this is a reflection of incompetent training and officers. At this point, as he’s being fired upon, Jacob attempts to get into the vehicle. For this, I have three theories:

1. Jacob was trying to create a barrier between him and the officer’s hailstorm of bullets. The front seat, being the barrier, could had potentially stopped further bullets.

2. Jacob may had been trying to flee the scene. Bear in mind, he had children in that vehicle. These children already witnessed their father being shot, it is possible that he was trying to flee in hopes of getting them out of the situation.

3. Jacob was shot in the back, this os critical to understand. Vital organs, such as kidneys, liver, etc. could had been damaged. This means that, as he bled out, his vision, ability to walk, stand, or even speak could had been impaired. Sitting would had been his safest choice. If he was able to apply enough pressure to his back, he very well could had slowed the bleeding until actual help arrived.

Officers showing how little control they have.

As the gun toting officer fired, a woman is observed walking to the scene. At this point, the other officer has seemingly walked away. It is clear to me that these officers have very little self control, they can’t even control the location. In no respectful police agency would this woman be able to walk up onto a shooting scene like this. Where did the officer go? That’s a very good question.

The other officer returns.

Although the other officer did return to the scene, I am stunned to see that nothing is done about the woman. They just shot a man, her presence there paces her in immediate danger. The officers involved clearly lack the cobtrol to use their training, aside lethal force. They further demonstrate their incompetence by failing to secure the scene, something that is more apparant in this photo.

It is, with my own training and evaluation, that I believe these officers used excessive deadly force. Their position from Jacob gave them more than enough alternatives that a shooting could had easily been avoided. While an investigation will ensue, as per department protocol, I do hold my reservations as to rather or not justice will come. The key evidence to this will really boil down to one question: did Jacob have a lethal weapon to which he was attempting to retrieve? Based on the current evidence, within this video, I don’t believe that is the case. The fact that his children were literally next to him, in the very vehicle to which he was shot, only furthers my belief toward this.

Chris Hansen sparks controversy

Famous journalist, Chris Hansen, has apparantly enraged many of the people who came to trust him. The famous journalist, known for targeting child predators, had allegedly sold the rights for his Onision investigation. While Hansen has claimed it to be a move to gain more attention, the online community is simply not buying it. In one instance, Hansen even blocked an individual who was critical of the act.

Being critical of Hansen, Youtuber “Deity” makes his feelings known. He would later be blocked for this tweet.
In a tweet, “Deity” shows that he had been blocked by the journalist.

Controversies

Although Hansen has had years of experience as a television journalist, he hasn’t been without financial problems. Rather it be millions worth of debt, an arrest, it seems that things haven’t been fairing well for the journalist. It is for this reason, many within the online community speculated that the Onision investigation was a money ploy.

Although Hansen brought a form of momentum to the Onision situation, he hadn’t actually stated any facts that weren’t already available. At one point, Hansen attempted to interview the infamous Youtuber only to be met with local police. Meanwhile, some within the online community speculated this to be a problicity stunt.

Behind the scenes of the investigation, there was a boiling pot of controversy. While much of it was focused on his former employee, Vincent Nicotra, Chris wasn’t spared. Nicotra was infamously known for filing false DMCA claims, doxxing, hate speech, and so fourth. While all of this had been made public, it would take months for Hansen to act. Upon removing Nicotra, things cooled down a bit, but that wouldn’t last.

During the investigation, Hansen made claims that the FBI were investigating. However, when probed, he appeared to be evasive only stating that, “these things take time.” For a community who already felt betrayed, for many reasons, this wasn’t flying very well. The controversy didn’t end on that note, however.

Hansen selling the Onision story seems to have boiled the pot dry. Questions regarding the victims, who entrusted him with their stories, has become a common concern. It also raises questions into Hansen’s current investigation on “Dahvie Vanity.” In this aspect, people can’t help but wonder rather or not Chris will sell this story also.

While selling a story, even if it brings controversy, is common, blocking those who are critical is questionable at best. As a journalist, we are constantly under a microscope, people awaiting for us to slip just so they can berate us. However, doing a move that creates controversy and then blocking those who question it, leads me to question Hansen’s journalistic integrity.

Milwaukee medical professional mows down protestors

With national protests occuring on a daily basis, it’s not to farfetched that some rather interesting stories would arise. Today, in Milwaukee, we stumbled upon one of these stories. A cardiovascular physician assistant, identified as Emily Novicki, was accused of runing over several “peaceful protestors.” In her tweet, a woman going by “Alexis.” Says:

Today in Milwaukee! This woman hit 2 peaceful protestors, injuring them and came within 2 feet of hitting a child. This was as they peacefully marched. She drove into the crowd. Police were shown multiple videos & she was still let go. TWITTER LETS MAKE SURE SHE LOSES HER JOB. 🥳

However, the events, as explained by the BLM protestor, is not what actually took place. As I began searching through evidence, I found a slightly different story. I attempted to reach out to Emily only to find her Facebook had been deleted, more on that shortly. Based upon the evidence, which included a video, the alleged peaceful protestors had surrounded the young woman’s car. At this point they jad begun chanting, even tapping her car with a sign. It is alleged that this is when Emily ran through them. But was she in the right for doing so?

We have already seen, in recent weeks, what happens when protestors encircle a vehicle. Recently, a Fed-Ex driver was forced to flee in his semi as they attempted to vandalize his equipment; this is just one example, of course. It isn’t to hard to believe that this woman would had been in fear for, not only her safety, but her life.

Following this event, Emily had apparantly deleted her Facebook. From what I was able to obtain, one of the protestors began sharing her workplace information, and her social media account, on Twitter. In doing this, she opened the young medical professional to harassment, threats, and so fourth. It is presumed that this is what lead to her deleting the account.

A peaceful protest is exactly as it claims to be: peaceful. Blocking somebody from leaving the area is not a peaceful demonstration, that is an act of aggression. While I would never condone using a car for a weapon, I can understand how terrorizing a situation like this must be.

While a false narrative spreads around on Twitter, I choose to present my findings, without bias. The situation comes down to this: had the protestors not surrounded her car, hit it with a sign, in what can be viewed as a clear act of intimidation, nobody would had been injured. The false narrative, placing complete blame on the woman, who appears to had been a victim, is absolutely ridiculous.

Protest safetly, protest smartfully.

Skai Jackson Is Outing Racists, But is She Taking It Too Far?

Skai Jackson is an 18-year-old actress and is best known for her work on the Disney Channel. Recently, Skai has been using her platform to expose racists, some of them being teens. This has garnered so much attention (both positive and negative) that Rowan University in New Jersey said that they would look into their students who post racist behavior online.

Recently, Skai recieved a twelve hour ban from Twitter due to reports claiming that she was harassing and doxxing teens. While Skai does give out screenshots on social media, as well as clips, of what they’ve said on TikTok, she has stated that she will never give out a person’s adddress. On June 5th she tweeted,

“Also, please don’t send me anyone’s address. I won’t be posting that.. these people have said horrible things but posting someone’s full address is going a little too far. Let’s hope they all live and learn from this situation and educate themselves.”

Some people have also given her the incorrect usernames in regards to outing racists. Skai addressed this on June 6th saying, “If you are sending me someone’s username PLEASE be sure you have it 100% correct. It’s not cool to blame someone for something they didn’t do.”

When it comes to outing racists, Skai made this statement on Instagram regarding why she’s begun doing so:

“During this sensitive time, I’ve seen some horrific statements and social media videos made by Caucasian teens/young adults. Let me say this: If I see you post it, I WILL expose you!! If you think you’re big and bad enough to say it, I will most definitely put your own words on blast!! Don’t reach out to my team of bullying and causing you pain! How do you think your words affect my people?! Your privilege won’t get you out of this one. So no!! I will not take it down! Next time, think about what you say! I will never condone racist remarks/ quotes/slander. You’re the real bullies! You’re victimizers, not the victims! Go boo hoo somewhere else!” #BlackLivesMatter

As someone who uses many social media platforms, including TikTok, I have personally noticed a horrible problem with racists on the platform, and so have many others. Yesterday, I made a video to raise awareness about a teen from Georgia, who had a suspicious death, named Kendrick Johnson. Not only have I been shocked at some of the comments denying that this never happened (I always tell them that this is real), but one person actually wrote, “Good. One less black.” I was about to report him, but TikTok had already removed both his comment and his account.

Also, Skai isn’t the only one doing this. Other people have posted videos from TikTok outing teens and their racist comments. But, there are people who have taken it too far. Again, this hasn’t happened only when it comes to Skai. People have been doxxing racist teens before Skai started doing this.

From what I’ve gathered, Skai is reposting what teens and young adults have willfully put online. I haven’t seen her give out anything but usernames. Which again, she addressed the problem of being sent the wrong username. It’s not doxxing if you yourself put the content out there.

So, while Skai hasn’t been the only one doing this, other people have been doing it for awhile. Skai is very well known, so with that, comes both more positive and negative attention. She has many people backing and defending her. There’s also several others who have accused her of being a “cyberbully” stating that she shouldn’t be targeting teens.

The issue I keep coming back to is that people have been doing this before her and no one batted an eye. But now that a celebrity is doing it, suddenly it’s a whole different ballgame. Could that be because even more eyes are on the teens and young adults who make these racist comments and thus get more attention for their hate speech, which unfortunately, leads to potential doxxing?

Should all the negative attention be put on Skai instead of everyone who has been doing this, or should we learn to face the reality that there are a lot more people than we realized who are openly racist and that it’s a lot more common, and tolerated, than we realized?

Source:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8395807/Skai-Jackson-exposes-teen-racists-Twitter-believe-people-ignorant.html

I also used some of Skai’s own Twitter account for quotes and information Please don;t send her hate.

COVID-19: Reality Check

For months now, we have seen abuse from the government unlike anything before. While most Americans are perfectly fine with the loss of their first, fourth, and even sixth amendment rights, some are beginning to wake up. As a result of this, social disobedience is quickly becoming a common trend. With so much confusion, who is in the right?

The introduction of COVID-19 introduced more than a new potential threat, it brought out mass fear and even hysteria. As the government began learning about the virus, they implimented some rather debatable “safety procedures.” Social distancing, masks, that sort of thing has now become common practice. However, many debate as to rather or not they went to far.

First amendment

Under the first amendment, all Americans are granted the freedom to practice their religions. What this means is the government has no legal grounds to interfere with this, or other, rights. However, since the COVID-19 situation began, we have seen that very ordeal unfold. In several cases, those who have dared to break the “law” of not going to church, were met with arrest. How is this possible? A simple loophole is all it takes, more on that later.

On social medias, such as Facebook and Youtube, those who are speaking out against the governments’ actions, are finding themselves censored, ability to post/comment blocked, or outright banned. In a controversial move, Facebook has gone as far as to form its own “Supreme court.” The intent of this is to determine what is, or is not, allowed on their site. However, this has lead to many conspiracy theories.

Fourth Amendment

Under the fourth amendment, all citizens have the right to be secure in their persons, homes, and property. At this point, we may as well just rule this one a dead right. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen what happens to those who dare to defy their government overlords. While initially, the “safety protocols” were mere suggestions, people have been brutally beaten and arrested by police. Their crime? Daring to run their businesses.

There are many articles discussing how the police have arrested business owners for literally committing no crime. By violating the “recomendations,” and being arrested for it, proves that these are not just suggestions. Furthermore, they demonstrate the more disturbing image at hand. It was Adolf Hitler who once said:

“The best way to take control over a people and control them utterly is to take a little of their freedom at a time, to erode rights by a thousand tiny and almost imperceptible reductions. In this way, the people will not see those rights and freedoms being removed until past the point at which these changes cannot be reversed.” For many, this is what’s happening. Of course, when it’s a $1000+ fine for not wearing a suggestion on your face, it does seem plausible.

Sixth Amendment

The right to a speedy trial. Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you already know that this has been absent. Upon getting arrested, one could expect to sit in jail for an undetermined amount of time, with no courtdate. Why? Because the courts shutdown. While this is starting to change, it doesn’t change the fact that this right may had potentially been violated. Of course, this is just another cog in the political wheel.

What we have seen is nothing less than government operated terrorism on its people. Criminals are being released from jails/prisons over alleged COVID fears. However, people are being sent to jail simply for operating their own businesses. Places where facemasks are “mandatory,” don’t even care what you wear on your face. A person can walk aroumd with tissue paper on their face and have no problem.

From what I have seen, this os a game to strip citizens, using fear and false numbers, of their constitutional rights. The worst part of this, we are allowing it. When you really begin to dig into this, the contradictions become very apparant. This situation is no longer about protecting the people or preventing the spread of a virus, which has an approx 3% fatality rate globally. This is a war in which it is the government vs. the people.

Port of Seattle officer on leave following video

By now, most of you are probably familiar with the name, Greg Anderson. This, soon to be former officer, was made famous when he posted a video encouraging officers to NOT uphold illegal orders to stay at home. Though the video was met with much praise, including from his department, that has quickly changed.

Anderson, three days after making the viral video, the department he worked for, began demanding the video to be removed. Using various claims, including equipment being identifiable and policy, the intimidation failed. Anderson, who held his ground, was ultimately suspended pending termination due to policy violation.

War on Corruption reached out multiple times to the department, asking what policy was violated. Though the department has read our messages, they blatently refused to reply. With that, we found alternative methods of obtaining their social media policies.

It didn’t take long for us to understand why they refused to respond. Starting at policy 5: 125-POL 2, we found it to be extremely vague. A portion of the policy reads as follows:

Engaging in prohibited speech outlined in this policy may provide grounds for discipline and may be used to undermine or impeach an officer’s testimony in legal proceedings.

The issue here is it leaves the department open to select what language is inapropriate speech. In fact, the closest we get is:

– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that includes harassment, threats of violence, or similar conduct

– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that ridicules, maligns, disparages, expresses bias, or disrespect toward any race, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, or any other protected class of individuals

– Make, share, or comment in support of any posting that suggests that Department personnel are engaged in behavior reasonably considered to be unlawful or reckless toward public safety

Even the above, in many aspects is vague, leaving it open for the department to utilize the policy as they see fit. Even so, the claims the department made for wanting the video removed seem invalid.

Through the department’s silence to clarify the policy violation, we are under the presumption that they are fully aware that no policy had been violated. In fact, you can read their social media policy Through the department’s silence to clarify the policy violation, we are under the presumption that they are fully aware that no policy had been violated. In fact, you can read their social media policy here.

Should the department decide to respond, we will place it within this article. Until then, it is to our opinion that what is being done is nothing short of an unethical removal of one of the few good officers this country has.

The COVID-19 tour

Recently, I took it upon myself to do a three week trip across country. This time was spent studying the affects of the virus in various locations. In this research I focused on local economies, civilian mindset, impact on various industries, and how COVID-19 has impacted various cities. impact

No matter where I traveled, one thing remained true: businesses were suffering. Practically overnight, Americas witnessed the loss of thousands of jobs, entire cities came to a grinding halt, and supplies began to run dry in local stores. Although grocery stores have worked hard at keeping supplies stocked, it appeared to be a losing battle. For many, entire aisles were baron or close to it. Many of the items that seemed to be high demand were things that could be stored for prolonged periods. This includes canned and frozen products.

As the mass hysteria set, items such as toilet paper, hand sanitizers, even hand soaps seemed to be a luxery item in some locations. Employee morale was clearly low, doing anything they could to keep the potentially infected public away from them. However, it extended far beyond local retail stores.

In every city I visited, the streets were practically deserted. While a few vehicles remained, it was clear that no opened business would be able to sustain itself for long. Fast food resturaunts had also taken a hard blow. Being forced to close their lobbies, the customers simply stopped coming. Though there was the occasional drive-through order, they weren’t like they used to be.

“I can’t support my family, I can’t pay my employees, and I am about to lose it all because of the f****** city forced me to close,” were the solemn words of a local resturaunt owner I spoke to. Clearly, the pandemic had hit him hard.

With the impact being so hard on the stores and resturaunts, I began to wonder how it affected the industry that was charged for delivering these products. With this in mind, I sought out the trucking companies. Though there are articles discussing this industry already, I wanted to find out for myself how they were handling the inner workings.

While researching the first company, I was invited to sit and observe their orientation process. Though the process, according to them, was three days, I decided one day was more than enough time to collect my data. Upon leaving, I took my journey to Dallas, Texas. With safety precautions in mind, I began my expedition.

Like Cedar Rapids, Dallas was essentially empty. Businesses that once thrived, stood as ghostly reminders of the world before the outbreak. While there, I had gotten word of a local business that was ignoring the safety precautions. Naturally, I had to locate this business for myself. ‘Big D,’ a truck wash, with parking, was confirmed to be ignoring protocols. Upon entry, I noted hotdogs being cooked. While most stations removed these to prevent further spread, this location did not. When asked about it, the clerk simply stated, “we are not violating safety precautions, now get out.”

Utah, Illinois, and so fourth, the scene was the same: fhost town after ghost town. With the scene being all to familiar, in so many cities, I couldn’t help but assess the mindset of the residents.

Precaution or hysteria?

With media crying the end of the world, social distancing, self quarantine methods, etc., I began looking into rather or not this was precaution or fear. I took what I had learned on this trip and began writing my observations down. It is here, I will be discussing them.

While all cities have taken precautions, some cities have taken it to an entirely new level. Salt Lake City, with plastic “shields” in front of the registers, have gone as far as to not directly take money from customers. While these precautions are, to a degree, understandable, they show the amount of fear people now live in.

City by city, fear creeped in, set itself into the social network, and shutdown entire nations. At this point, one can only wonder which is worst: the virus or the fear that follows in its wake? Sadly, this is a question that is purely opinionated and thus will never concieve a factual answer. Even with this, we can conclude that this fear stems from the fact that this is a “novel” virus, it’s an unknown agent that has entered our lives. I wanted to compare stats. How lethal is this virus in contrast to the things we are familiar. Below, is a grid displaying this very thing.

Comparing the death rates of COVID-19 to elements that we are familiar with.

It is hard to determine rather or not we, as a society, have handled this ordeal correctly. For this, future generations can only determine that based on the words of history. For now, society waits. Some wait for a resolution, others wait for the nightmare to conclude, and for some, they wait to grieve for those who didn’t survive. While the situation is horrible, history has shown that pandemics, such as this, do end. Until then, stay safe.

Editor’s notation: Due to the abundance of information provided from this research, we had to condense this article for readability purposes.