Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick has noticed something: After 9/11, the entire nation rallied around New York City and cheered on the city’s resolve as it struggled to rebuild. (Lithwick does note, rightly, that “the city and the twin towers became the national locus of grieving, sometimes in ways that elbowed out the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the other scenes of 9/11 attacks.)
But that’s not the case this time. Now, during the coronavirus pandemic, the city “has been shunned and shamed,” and Gov. Andrew Cuomo “has received extra special and escalating abuse from Donald Trump in response to his urgent requests for help.”
New York City has not received an outpouring of national love and support. Instead, it has been shunned. https://t.co/PbfQNfzzzn
— Slate (@Slate) April 3, 2020
We’d disagree that the nation has shunned New York City; a lot of the nation probably is wary of the city’s progress in controlling the spread of COVID-19, considering it’s one of the main hotspots. Plus, reporters have put New York City front-and-center, as usual.
Lithwick notes how 9/11 pulled together Americans by giving them a united enemy in Islamic terrorists, and now we have the Chinese and Asian Americans:
For a while, the foreign “others” that seemed easiest to blame for COVID-19 were the Chinese, and then Asian Americans in general (and yes, this happened in New York too). But now, blaming any New Yorker will do. It’s no accident that the city is a long-standing American symbol of multiculturalism, ethnic diversity, and openness in ways that date back to the Statue of Liberty, itself a former icon that has only recently fallen out of favor as a national symbol of tolerance and refuge. Back in 2001, we all celebrated New York for being particularly tolerant in the face of narrow-minded fundamentalist hate from Islamic extremists. It is a marker of a uniquely Trumpist, “America First” fundamentalism that this isn’t a quality to be celebrated anymore, but a soft underbelly to the MAGA dream that now threatens to infect us all. What we loved about bighearted, tolerant New York in 2001 is what cannot be tolerated in 2020.
Maybe @mikiebarb could explain why… https://t.co/xE6XQS450n
— GayPatriot (@GayPatriotTM) April 4, 2020
You mean this guy?
You think we forgot this? pic.twitter.com/X3xSq5mZJY
— VK2-Media Is CCP Propaganda (@2222vj) April 4, 2020
I wonder why. pic.twitter.com/Yh45PzQxQn
— Kenny (@KennyOfTheGulch) April 4, 2020
The general attitude of NYC toward the rest of the country, meanwhile, is nothing but sunshine https://t.co/EH0u9Pg0gO
— Elliot (@sequoia_mindset) April 4, 2020
You dicks, go to the epicenters of the virus!! https://t.co/6IFr7YO0rS
— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 4, 2020
This is what happens when you spend the last 20 years dunking on those rubes and hillbillies in "fly over country". https://t.co/0s1rTtPgVJ
— Boomstick Jefe (@LakesFirearmsTr) April 4, 2020
Maybe cause every time we do some jackass journo from a corporate mag in NY talks about how our "thoughts and prayers" aren't helping https://t.co/lA0PWPAiCC
— Trapp Brannigan (@BATS3257) April 4, 2020
Nearly every person I know from the city has an outright disdain and bigoted stereotypes about "flyover country", like straight up bigotry. I also don't believe this article. The vast majority of those evil hillbillies in the rest of the country are indeed praying for them. https://t.co/Dsf6i6xSKo
— You Should Have Voted For Gary (@colorblindk1d) April 4, 2020
So confusing that those called deplorable/bigot/racist/redneck/idiot/Nazi in "flyover country" by NYers might be less sympathetic to them. Those cultured, intelligent, and competent elites MUST be better able to deal with this, since they see fit to tell everyone else what to do. https://t.co/EJjvsGY7dT
— Rice Field Greeter (@krvandam) April 4, 2020
Where were they when the Midwest was flooding and cities were being destroyed by tornadoes https://t.co/KAMiYwbx0T
— HeartwoodFabrications (@Heartwood_Fab) April 4, 2020
Ain't nobody getting support. We're all stuck at home trying not to go crazy. https://t.co/peWetj2u1w
— ?Apocalyptic Annie? (@AptlyAnnie) April 4, 2020
Jesus, get over yourselves New York. Everyone's dealing with it. https://t.co/LjvXeFNKxp
— That Dad (@sleepy_colon) April 4, 2020
We are sick to death of every catastrophe not *really* being a catastrophe unless it happens in New York City. This may surprise you, but the entire world does not revolve around New York City and pretending it does just really pisses off the rest of us.
— NiedsDeadGhost (@NiedsG) April 4, 2020
Further, the way New Yorkers and their media have disrespected the service offered by those aboard the Comfort also pisses us off.
— NiedsDeadGhost (@NiedsG) April 4, 2020
Like the way the New York Times seemed simultaneously disappointed and amused that the hospital ship Comfort had only three patients so far?
Well, many NYCers are wonderful people.
However those who:
1. write for hot-take websites
2. are the mayor
3. get on Twitter and b*tch about how flyover states are the problem while going to hip bars and crowded street celebrations
4. elected AOCall suck and need shunning. https://t.co/hiB8zrplZ8
— Cranky Gordon (@StillCrankyAF) April 4, 2020
I respond to this article like a proper New Yorker would:
Boo fucking hoo https://t.co/JnVHVrSNK7
— FilmLadd (@FilmLadd) April 4, 2020
Self awareness, what is it? https://t.co/hsWWbCNspB
— Most Revered Military Leader Ming the Merciless (@_Emperor_Ming_) April 4, 2020
— Ozark Finesse Guy Redux (@DTReeves2) April 4, 2020
I can't even begin to imagine all of the self-ingratiating, schmaltzy garbage we're going to see after this is all over. https://t.co/zaOG7ydfTj
— Mike (@TheKoolaider) April 4, 2020
This is among the dumbest takes possible. Well done, Slate https://t.co/p2zexH3Dwu
— The H2 (@TheH2) April 4, 2020
Face it, it’s not news unless it happens in New York or Washington, D.C., because that’s where all the journalists are.
Related:
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo begs for medical supplies to treat COVID19 patients … so why won't he accept help from this company? https://t.co/4haS17SxDq
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 2, 2020
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