{"id":3416,"date":"2020-05-13T00:05:36","date_gmt":"2020-05-13T00:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/pandemicbook\/?page_id=3416"},"modified":"2022-03-18T13:25:55","modified_gmt":"2022-03-18T13:25:55","slug":"05-13","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/adhc.lib.ua.edu\/pandemicbook\/05-13\/","title":{"rendered":"05-13"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Wednesday, May 13<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tUS Cases 1.4 million
US Deaths 87,507<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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May 13: The Wisconsin Supreme Court strikes<\/a> <\/span>down Gov. Tony Evers’ (D) extension of his stay-at-home order. Calls mount<\/a> <\/span>for a federal investigation into the fatal shooting of emergency medical technician Breonna Taylor by police executing a “no-knock” search warrant at her Louisville, Kentucky, home in March. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFrom the cutting room floor...\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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According to marketing analysts, Americans have entered the \u201cEscapism + Optimism\u201d phase of the virus experience. (Given M\u2019s note, above, it seems particularly humorous to point this out.) At least on Pinterest, they have. A VP at Vayner Media, a marketing analytics firm, says that Americans are projecting their \u201cutopian view of a post-COVID world\u201d as they search the internet for a positive, hopeful vision of the future.[1]<\/a> Examining Pinterest searches offers a good way to anticipate long terms consumer spending, they say, and to plan for profit-making opportunities. For marketers, utopias are the perfect commodity, pitched as something that people can buy through their own consumer activism. Marketing in the modern world has become the \u201ckeeper of the utopian flame.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, in the early days of the shutdown, Americans searched for how to make a home office and how to cut their own hair. Over the following month, the excitement of quarantine gave way to worry and fatigue. People searched for what to send in a care package and what to wear while they worked from home. Now, these marketers claim, we are in the third phase. Searches for \u201cVirtual sleepover\u201d have jumped 800%, as have \u201cfree virtual field trips\u201d and \u201ckids virtual birthday party.\u201d They are looking for apartments they might move to and weddings that might happen when life gets back to normal. In phase four, marketers say, Americans will recover and rebound. Many are already planning for the wonderful summer they expect will come after states relax health restrictions, which is already happening. Stage four Americans will search for \u201csummer party\u201d and \u201cevent planning.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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To me, this seems profoundly non-utopian; desperate even. These Pinterest searches reflect a population that tried in the first month of the epidemic to adapt to their changing world and to help friends and family. This was an effort to exert control over a universe in chaos. I search on Pinterest to see what I should send to our oldest daughter, who has not left her one-bedroom apartment in DC for two months. I am awestruck by the beauty and thoughtfulness of these packages. They show careful, meticulous work and creativity, and lots of love. One woman wrote ten individual letters and glued them to the inside flaps of the cardboard package. Each tells her husband something that she loves about him while he is deployed in the military. Another simply says, \u201cPlease don\u2019t feel blue, and know that we love you.\u201d They remind me of how good it feels to help others, that giving always rewards the giver more than the receiver. They also ring of isolation and longing, of the distances that stretch between us\u2014distances that we cannot safely close.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moreover, these images are clearly only reflective of a certain population of people in America. People who search on how to set up a home office are people who still have jobs. Those are the same people who can afford to create and mail care packages. In that sense, Pinterest is utopian, since it reflects a world where everyone has work and goods to share and time to give and people to love. Philosopher Susan Schoenbohm insists that utopias don\u2019t just show us better ways of living in the world, they also force us to look closely at our own social conditions here and now, and hopefully, reveals how to change them.[3]<\/a> Pinterest\u2019s utopia extols possession: the ownership and sharing of consumer goods as a proxy for personal creativity and connection with others. I am fine with that, I suppose; I just wish that more people in America could have access to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

When phase three hit, the one we are in now, those same people who were building home offices and sending care packages started searching for how to manage their kids and stay sane. No one knows how to do parenting right now. My sister-in-law in Los Angeles sent a long letter yesterday.[4]<\/a> She has a teen and a tween at home, and she admits that she at times finds it \u201cvery difficult to have the compassion they need me to show them\u2026 we are all stuck with each other all the time now. That can be a shit show.\u201d Three sets of my friends, all of whom work full time, have admitted to me that, while they love their kids, all-day-every-day parenting inside the house is a nightmare. How do we do our own jobs from home, make sure the kids have a stimulating environment where virtual school can happen, which includes helping them navigate the stress and anxiety of this experience, and still manage our own physical and mental health? No wonder Pinterest searches are up on how to do virtual sleepovers\u2026 anything that might resemble the world we once knew. <\/span><\/p>\n

The American Psychological Association has a website dedicated to parenting during COVID-19. In times of high anxiety, they recommend \u201cslow counting\u201d and \u201cpositive self-talk.\u201d With their kids, parents can repeat the phrase, \u201cThe adults are working on stopping the virus,\u201d which will evidently make them feel better.<\/span>[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

The APA says <\/i>that someone is working on stopping this. But I\u2019ve been following the coronavirus pandemic as closely as I can for months now. Because<\/em><\/span> I know what the adults are doing, it doesn\u2019t make me feel better to say that. It terrifies me. It feels like lying. Yet I\u2019m sure there are adults who believe that things are soon going to get better. That \u201cadults\u201d are working on it. These must be the same people who are searching for \u201csummer parties\u201d on Pinterest.<\/span><\/p>\n

All of this marketing data is critical to the big firms, who are seeing this moment as an opportunity to expand. Early in the twentieth century, the federal government put rules in place to resist monopolization. Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt and Democrats like Harry S Truman believed monopolies were anti-capitalist, against progress, regressive defenders of oligarchy and the status quo against regular workers. Since then, layers of regulations have occasionally resisted the attempts of large companies from merging into super-corporations, entities that crowd out and buy up real competition so they can set prices and control the market. Entities like Facebook, like Google.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, even that modicum of protection against monopolization and for<\/em><\/span> capitalism is failing. Some large companies claim to be in danger of folding under the pressure of the virus and the lockdowns and argue that only a merger can save them. It\u2019s called the \u201cfailing firm\u201d argument.[6]<\/a> It used to be very difficult to get government approval for a merger based on this argument. It feels, however, that we\u2019ve slid back into the very early twentieth century. Mergers have already happened during the pandemic that were set to be blocked. Amazon scooping up Deliveroo in the UK is only one of the prominent examples.[7]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Companies are using the \u201cfailing firm\u201d argument to declare that they must also reopen, regardless of the danger to employees or customers. T. J. Maxx, which sells last season\u2019s consignment clothes and housewares, reopened in northern Arkansas this past weekend. It was packed with people on opening day, with hardly anyone wearing a mask.[8]<\/a> Tesla Motors\u2019 CEO, Elon Musk, likewise, decided to open his Fremont, California factory up for workers. (I suppose he would claim that if he doesn\u2019t, his billionaire children might starve, including his newest progeny, named \u201cX \u00c6 A-Xii\u201d after a song on his girlfriend\u2019s latest album.)[9]<\/a> Trump, who also knows the numerous pains of a starving child, sympathized with Musk\u2019s plight and encouraged him via the thoughtful gesture of tweeting with his thumbs. Today, Musk followed up by letting his employees know they\u2019re now officially being called up and cannot choose to remain at their homes, despite California law, if they want to retain their paying jobs. That is the early-twentieth century robber baron reality that underlies Pinterest\u2019s gilded utopia.<\/span><\/p>


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Notes<\/p>\n

[1]<\/strong><\/a> Swant, Marty, “From \u2018Virtual Sleepover\u2019 To \u2018Accent Wall Dots,\u2019 Marketers Are Using Pinterest To Find COVID-19 Hobbies,” Forbes, 05-13-2020. https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/martyswant\/2020\/05\/11\/marketers-are-using-pinterest-to-identify-the-covid-19-aesthetic\/<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Stephen Brown, Pauline Maclaren, and Lorna Stevens, \u201cMarcadia Postponed: Marketing, Utopia and the Millennium,\u201d Journal of Marketing Management 12, no. 7 (October 1, 1996): 676, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/0267257X.1996.9964444; Robert V. Kozinets, \u201cYouTube Utopianism: Social Media Profanation and the Clicktivism of Capitalist Critique,\u201d Journal of Business Research 98 (May 1, 2019): 66, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.jbusres.2019.01.019.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Susan M. Schoenbohm, \u201cThe Function and Questionable Purpose of Utopian Thought,\u201d Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal<\/em> 91, no. 1\/2 (2008): 22, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/41179176.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> The entire letter can be found on the website.<\/span><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.apa.org\/topics\/covid-19\/quarantine-parents-tips<\/a>; https:\/\/www.maginationpressfamily.org\/mindfulness-kids-teens\/fostering-resilience-in-a-time-of-the-coronavirus-tips-for-helping-your-child\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Schoenbohm, \u201cThe Function and Questionable Purpose of Utopian Thought,\u201d 22.<\/span><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Koenig, Bryan. \u201cMergers During COVID-19 Create New \u2018Failing Firm\u2019 Paradigm,\u201d Law360, May 11, 2020. https:\/\/www.law360.com\/articles\/1272292\/mergers-during-covid-19-create-new-failing-firm-paradigm.<\/span><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> David A. Kass, Priya Duggal, and Oscar Cingolani, \u201cObesity Could Shift Severe COVID-19 Disease to Younger Ages,\u201d The Lancet<\/em> 0, no. 0 (May 4, 2020), https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)31024-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Rachel Sandler, \u201cElon Musk Welcomes Child With Musician Grimes,\u201d Forbes, May 6, 2020, https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/rachelsandler\/2020\/05\/04\/elon-musk-welcomes-child-with-musician-grimes\/.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAccording to Pinterest data, pins on the platform during the COVID-19 crisis have painted a picture of how users feel, what they're doing now, and what they hope to do sometime soon.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSwant, Marty. \u201cFrom \u2018Virtual Sleepover\u2019 To \u2018Accent Wall Dots,\u2019 Marketers Are Using Pinterest To Find COVID-19 Hobbies.\u201d Forbes, May 11, 2020. https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/martyswant\/2020\/05\/11\/marketers-are-using-pinterest-to-identify-the-covid-19-aesthetic\/.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHarris \"calling for the Department of Justice to investigate #BreonnaTaylor's death. Her family deserves answers.\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t@KamalaHarris, 12:53 PM \u00b7 May 13, 2020, https:\/\/twitter.com\/KamalaHarris\/status\/1260629289529233408\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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“Tesla’s Musk says ‘ready for arrest,’ reopens plant against order,” Reuters, May 12, 2020. https:\/\/youtu.be\/fTxxvPuByiw<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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