Just Sayin’

A few of my friends online, intelligent people whose opinions I respect even if I sometimes disagree with them, have offered up the thought that the current wave of protests, and violence, sweeping the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, may have been made worse by the fact that people were cooped up in quarantine for so long.
I doubt that’s a major factor, because lots of countries had (and some still have) stronger quarantine measures than the U.S. Also, it’s pretty easy to point to the murder itself as the cause, so we could stop right there.
But, they might have a point. Not that it’s a cause, but a contributing factor. A match is what starts a forest fire, but a long time without rain definitely sets the stage. And, the U.S. is different in some ways from most other countries. More prone to violence, for sure.
I have another theory I’m going to throw out there, and this is not so much a theory (certainly not in the scientific sense, it’s not even much of a hypotheses) as just a gut feeling.
When Bernie Sanders dropped out of the race, all feeling of hope disappeared and there’s nothing left but despair, desperation and rage. When he was in the race there was a feeling that the upcoming election might make things better. Of course Bernie supporters believed it, but Warren supporters were kind of jazzed at the thought of a female president, the Yang Gang had UBI as their pie in the sky, and all of the candidates were talking about health care, and saving the environment, and making things more equitable, even if some meant it less than others. There was hope in the air.
Now that Bernie is out, nobody is talking about health care and there is no chance of making real headway on it, no matter who is elected. If you are uninsured now, chances are you will be uninsured four years from now. Ditto with the environment. Ditto with ending economic inequality, legalizing marijuana, eliminating student debt, ending private prisons and mass incarcerations, ending the endless militarization of the police and their intrusion into people’s day to day lives.
All hope is dead. It’s not so surprising a couple of cop shops have been burned down.