#coronaculture
2020 is canceled.
No, really. It’s canceled.
Events, businesses, movies, sports… all canceled because of Covid-19. All rightfully so; it’s a terrifying world out there and if you’re not working from home in pajamas, you need to start doing it. And of course, adding more fuel to the fire is a swath of misinformation and misunderstanding about the disease, taking fears to the extreme. Now I can’t pretend to be an expert on the disease or how pandemics spread, so if you’re looking for medical advice or coverage, look elsewhere.
That’s not the point of my writing this. Instead, it’s to pull back and look at how different aspects of society are reacting to the present crisis and how cancel culture has evolved from being a cry for social justice and into being a necessity of public health.
Welcome to the second act of cancel culture.
This time… it’s not personal.
First, there’s the multitude of businesses and events that have canceled voluntarily, citing the importance of dispersing large crowds so the disease can’t spread. Take conferences, for example. World Mobile Congress was the first major conference of the year to be canceled because of Covid-19 fears. Since then, one conference after another has followed suit. Even events further in the year, like E3, Google I/O, and WWDC (both taking place in the summer), have canceled and adapted to the new status quo. They’re doing what they need to do because, at the heart of the crisis, the best thing to prevent the spread of the virus is to disperse large gatherings. WWDC is even evolving; still going on with the show, but existing entirely online as a series of streamed sessions. In a way, this makes the conference more accessible.
Conferences were soon followed by sports. One by one, several of the world’s major sports leagues voluntarily canceled their respective seasons. I watched the NBA call it wraps from a crowded bar (that in hindsight, was probably not a wise idea), right after a player tested positive. The NFL, MLS, and MLB quickly followed suit. MLB’s Opening Day, a holiday amongst baseball fans, is no more — replaced by MLB.TV’s streaming of old games in order to rebuild lost hype.
Some sports have adapted to this unprecedented time. F1 has taken things digital; having an official race entirely online and watchable on Twitch! Actual drivers, racing an actual race, from home. Not only does it blur the lines between e-sports and IRL-sports, but it highlights a whimsical ability for people to persevere, proving that the show can go on as long as the players and the stage adapt accordingly.
After sports, we knew businesses would be next in line. One by one, states have put lockdowns in place that have shut down non-essential businesses, spurring on a new era of working from home in a matter of days. How many of you are reading this from your office-away-from-office (a.k.a. — your couch)? Businesses have been forced to adapt to an entirely remote workflow. And for essential businesses like grocery stores and restaurants, policies are in place to limit functionality: grocery stores are only allowing a certain number of people in at one time, while restaurants are only allowing take-out and delivery services.
And these are only the sectors that are pumping the brakes willingly.
Several sporting events and businesses are feeling the social pressure to stop operations. It took pleas from athletes and national organizations like the USOPC for Tokyo and the IOC to postpone the 2020 Olympics. While slated for August (and presumably in the safe-zone of the pandemic), a lack of preparations and calls for erring on the side of caution was enough to get the IOC on-board and postpone the games. Meanwhile, there are businesses like GameStop and Best Buy that have claimed themselves essential businesses and have felt the burn from the public eye.
If you haven’t had the chance to read it, I’d recommend taking a break from this and reading Vice eviscerate Best Buy’s push to remain open. The consumer electronics giant has been fighting closures, insisting they’re an “essential” store. The current policy is to remain open with limited hours and enforce the use of curbside pick-up and limited numbers of people allowed at any given time. It takes state enforcement to have locations shut down. Leaving doors open might be driving up profits, but it’s driving down morale and trust, bigger factors in the business’s long run. Employees are just as scared as anyone else right now, and they rather be home with their families. Best Buy’s reactionary response does nothing to stop the spread of the virus, and will only end in disaster.
Meanwhile, GameStop is feeling the same social pressure. Originally arguing they were essential and even telling employees to resist orders to shut down, the video game retailer is finally shutting doors and sending employees home.
How businesses counteract with the crisis will affect how people respond after the pandemic has passed. Canceling events and shutting the doors to bigger businesses is a smart move. Have your employees, encourage your customers to stay at home and stay safe, and show stockholders you can keep profits floating while keeping the people who make you who you are safe and healthy. Meanwhile, stimulate the expenses of small business owners and make sure they don’t fall victim to circumstance and keep them safe. Companies like Best Buy don’t need the extra federal dough. Trust me, they’ll be fine.
It’s a bit tangential, but my mind goes back to Ford’s belief in paying workers higher wages. Industry workers in the dawn of the automobile needed to be encouraged to work more hours, and in many cases, these factory workers weren’t getting paid enough to support their families or even themselves. Ford believed that by paying his workers more, not only would it keep his workers healthy, but it would maintain brand loyalty, stimulate the surrounding economy, and eventually lead to his end goal: having employees and the public buy his already-affordable cars. It pays to have an ethical backbone, gang.
But this isn’t just to rip Best Buy a new one, as much as I would love to. It’s more to bring awareness to the type of shift we can expect post-Covid-19. Like Ford, how brands and companies treat this crisis will determine how people perceive the company after the crisis. No one is going to remember the companies that didn’t shift their business practices. But they will surely remember the company that encouraged customers to stay home and stay healthy, even going so far as to discount or credit their services, while they encourage their employees to stay home and not worry about payment.
Overall — beyond retail, brands, sports, and conferences — Covid-19 has drastically shifted how people are accomplishing things and interacting with each other. We’ve managed to build a culture around the ethics of canceling for the greater good. A concept that would have seemed completely alien a year or so ago. We’re starting to see an evolved culture where talk show hosts are broadcasting and hosting guests from their living room and Skype and where people are hanging out more through Zoom and Houseparty. A true leap into the deep end of the digital age, spurred on by a global event.
Among all the panic, let’s take a step back and breathe. Let’s see how we can continue to adapt in this crisis and how we can find the best in the worst.
