There Are Truths, And Then There Are Truths

There Are Truths, And Then There Are Truths

Why Is Our Story The Only One That Counts?


A couple of autumns ago, I wrote the following response to a guy named "Fred," who was carrying out a long comment-war with @larrymotuz over the need for basic worker safety protocols during the Covid pandemic.  The thread was https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2021/11/at-least-269-workers-in-us-meatpacking.html, originally published by Olivia Paschal on Truthout, November 13th, 2021

There are all kinds of perfectly genuine personal truths. I don't face any racial discrimination because of my Celtic ancestry and the nice mayonnaise complexion it gave me. I don't have to worry about access for the motor-disabled because I have two legs that let me walk and run. Other people have different ethnic backgrounds, motor conditions, and sexualities, and therefore face different treatment from the society around them. All of our stories are perfectly real, but they're about different situations. The weather isn't the same in Germany as it is in the Gambia.

Then there is bigger, scientific truth: the one disease called Covid-19 is responsible for a number of deaths a third as big as the toll taken by dozens of types of cancer. Many of those types of cancer are self-imposed, e.g. by smoking or too much red meat. The meat-packing companies could have saved those workers' lives with a few simple precautions, but didn't bother. The workers should have taken a more pro-active approach to their health and safety: they should have staged a big work stoppage.


This thread presented by 

Jennifer A. Nolan

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