COVID-19, a Rupture in Time

Throughout a person’s lifetime, huge cultural shifts can occur in the community that they live in. In fact, each decade can even have its own personality. Whether we are discussing the 1920s, the 1970s, or the 1990s, we can associate certain cultural traits to each era. These shifts can take place naturally, or they can be driven by a single event; a rupture.

These historical ruptures are typically a single event that steers a massive cultural shift. Past examples of this are the Great Depression, World War II, 9/11, etc. The cultural transformation that followed each of these events subtly transformed day to day life into what it is for us now.

The characters in the film, “The Big Lebowski,” portray what these cultural ruptures do to the daily lives of people. In their case, the cultural rupture was the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Two characters in specific exemplify this the most; Walter and The Dude. Walter is an obvious product of the Vietnam War. His actions are brash, aggressive, and quite frankly, they are dangerous. He lives his day to day life, half in California and half in Vietnam. The war will always be on Walter’s mind and will forever dictate how he acts. The Dude was also greatly affected by the Vietnam War, but to the opposite effect that it had on Walter. The Dude became a pacifist who embodied the essence of a war protestor in the 1960s. His laid-back and nonchalant demeanor is due to his views on the decisions of the United States Government at the time. Both of these characters adopted personality traits due to the “rupture” in their lives.

Looking back at all of these ruptures in time, we must ask ourselves if the COVID-19 pandemic is a rupture. We can’t know this yet, but it absolutely has the potential to be one. The radical change to people’s lifestyles, the trauma it is causing some families, and the general fear that it incites leads me to believe that this will be one of those ruptures that defines a decade. I think that culturally in America, there will become a stigma towards people who aren’t extremely cautious when it comes to spreading germs. Gone are the days of walking over to a friend's apartment and touring surfaces without washing your hands. I think that we might start to wear masks more regularly than before. Detailed in an article by The Atlantic, they state that it has become a sign of civic responsibility to wear face masks in Eastern Asia since the pneumonic plague in 1910. I think that wearing masks in public could become a cultural norm in America.

By Max Balanevsky

Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/04/america-asia-face-mask-coronavirus/609283/