The VMAs Were An Homage To COVID-19 And Social Justice When They Should Have Been A Diversion

I watched the VMAs in hopes of a distraction from this absurd timeline we’re living through. Instead, the awards show smacked me over the head with coronavirus and social justice the whole time.

It’s been so long since there’s been any live music that I was actually excited for something I have never once cared about in my entire life: the MTV Video Music Awards. MTV went to New York this year to hand out its coveted Moon Person awards, and though Gov. Andrew Cuomo has disallowed everyone else from holding live performances, MTV got the go-ahead.

The whole presentation was almost an homage to COVID-19 with an undercurrent of social justice. Frontline emergency workers were lauded for dancing and singing in empty hospital wards, cleared out for the onslaught of Wuhan virus patients that in many places never arrived. The “live” audience was a bunch of cars, presumably with people inside, but maybe it was just product placement. In accepting their awards, artists said, “Justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor.”

A pandemic-inspired mood pervaded virtually all elements of the show. There was no visible live audience, and the presenters stood what looked to be six feet apart. They did this even though they could all have had rapid-response tests earlier in the day to make sure they weren’t infectious. Perhaps they were trying to set a good example to the young people watching the show.

The same went for unnecessary face masks. Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande performed in masks, and their back-up dancers popped and twirled fully masked, looking like automatic bodies with no personality and no face. The masks were so clearly just a nod to the coronavirus restrictions and this overarching narrative that we all must wear face coverings even when we don’t need to. “Wear a mask, it’s a sign of respect,” Lady Gaga said. It certainly wasn’t respectful to the audiences at home, who could hardly enjoy the performances because half the artists’ expressions were blocked off.

Megan Thee Stallion popped a bottle of champagne alone somewhere off-screen and socially distant when she accepted the award for Best Hip Hop. It was extremely anti-climactic, but it’s what many artists did.

Grande and Justin Bieber won an award for “Best Music Video at Home,” which was a coronavirus-inspired category to nominate those music videos that were made while musicians were social distancing and self-quarantining. There was also an award for Best Quarantine Performance, and another category gave a nod to the songs that inspired the most TikTok dances, a popular lockdown pastime.

Another category, “Video for Good,” celebrated the most politically woke video because, according to celebrities, only political art is worthwhile. After winning for her “I Can’t Breathe” video, H.E.R. said she’s “super proud of everyone speaking out for social justice” while accepting her award from a nondescript off-stage room.

Keke Palmer spoke about the recent madness in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and how the phenomenon of Black Lives Matter shows that her generation is standing up and taking responsibility. “It’s our time to be the change we want to see,” she said, as the unseen crowd let up whoops and cheers. It turns out they were on Zoom or something equally as horrible.

https://thefederalist.com/2020/08/31/the-vmas-were-an-homage-to-covid-19-and-social-justice-when-they-should-have-been-a-diversion/

>>10487518

>>10487613

The peak appears to be around the weeks of April 18 and April 25, with a steady decline until the beginning of July. The virus spiked throughout the month, but then began to slide again in August. For all age groups except 75 years old and above, the weekly deaths dropped well before 1,000 by mid-month, and are all near zero now.

>>10487600

They don't really die from the cold itself but from the complications that arise after contracting the virus if they are weak and sick.

Basically, our bodies are designed to build immunity against the common cold virus (coronavirus is one of five types of common cold) and we need to build those antibodies or they will phase themselves out. If we over sanitize or isolate ourselves, the healthy among us will never be able to survive.

I'm not explaining it the best right now, but you are absolutely right that there was no need to shut down the economy over this.

>>10487674

I read extensively about this yesterday and how the testing calibration was off. I am not the only one here who has been calling this a clusterfuck from day 1. Good to see that they are finally coming around, but at the needless cost of so much and so many. Frustrating.