As a small business owner I like to follow a couple of other business owners on YouTube. Most of these entrepreneurs operate on the internet. Either in print-on-demand, selling their creations on Etsy or flipping stuff on Ebay. One of the people I follow were struck by some serious tragedy.
Alabama Pickers is a married couple that sell second hand objects on Ebay. They buy goods cheap from garage sales, Goodwill and auctions. Then they sell them at steep markup on Ebay, this is called reselling. For years they logged their reselling journey on YouTube and I watched many of there vlogs. Today I wanted to watch a fresh video of Dusty (he) and Tristan (she) and see them traveling through the beautiful Alabama landscape. Alas, their channel was down and with some searching I found out that they past away due to Covid-19.
Dusty and Tristan Graham always struck me as a grounded and level-headed couple. Yes, they showed that typical American rightwing religious zeal which is not quite to my West-European secular taste. Nevertheless I admired them for setting up a successful business and battling through their health problems with such a positive attitude.
The couple was always open about their health issues. They had never any problem discussing the cocktail of medication they had to take. Never did I got the idea that they had any objections to the modern health system and medical science. That was not the full picture, apparently they did had objections to the Covid-19 vaccine. They bought into the that rightwing GOP anti-vaxxer rhetoric. End of August Tristan died, Dusty past away three weeks later.
Alabama Pickers
Alabama Pickers are leaving two young adult children behind. And this triggered me to write this post. Already research is done on which part of the population got a vaccine and which part did not. One research showed that 90% of the people who voted Biden got the vaccine, against 60% who voted Trump. If this remains that way then a certain part of the GOP supporters will suffer a serious economical hit.
The amount of deaths won’t make that of a difference, the number is too small compared to the total population. The amount of people who get sick and will suffer long-Covid will have an effect. Getting sick is expensive in the US, Dusty and Tristan had to start a GoFundme page. If the hardcore rightwing GOP support base gets economically hit really hard and the their Democratic opponents hardly at all, then this will have repercussions down the line.
The winning side of history
I always wondered what effect Covid-19 would have on society (yes unlike in my previous post, I can be more serious on Covid-19). With the current lopsided casualty numbers in the US, Democratic voters could turn up in higher numbers (less deaths and less suffering of long-Covid). Also, the Democrats actually can supply bigger election budgets. In the end this will change the direction of policy-making in the US. There will be winners and there will be losers.
In the mean time the son and daughter of Dusty and Tristan will suffer their ordeal. They are going to a rough time without the support of their parents. In less then a month their relative secure future is gone. Economic uncertainty is a real possibility for them. Supporting any rightwing GOP policies is most likely not on their minds. Perhaps for quite a while. And going through the loss of their parents maybe forever.
This is the USA, your mileage may differ in your country. But I’m getting more convinced that Covid-19 is going to shift lines in society. Unlike the Graham family, you better be on the winning side of the line.