I've been reading about Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti's recent announcement in which he encouraged residents to "snitch" (his word) on non-essential businesses that aren't complying with requirements to shut down during this Covid 19 crisis. The good mayor even said something about a reward for such snitching, though details are sketchy.
A cursory Google search on this story so far shows only "right wing" media reporting on this story (I use scare quotes because you never read about other media outlets being labeled as left-wing).
A closer look takes me to a Google Doc form provided by the City of Los Angeles which allows people to report so-called non-essential businesses who are violating the stay-at-home order. I don't see any such form for "snitches" to report regular people who, for example, are walking outside without a mask or something. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.
Yes, we're scared. Most of us alive today have never experienced something so monumentally terrifying as this once-in-a-century global pandemic. So we're willing to temporarily suspend some--no, many--personal liberties.
But how far do we want to go, not just personally but societally? The fact that this story is apparently only alarming people on the right is telling. Let's hope that changes and more people--left and right--sound the alarm.
Like the opening of Pandora's Box, something like this--"snitching" on our fellow citizens, even for a supposedly good cause--once it's accepted by the community, could easily mutate into a society of real "snitches." This is apparently happening today in parts of Europe: they're called "Corona-Snitches" (link in comments).
Free societies who accept such policies do so at their peril.
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For Further Reading
"Corona-Snitches Thrive in Lockdown Europe" (Politico)
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