Jon Miltimore – September 13, 2020
For months, most gyms in San Francisco have been closed, the result of a city order preventing them from opening their doors as a public safety measure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But not all gyms.
It was recently revealed that some gyms—city-owned ones—have been open for months, allowing city employees to take full advantage by exercising during these stressful times.
Local gym owners, understandably, sounded a bit unhappy when the discovery was brought to their attention.
“It’s shocking, it’s infuriating,” Daniele Rabkin from Crossfit Golden Gate told a Bay Area network. “Even though they’re getting exposed, there are no repercussions, no ramifications? It’s shocking.”
The episode drives home the banality of hashtags that say “We’re All in This Together.” As one gym owner pointed out, there are clearly separate rules for some.
“It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” said Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness in the Castro.
Perhaps in response to outrage over this and similar revelations, San Francisco announced that it would open indoor hair and nail salons, gyms, and hotels next week.
2020: The Year of Double Standards
Gym owners have every right to be angry, but double standards have been the rule of 2020, not the exception.
It began with government officials deciding which businesses were “essential” and would be allowed to remain open. It was pretty confusing.
Protesting was a non-essential activity, until it was essential. Naturally nobody, except other businesses, wanted to suggest liquor stores were not essential. (If there’s a lesson that runs through American history, it’s not to mess too much with Americans’ booze.) But time and again what we really saw was commerce that helped the government or was politically convenient to lawmakers was deemed essential.
The hypocrisy didn’t end there, however.
Photo by Trust “Tru” Katsande on Unsplash
