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Are people meaner, more impatient since COVID-19?

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11 months ago

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During the pandemic, life was not all sunshine and rainbows. COVID-19 exacerbated several issues plaguing Canada and the world, experts said.

According to Dalhousie University assistant sociology professor Michael Halpin, society went through “the worst event of this lifetime,” and people were essentially told to go back to normal as soon as lockdowns lifted.

But not only did the pandemic worsen deep-seated issues such as mental health(opens in a new tab), homelessness,(opens in a new tab) health care and political polarization(opens in a new tab), it has made people think differently about one another, Halpin told CTVNews.ca in an interview.

This can manifest as an impatient customer, less friendly public interactions and selfish behaviour.

Charles Adeyanju, a sociology and anthropology professor at the University of P.E.I., said people are experiencing a “commonality of anxiety.”

“It takes many people to have that problem—or that experience—for them to begin to move for change,” he told CTVNews.ca in an interview last week.

WHY ARE PEOPLE MORE DISRESPECTFUL?

It is undeniably true that the world has changed since the pandemic, Adeyanju said, but how people view the post-lockdown era is up to them.

“Those people who believe that society has been more unkind, it depends on how they are looking at things from their experiences and perspective,” he said.

Adeyanju said the years before 2020 were seen as more “stable” because of how much unrest and uncertainty COVID-19 created.

Halpin, meanwhile, said people view the two time periods with “stark division.”

“I have this idea of pre-COVID as being more tranquil than it actually was, but it was also a mess,” he said. “In some ways, COVID may have been the gasoline but I think for a lot of the problems that we have, it wasn’t necessarily the fire.”

Political unrest and polarization were high prior to the pandemic, Halpin said, referring to 2016 when Donald Trump was elected president of the United States(opens in a new tab).

“The way that Trump was impacting Canadian society, talking about eliminating NAFTA(opens in a new tab)…We were getting into general insecurity that we had with that flux in our big neighbour to the south.”

Around the same time, BREXIT was also happening, causing economic unrest around much of the world(opens in a new tab). Halpin added election interference(opens in a new tab) and a spike in disinformation and misinformation(opens in a new tab) on social media all came to a head as COVID-19 spread.

“A lot of those topics or debates or issues as being things that kind of bubbled up post-COVID,” he said. “But the issues that we are paying attention to now, they became perhaps amplified or magnified (during the pandemic.)”

When public health recommendations for everyone to stay home were announced, most people were upset because of how different society looked, according to Halpin. People worked from home, missed weddings and holidays and couldn’t hug their loved ones.

Masking was mandatory in all public settings and the government implored people to follow the rules.

“We got used to policing people’s actions during COVID, we got used to policing whether people were following the procedures, whether they were violating quarantine, if they’re wearing their mask,” Halpin said. “We’ve been kind of taught to monitor other people’s behaviour in a different way.”

Because of how COVID-19 spread through communities, public health messaging focused on everyone doing their part to protect each other(opens in a new tab). So when a person breaks a rule, Halpin said, people realize how that can impact them personally.

“When you start seeing people as ‘others,’ you make less affordances for how they might be behaving,” he said. “We see it as emblematic of a larger social issue.”

Another factor that could be playing into this societal unrest is the lack of acknowledgment of how hard the pandemic was on people, Halpin said.

“We never really talked about it being difficult and we didn’t really make it easy for ourselves either,” he said.

Expectations that children kept up with school and people performed well at their jobs was a “big disruption.”

“I think in many ways, we don’t take it as seriously as we should. And we haven’t really had the conversations about how it impacted all of us in a way that perhaps we should be having,” Halpin said.

HOW DO CANADIANS FEEL ABOUT IT?

CTVNews.ca asked readers if they felt general unkindness from strangers and had unpleasant experiences since the pandemic lockdowns. Several people reached out via email to share how they feel a difference in the way people treat one another compared to before COVID-19.

CTVNews.ca has not independently verified all emailed responses.

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Across Canada, lockdown orders were lifted at the discretion of individual provinces and territories.

Some places experienced longer periods without public health restrictions while others bounced between sometimes confusing policies for up to two years since the onset of the virus.

Despite some feeling excited to get back to the way things were, people quickly realized the society they returned to was very different than the one they knew before the pandemic.

“For some reason I find people in general to be more needy, pushy and demanding than before COVID,” Dan Bachman, of Saskatoon, told CTVNews.ca in an email. “General politeness and courtesy seem to be a thing of the past, we have certainly become a ‘me first’ society.”

Others, like Gail Goldstein from Montreal, told CTVNews.ca she finds instances of road rage and people behaving impatiently to be more common.

“The pandemic has surely changed people!” Goldstein wrote in an email.

It’s not just in public spaces that there appears to be a sense of anger, Janet Wees told CTVNews.ca in an interview, the online world has also become more “hateful.”

“Online they have the freedom to be anonymous,” Wees, who lives in Calgary, said. “I think social media has a big influence on some people…(Before COVID) you had freedom of speech, nobody really attacked you, but now it just seems like you’re attacked. And it’s every person for themselves.”

Wees said people concerned with their freedoms are fighting for their rights over everyone else’s.

“When people started spouting that ‘I have a right to refuse to wear a mask,’ some of us would counter with ‘What about our rights? We have a right to be healthy. You need to stay away from us,'” Wees said. “To me, it was a very selfish attitude.”

Kate Faith, a former teacher, believes fear makes people behave poorly. She told CTVNews.ca in an email that she did not want to get the COVID-19 vaccine and was fired from her job.

“I had people tell me they hoped I get COVID and die because I’m not jabbed,” Faith said. “I’ve been called ignorant, racist and stupid — all because I didn’t feel comfortable taking [the] jab.”

Melanie Schwabe from Shelburne, Ont. says she felt as though public health regulations such as mask and vaccine mandates divided people further.

“I am an Ontario nurse who lost her career to vaccine mandates,” Schwabe told CTVNews.ca in an email.

She said she was “vilified and shamed,” “blamed for prolonging the pandemic,” and accused of being “selfish and uneducated.”

Tracy Ford, from Victoria, B.C., said she believes fear makes people behave poorly.

“I think the pandemic put people in a state of fear which destroyed their thinking and especially their empathic or altruistic capabilities,” Ford wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca “It really seems like everyone today is just out to save themselves; and if they hurt someone else in the process, who cares.”

Devin Hogg, from Guelph, Ont., said that the “niceness” and “politeness” of Canadian society before COVID was “performative.”

“Due to being on the autism spectrum, I had to pay very close attention to social behaviours,” he told CTVNews.ca in an email, adding the “pandemic began the process of stripping this lip service to politeness away.”

“I believe the veneer of politeness and nicety has remained stripped away even with the pandemic seemingly fading in certain privileged populations because the illusion of safety and entitlement has been shattered,” he said. “Regardless of the reaction, there is a recognition on some level that we cannot go backwards.”

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Despite the pandemic highlighting so many negative aspects, Adeyanju said there is still kindness to be found.

“People have actually come together to welcome new immigrants (for example); working with one another to help,” he said. “I think it has also brought some people together, in a way to fight a common cause.”

Adeyanju hopes things will get better but said it’s up to people to realize the issues and fix them together.

“But out of crisis could emerge new things. It is an opportunity to fix some of the problems that have been there before COVID,” he said.

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My Boy Prince to race against older horses in $1-million Woodbine Mile

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1 hour ago

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September 13, 2024

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TORONTO – He’s firmly among Canada’s top three-year-olds but My Boy Prince faces a stiff test Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack.

The ’24 King’s Plate runner-up will be part of a global field in the $1-million Woodbine Mile turf event. Not only will it be My Boy Prince’s first race against older competition but among the seven other starters will be such horses as Naval Power (Great Britain), Big Rock (France) and Filo Di Arianna (Brazil).

My Boy Prince will race for the first time since finishing second to filly Caitlinhergrtness in the Plate on Aug. 23.

“It’s his first try against older horses and it’s hard to say where he fits in,” said trainer Mark Casse. “This time of year running a three-year-old against older horses, it’s like running a teenager against college athletes.

“We’re doing it because we believe a mile on the turf is his preferred surface … we wanted to give him a shot at this. (American owner Gary Barber) is someone who likes to think outside the box and take calculated risks so we’re going to see where he fits in.”

Casse, 16 times Canada’s top trainer, is a Hall of Famer both here and in the U.S. He’s also a two-time Woodbine Mile winner with filly Tepin (2016) and World Approval (2017).

Sahin Civaci will again ride My Boy Prince, Canada’s top two-year-old male who has six wins and 10 money finishes (6-3-1) in 11 career starts. The horse will be one of three Casse trainees in the race with Filo Di Arianna (ridden by Sovereign Award winner Kazushi Kimura) and Win for the Money (veteran Woodbine jockey Patrick Husbands aboard).

Naval Power, a four-year-old, has finished in the money in eight of nine starts (six wins, twice second) and will race in Canada for the first time. He comes to Woodbine with second-place finishes in two Grade 1 turf races.

Big Rock, another four-year-old, makes his North American debut Saturday. The horse has five wins and five second-place finishes in 14 starts but has struggled in ’24, finishing sixth, 10th and fifth in three races.

Filo Di Arianna is a four-time graded stakes winner with nine victories, three seconds and a third from 17 starts. It was Canada’s ’22 top male sprinter and champion male turf horse.

Other starters include Playmea Tune, Niagara Skyline and Secret Reserve.

Playmea Tune, a four-year-old, is trained by Josie Carrol. The gelding has made three starts, winning twice and finishing second in the Grade 3 Bold Venture on Aug. 23.

Woodbine-based Niagara Skyline is a six-year-old with 13 money finishes (six wins, five seconds, twice third) in 24-lifetime starts. The John Charlambous trainee has reached the podium (1-1-1) in all three races this year.

Secret Reserve, also a six-year-old, has finished in the money in 15-of-26 starts (six wins, one second, eight thirds). The horse, at 44-1, was third in the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes over a mile on the E.P. Taylor turf course.

The Mile highlights a stellar card featuring six graded stakes races. Also on tap are the $750,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes (fillies and mares), $500,000 bet365 Summer Stakes (two-year-olds) and $500,000 Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes (two-year-old fillies), all Grade 1 turf events.

The Mile, Natalma and Summer winners earn automatic entries into the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar in November.

Casse has won all four races, earning his first E.P. Taylor title last year with filly Fev Rover, Canada’s horse of the year and champion female turf horse. Fev Rover will defend her title Saturday against a field that includes Moira, the ’22 King’s Plate winner and Canada’s horse of the year trained by Woodbine’s Kevin Attard.

“It (E.P. Taylor) was definitely on my bucket list because it had eluded us,” Casse said. “But I honestly hadn’t realized I’d won all four of them, hadn’t really thought about it.”

Casse will have horses in all four turf races Saturday. Arguably the most intriguing matchup will be between Moira and Fev Rover, who ran 1-2, respectively, in a photo finish Aug. 11 in the Grade 2 Beverly D. Stakes, a 1 3/16-mile turf race, at Virginia’s Colonial Downs.

“What’s funny is the two of them went all the way to Virginia and she beat us by a nose,” Casse said. “We could’ve done that at Woodbine.

“There’s two of the best fillies in the world both from Toronto and they’re going to be competing Saturday.”

Some question having so many solid races on a single card but Casse likes the strategy.

“I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “On Saturday, the main focus on horse racing in the world will be on Woodbine and that’s because it’s such a great card.

“It’s an international day, there’s horses coming from everywhere and we’re going to do our best to represent Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.



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Former world No. 1 Sharapova wins fan vote for International Tennis Hall of Fame

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September 13, 2024

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NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.

The organization released the voting results Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.

The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.

“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”

Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.

Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.

To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.

The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.

The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.

___

AP tennis:

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Roots sees room for expansion in activewear, reports $5.2M Q2 loss and sales drop

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September 13, 2024

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TORONTO – Roots Corp. may have built its brand on all things comfy and cosy, but its CEO says activewear is now “really becoming a core part” of the brand.

The category, which at Roots spans leggings, tracksuits, sports bras and bike shorts, has seen such sustained double-digit growth that Meghan Roach plans to make it a key part of the business’ future.

“It’s an area … you will see us continue to expand upon,” she told analysts on a Friday call.

The Toronto-based retailer’s push into activewear has taken shape over many years and included several turns as the official designer and supplier of Team Canada’s Olympic uniform.

But consumers have had plenty of choice when it comes to workout gear and other apparel suited to their sporting needs. On top of the slew of athletic brands like Nike and Adidas, shoppers have also gravitated toward Lululemon Athletica Inc., Alo and Vuori, ramping up competition in the activewear category.

Roach feels Roots’ toehold in the category stems from the fit, feel and following its merchandise has cultivated.

“Our product really resonates with (shoppers) because you can wear it through multiple different use cases and occasions,” she said.

“We’ve been seeing customers come back again and again for some of these core products in our activewear collection.”

Her remarks came the same day as Roots revealed it lost $5.2 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $5.3 million in the same quarter last year.

The company said the second-quarter loss amounted to 13 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Aug. 3, the same as a year earlier.

In presenting the results, Roach reminded analysts that the first half of the year is usually “seasonally small,” representing just 30 per cent of the company’s annual sales.

Sales for the second quarter totalled $47.7 million, down from $49.4 million in the same quarter last year.

The move lower came as direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $36.4 million, down from $37.1 million a year earlier, as comparable sales edged down 0.2 per cent.

The numbers reflect the fact that Roots continued to grapple with inventory challenges in the company’s Cooper fleece line that first cropped up in its previous quarter.

Roots recently began to use artificial intelligence to assist with daily inventory replenishments and said more tools helping with allocation will go live in the next quarter.

Beyond that time period, the company intends to keep exploring AI and renovate more of its stores.

It will also re-evaluate its design ranks.

Roots announced Friday that chief product officer Karuna Scheinfeld has stepped down.

Rather than fill the role, the company plans to hire senior level design talent with international experience in the outdoor and activewear sectors who will take on tasks previously done by the chief product officer.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:ROOT)

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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