It’s getting ugly out there in New Jersey (Opinion)

We've always been known as an "in your face" kind of state, but now the volume has been turned up due to COVID. If you are on social media, you certainly see it and notice it.

Over the weekend I saw a note from one of my cousins to another telling her to "get the disease and die and let your stupidity die with you."

Presumably, it was over a post she put up on Facebook favoring a certain governor and his handling of the pandemic.

It was upsetting and sad to see how people have devolved into ugly creatures who would normally never speak the way they do on social media, to that person face to face. Due to a combination of fear and prideful arrogance people have turned on each other in a way that I've never seen before.

Through a combination of poor messaging from the government and their heavy-handed rules infringing on peoples' rights to live their lives as they see fit, and the media's hysterical fear mongering, we're at a real low point in our society.

New Jersey is not alone. Other states have seen people reacting harshly to each other and at their local governments' handling of the virus.

This video was taken last week at the Manasquan Inlet. A boater is reacting to a person standing on the jetty outside and wearing a mask. He's yelling "take the mask off, you're outside!"

Another post I saw on the NextDoor app a couple of weeks ago showed a picture taken in their neighborhood in South Jersey chiding people for wearing a mask alone in their car.

The vitriol is coming from all sides and it's getting ugly. People need to calm down and think about what they're saying and doing. It may not be acceptable to most people, but it's understandable with the behavior of our media and our government.

Both have been more disturbing than the virus itself.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy. Any opinions expressed are Dennis Malloy's own.