Ethnography – Interview #1 Transcription LEGEND--> :: I == Interviewer ::E == Interviewee I: Boom… Alright… So uhm… The first question will be ‘what is your occupation?’ E: Assistant Vice President of Compliance at a… financial company. I: How long have you been at that? E: Uhhh… I’ve been with the company for ten years, and as far as this current role, uh… would be a year. I: Okay. So I presume you’re enjoying it. E: Uh… Yes I do. I: Oh ok, good… and you’ve been there for ten years… When was the last time you did something for the first time? E: When was the last time I did something for the first time that would been… last summer when I went skydiving. I: What made you do that? E: That was something that I wanted to try, uhhht uhhh… and it was on my one of my um… checklists of bucket lists of things to do and it was something that I always wanted to do and I did it. I: Oh okay, cool. Would you do it again? E: Mmm… I think once is enough, honestly. For me, I can say I got the experience and I did it. I don’t want to press my luck. -- Suppose anything happens so I’ll… I think I’m good on that for now. I: Understood. Anything you got on your bucket list you want to accomplish? E: Yeah there are some other things I just can’t think of them off the top of my head right now. My list isn’t in front of me. I: Okay. So do you consider yourself to be a cup half-full or half-empty kind of person? Like, optimist or pessimist. E: Mmmm… Since ao ah… that one’s a tough question it depends on the… depends on the situation. I mean, I try to think of like of my self like… myself as a level headed person. I don’t want it to see-seem that I’m always pessimistic. I mean…. I try to look on the bright side of things so I guess maybe you can say I’m an optimistic person. I: Okay. So you said you sky-dove, so do you travel often? E: Yes. I: How often do you travel? E: Uh… I try to go someplace, ahhh… like at least every year except minus this year due to the pandemic and traveling restrictions. I: Okay. How has the pandemic affected your traveling habits? E: Uh… Affected it a great deal—I haven’t gone anywhere! I: Okay. So when it’s over what’s the first… what’s the first place you’re gonna go to? E: Ahhhh… I wou… I think I’m gonna try a trip to maybe Europe… Maybe somewhere in Europe. That’s one of the places I haven’t been, so maybe some place in Europe. I’ll figure it out when the time comes. I: Do you have uhm… any idea where in Europe you’d like to go? E: Uhh… Maybeee… Italy. I: Alright, cool. And would you learn the language before going or just go straight? E: Uhh… Try to learn enough of the language at least to… to get around. Most of the time I go someplace, I like to go someplace with either ahhh… a friend or somebody that knows the language so I’m not… caught off guard if I decide to venture off past places that aren’t for tourists and whatnot, so… I: Understood… So how do you feel about wearing masks? Because I know they’ve got a mask mandate over there and their lockdown is pretty serious. E: I’m… I have no… To be honest, I mean… going into places and… businesses, I don’t really have any issue wearing masks. I’m not a fan of wearing them… when I’m… outdoors! Like I said, like it’s a park or I’m walking in a park for like exercise but as far as going in to like businesses or restaurants, it doesn’t bother me. I: Oh ok. How often do you go on social media? E: Ahm… I would say… every day mostly, I’m on it in some capacity. I: Oh okay. Do you feel as though social media has influence your opinion on the pandemic at all? E: No because most of the stuff I look-- like mostly aren't usually political or... orrr... or like I said, ah, most of my... my ahhh... viewing of social media's kind of like... not an escape from reality; It's usually things that are just you know... you know, funny things or just to see how you know... catch up with friends and see what they're doing. I try to stay away from people's, anybody's political posts or any kind of... any kind of things like that in terms of news or... I: Oh, okay. No science? E: On... on... On social media? No. I mean any of that I get based from the actual news source. I don't use my social media for that... purposes... I: Ah, okay. Understood. Uhm... So... I just want to go back to the mask real quick. Do you think the masks are effective or would there be anything more effective than a mask? E: I mean... Like I said there's a from... judging from what our... our... our scientists are saying that masks are effective. I mean... I can't think of anything to be more effective than I don't know... Except not to come in contact with anyone but that's not feasible so... I guess that masks are it. I: Oh. Do you feel that your health is at risk due to COVID-19? E: Uhm... I mean... Wouldn't anybody's health? I mean, like I said it's it's it's a disease that honestly we really don't know. I th... I feel like ah... From being a person where I know I have a family member that's affected and I watched uhh... friends and other people's family members affected. I mean, it affects everyone's differently so I... It's something that I wouldn't want a chance getting myself depending on how my body or my system would react so I try to keep myself out of situations where I'd contact it. You know... large gatherings, you know. Masks, things of that nature. I: Oh okay. Are you concerned about anyone in your house catching it? E: Uhm. Yeah, if I go to visit my mother or my aunt, or any of those kinds of family members. I: Oh okay. So since the pandemic occurred did COVID-19 and the social distancing guidelines and things of the sort have any effect on your hygienic practices? E: No. I mean, I was a-already rather clean person. Just that I've been more... been more excessive with hand washing but I always wash my hands regularly, anyway. I mean, that's it but I've also been more... more careful with in terms of, that was in the beginning of the pandemic when where in terms that they said that it could live on surfaces and mail and that turned out to be incorrect so that was just handling mail differently as opposed to just bringing it in and laying it down on the table or counter and not thinking about it. I: Oh okay. So have you been... have you been going to uhm, like public gatherings and things of the sorts and since then ? E: Ahhhh... I think... the first thing I've ever been to was outdoor... or like an outdoor dining thing in North Jersey but... and that was just about a month ago but I haven't really... since this pandemic began, any kind of big gatherings or... I: Oh, okay... E: Events, clubs, or things of that nature. I: Understood. So has the pandemic had a positive effect on... or negative effect on your life? E: Be a negative effect. I mean life hasn't really been... you know... much to enjoyed or the things that you were able to enjoy that you were carefree. You can't, you know, travel like you used to. You can't socialize and go out and do the things that you normally would do carefree without limitations or being spaced out or not being able to talk to people so... from that standpoint it'd have a negative effect on everybody... or myself. I: Oh okay. Where do you see yourself to be on the political scale from authoritarian to libertarian? E: Hmmm... Uh.. uh uh... I wouldn't say that I'm a... so much a strict auth or... authoritarian that strict obedience to everything that the government says but I mean everything within I mean... practice... I would say that I'm somewhere in the middle of-between the two of them. I can't say that I'm one or the other. I: Okay. So where on the political spectrum now, from liberal to conservative, would you consider yourself to be? E: Ahhoo... I think that would be the same answer. Like I said, somewhere... Like I said, somewhere in the middle. Like I said, I don't believe in... Like I said, I have some conservative values and I have some liberal values, too. I'm not like I'm not one or the other. I'm not a strict conservative and I'm not a strict liberal so I said somewhere in the middle of that... is the answer. I: Oh okay. Do you think we'll find a cure for COVID-19 soon? E: Uh... I believe so. I: What makes you feel so? Or believe so? E: Uh well, I mean... I feel that they're moving closer to finding a cure considering uhm, that... a lot of uh, I would say... organizations that are in different countries are... seem to be taking it a lot more seriously and there seems to be a rush on trying to... to find some kind of vaccination, there has been recent announcements that they've been close to finding something that's nineties... ninety percent effective but they still obviously have to do more testing but I believe they'll find a cure for it. I: Okay. Do you believe that legality and morality are equal? E: Legality and morality are equal...? I: For example, if something is illegal then does that make it immoral? E: ... Uh... see ahh... I'm really not... I'm not sure... I'm really not sure. I mean moral... I mean... I'm not sure. Whether an action is wrong or right it depends on... the-the moral norms of society. And you know... I... depending on what the situation is... I don't know... I don't know how to really answer that. I: Okay... So for example, let's say gun ownership, right? Because the gun is illegal in some places, does the use of it to defend one's self if one comes across it, does that make it an immoral act? E: So you're saying in let's say the situation that. It... let's say that gun ownership is... I don't know where it would be flat-out illegal without having you know... you know... the right-the right permits and whatnot but you're saying that gun ownership is illegal in some places and if someone uses a gun to defend themself, is that immoral is what you're trying to say? I: Yeah. E: I mean... If you're defending your life and you have due cause to it and and there's no... like I said you're not... harming anyone and someone says it's immoral if you have the right to... you know if you're defending your life. That kind of outweighs any legality in regards to... regards to gun ownership or not being able to own a gun or whatnot. I: Okay. So, since the pan-pandemic has occurred have you noticed the government restrictions during the pandemic? E: Howerveryoumean... Have I been paying to the certain government uh... restrictions, you mean? I: Yeah have you... Seen how they've increased or they've lessened? E: Well, I mean... I mean from our state's standpoints, yeah. I've seen how they progress where they were from New Jersey's standpoint where they're real strict and then they obviously started to ease off and as the numbers grew they're kinda starting to wind back with certain restrictions. But then I look at other states and I see that they haven't had much restrictions at all and they haven't really changed in terms of what they were doing so it seems that each state is practicing their own things, so there's no uniformity. I: Which do you feel is most effective? E: What's that? I: Which do you believe is most effective? E: What the restrictions or fr.. or free to do whatever you want? I: Yeah, the restrictions of the free-free to do whatever you want. E: I mean when, when, I mean when uhm restrictions began and we seemed to... when... when things started to kick off and the states started to get strict with it... our numbers were down at a point then it seems that when we laid off of the restrictions, the numbers started to... to... to rise. I don't know if there's a correlation between the two, I ... or I... Or I don't know just maybe... people traveling from other states aren't doing what they're supposed to do... I ... I don't know. I ca-I can't really answer that without doing research and numbers and stats-- that kind of thing. I: Okay. Do you feel that the local government is limiting your freedom? E: I mean... there's... its' it's... there's... I mean there's noth, I mean... any... In terms of my freedom freedom to do what I want to do minus wearing a mask I could still do that. I mean... my... The only thing that's really affected is my... honestly, travel and that's based upon other countries that are stopping the United States for... from entering their country due to our numbers... ya know... I: Okay. Do you agree with the safety guidelines from the local government? E: Uhm... what in terms of... wearing masks and social distancing? I: Yeah. Wearing masks, social distancing, uhm limiting the amount of guests that you can have in your house... E: Uhhh... I agree with the masks and social distancing. I mean... starting... when it starts to get to the point where you're starting to limit who you can invite over to your house or how many people you can have in your house, at certain gatherings when it comes to immediate family, that's when I start to have an issue. Suppose that you have a big family. You know what I mean? You know what I mean... I can understand if you're hosting an outdoor event for I mean, like I said an event for a large house party with random people in your home but when it comes to immediate family, I don't know... I don't really agree with that-- the limiting of how many people you can have in your own home. It should... It should be based on your view and what you want to do. I: Yeah. Understood. So how about a business. Do you think that it's fair to limit how many people can be in a business? although these people going in the business, they can use their own judgement and basically gauge if they want to take the risk or not.\ E: I mean that's up to you. You take the risk. I mean, I-I feel that if it's sufficiently regulated like how all this... there's like specially.. the health inspectors that come in and view. You're doing all of the things that they're supposed to tell you to do like wearing masks and things are socially distanced... And you know as long as there's not any... I guess outbreak or anything that they can trace to your business, I don't feel it should be penalized. Let them... run the business how they're running the business. I think what they're saying about cases spiking... it's not really coming from immediate businesses but more so coming from places that don't... I would say have any kind of restrictions in place as far as large gatherings and have any restrictions in place as far as wearing any masks. I: So what do you think the positive effects or the negative effects of the safety guidelines that the states are imposing? E: Positive effects? Like I said, I mean... At one point the-the... thee... theee... the mandate on masks and social distancing was keeping the... were... was keeping the numbers low and I feel that since... as the months have gone, a lot of people have be gotten... I guess... could say... pandemic fa--fatigue and they stopped following the rules in terms of what they would do. Wearing masks places and tight gatherings of people that they don't deal with on a strict base... on a strict basis... uh... I: Have you observed any negative aspects of the safety guidelines? E: Any negative aspects? Uh... like I said, people like can... you know... obviously you can't socialize... like you want to... or free to... and certain events that you can't... that you wouldn't be able to... you can't take part in like graduationnnns, large birthdays, weddings, things of that nature-- that's been impacted... the nega... I: Have you observed uhm... higher rates of crime and things of the sort? E: Definitely have but... Ugh... Definitely have in New York-- New York City. I: Okay. Now do you feel that the government should have a say in your health? E: In... in... int... In what aspect? In terms of what? What... what in my health? I: Anything involving your health. Whether it be you... Dictating to you what to eat, what you should... inject in your body or the supplements you should take-- E: No. NO! That's, that's... whatever people want to with-with their own body then that's their choice. They're allowed to do whatever they want... want to do, in terms of whatever it is that they want to put into their body themself. I: Okay. What is your definition of freedom? E: My definition of freedom is the right to do what you feel whenever you feel like it with... all within you know... a range where you're not harming anybody else. I: Okay. Now who defines freedom for you? E: Hmmm... Who defines freedom for me? Huh, I mean based... based... based on what? The legal rules or how I... or how I deem what freedom is? I: How you deem what freedom is and also the legal consideration. E: Freedom means many things to many people. Freedom means to vote for particular ideas... freedom happen... you can... whether you wanna... run the streets... run the streets... and... and scream at the top of your lungs and there's no ordinance, that's your freedom. I guess it all depends on what's within the legal realm and ah... uhm... what I'm allowed to do I guess. So maybe... maybe to a point where all our freedom is in a sense kinda dictated by our government all within what they allow. I: Hmm... So it comes down to not freedom but liberty, is that it? E: I guess so, maybe. I: Oh okay. Do you feel that the government should limit people's freedom in the interest of the community? E: Hmmm... people freedom in the interest of community... In a sense of what? Public safety or what? I: Uhm... Anything. It can be public safety or... b... that would be actually the main thing. E: I mean... Like I said, Like I said... wha... ahhh... Like I said when society was set up there was rules put in place so that we could have a... a functional society so like I said, if it's... I guess that with its... in... within the realm of keeping the... safety of others where there's you know... where nobody's... you know, harmed or you know... you know, hurt on a daily basis I guess, you know... there's room for intervention and... and certain things. I: Okay but do you feel as though there are one-size fits all solutions to problems? E: No. I: Okay. Because let's say there's a.... a large segment of people of the population within the community who don't agree with whatever laws or in place or whatever the safety guidelines are... E: Mmmhmm... I: How do you feel that those people should go about getting what they want? E: Well, if there's a part of the community that feels the... like I said, well, we already know that the... we already know that the rules and guidelines vary from... from place to place so maybe they should find a new community to... to... to live in if they aren't happy with the rules that are in place. There are other states that have a lot more freedom in terms of what they want to do... if there's... if there's states that they... they feel that they don't want to WEAR A MASK they're tired of wearing masks and they don't like it and they're... they're free to go to another place where there are no mask mandates... things of that nature. I: Okay... Go by the law of the land... E: Mmmhmm... I: So what should the involvement of the government be during the pandemic? E: The involvement of the government should be to set up... setup guidelines in terms of what they feel can... you know... best help people in terms of keeping them... safe and health in terms of what they... mask mandates and... and places like I said that are... errrr... they can always mandate things in terms of people's business and things of that nature so I guess I... hmmm... Like I said, I really don't... Like I said... Like I said, in terms of things I really don't have an issue unless it gets to a point where they're mandating what must be... what you must eat and what you must inject in your body and things of that nature, so... I: Okay... What would be the... What should be the limit of their reach then? Should it be the... the... Do you feel it should be the person? Do you feel it should be the property? The... you know... What in that realm do you feel should be the limit of their reach? What do you feel should be the limit of their reach, period? Where does the government's reach stop for you? E: Like I said, I would... I would feel like any sort of like uhm... Like I said public biz... Like you know... Things that are like uhhhmmm... Public businesses, Like restaurants, stores, if you wanna dictate that everybody has to wear a mask there... then... anything else in terms of what people do on their own private property, I don't feel the government should step in... Unless like I said... Like... Unless they feel that... is whatever someone is doing on their private property... becomes... a detriment to the other surrounding neighbors around them. I: Okay, now under what circumstances would that take place? E: Not... This is all strictly pandemic related in terms of that? I: This is... not necessarily all pandemic related but what would be the limit of their reach. What should be the limit of their reach? So... it... because anything can be said to be for safety but where would that stop? Where would the limit be to keep you safe? Or keeping you safe? E: I don't really understand in terms of... I really didn't understand the question. I: So... there are guidelines for safety and they're enforced by the government-- E: Mmmhmmm... I: But at what point does it become too much? Like, where should their... Where should the reach of their power stop when it comes to the safety guidelines or anything related to the community-- local government, local community or... anything of the sort. E: I mean... It's a good question, I mean, I r... I re... I really don't know if that... If I mean, if there's already certain laws put in place and you kind of agreed to abide by them by living in whatever communities they're established in. You, I guess... Arrrgh... Re... I really don't know... really dunno. I: Do you agree with every law that currently exists? E: Every law that currently exists!? Ahhhh... Hmmm... None... I mean this... I... I... I can't think of any that I totally disagree with but I can't say that I agree with every one that's on record... No. I: Oh okay... and... What do you think about politics taking the stage during the pandemic? E: What do I think, repeat that again. I: What do you think about politics taking the stage during the pandemic? So... and... So... the pandemic is a matter of science-- E: Oh you mean tha... You're saying... You're saying: politics... politics trying to dictate science in terms of how things have... things have gone on where like saying, where like I said certain things where like scientific experts are saying one thing and politicians are trying to downplay it for their own personal gain? I: Yeah. So there's that and there's politics coming into play, period. So politics basically having an influence on whether people believe in it or not and... kind of like religion. How do you feel about politics having anything to do... like, being a highlight within the pandemic? E: Be honest, I'm not really for politics at, in, an injecting itself within anything scientific base ya know... outcomes and things of that nature. I mean... Jus, jus, ju... standpoint we had aahhh.. Fauci who worked under both... Republic and Democratic uh... administrations that had no issues and then suddenly towards the end of this... this presidency we had a person that's now had a problem with rules on orrr he's been a trusted scientist so uh... I don't believe in them. I: Oh... Do you think that paycheck protection and stimulus checks were necessary? E: Uhhhh... I believe so if they're going to... if they're going to shut down people's business and... people's businesses and things of that nature without... wit', you know, ahh yeah... without any.... but you know, without anyyy... you know this... there's people depend on their paychecks everyday without any livelihood they... they can supplement their income inter... in terms... until things open up or they allow the businesses to open up. I had no issue with them giving people any kind of stimulus or supplementing their pay. I: Mmm... Do you think that the stimulus checks contributed to... the well being of individuals? E: What, you mean in terms of helping them to survive? I: In terms of helping them to survive, do you think that they were enough? E: Mmm... I... I... I... I can't really say. I nev... I didn't get any so I no... I don't know, I guess tsss... I can't really speak on anybody who... who got their.... Who got checks... if... they would have to answer that, whether it's enough for them to survive on a monthly basis or however they use their money to pay bills and get groceries and things of that nature. I mean... I think that there were so many different levels of... depending on the pay scale, who got what amount and I don't think anybody all got the same amount, so... I: Oh okay... Do you wish that you got the uhm...? E: ... Huhahahaha! Who doesn't like free money? I mean, I-I-I-I'd like some extra money too, just to put aside for emergencies and whatnot but I wasn't that lucky, so... I: Oh okay. If you were a government official, what are the changes you would make to the COVID-19 guidelines? E: Hmmm... Uhhh.... If I was a government official would I na... Ahhhh... . I'm tryin' to t... I'm trying to think what I would change... Ahhhh... It don... It all... It all depends on what the situation is, in terms of... in terms of mass lockdowns, I don't feel... I don't feel I would do that in terms of if I was a government official. I would just make the mask mandate and try to you know... keep track and monitor places where I feel... and attract any kind of operation or things of that nature, any business that failed to adhere to then they'd either be fined or closed down but I wouldn't close down everything or anything or... business that were abiding by the rules to get to... I: Okay... Sounds fair. So in light of the whole situation with the pandemics what are some of your most positive experiences? E: Uhmm... More of appreciation for family uh and you know, close friends. It makes you obviously take the time to think about things and value of those relationships. I: Okay. So it brought you closer to your friends and family? E: Yes. In a sense, yes. I: Good. Well uh, just to finish off here, what is your age? E: I am 38 years old. I: Your sex? E: Male. I: And your race? E: African-American. © Orville Dillon, Jr.; © NOP.Computer -- 2023 If you notice any improper citations or lack of then please inform me and the error will be adjusted accordingly. Thank you! Feel free to contact me