How big would these protests be, without the Covid-19 threat? Would they be 2x, 5x larger without epidemiological caution holding folks back?
Or maybe this wouldn't have exploded in the same way, without the widespread disruption from the virus multiplying the sense of fundamental wrongness across the nation?
Unease is probably only a single, blended thing down in our subconscious minds, whatever the various sources of warning and threat being sent by both our conscious minds and our bodily perceptions. Lizard brain just knows somethin' ain't right. Lotta other things ain't right either, in this world.
The thing that feels like fighting (despite "peaceful" behavior) has a lot of juice to it. Can our brains get a similar rush from being a part of a new kind of society?