If you want to rally the population against an unrecognized danger, it makes sense to declare “war.” Without a doubt the medical workers who are testing and treating potentially-infected patients are fighting a war against a virus, as well as a battle for adequate testing materials and facilities. The enemy is the Coronavirus and unprepared bureaucracy for testing and treatment. They are at the front where lives are daily at stake.

Yet the vast majority of us are employing a strategy called “social distancing” and a practice called “hand-washing” to keep us free of infection. We may have the same enemy, but our tactics are based on resistance, a defensive posture to keep us safe from the virus and away from the front lines of contact. We are not engaging with the enemy, we are removing ourselves and fortifying ourselves to keep it away.

My point is more than a semantic quibble.  In a war the enemy is a visible threat, and we can see the battle front. It is easy to focus and keep alert, because danger is close at hand. In a war we are constantly responding to the enemy’s movements, because we have to. Our lives depend on anticipating how the enemy will act. We are vigilant.

What most Americans are doing today is more like a resistance behind the battle lines. We can not see the enemy’s movements except on CNN or Fox News, and the media and our view of the media can be deceiving.  Strategies like social distancing, hand-washing, fortifying our food and medical supplies are purely defensive and non-engaging. We are trying to avoid the enemy, rather than engaging it directly.

Accurately describing our resistance helps us persevere, while avoiding the stress of hand-to-hand combat. In war the enemy is personal. We hear language like the “Chinese” virus.  We create scapegoats like the cruise lines, like people who traveled overseas at the wrong time, like the testing centers that have to deny testing, because candidates are not truly symptomatic. In war everything is personal.

In a resistance, the emphasis is on solidarity of the people. We share common practices, and we emphasize morale, keeping our spirits up. We are developing strength by observing disciplines and preparedness. Despite the lack of engagement, we understand that our strength and survival depend on our willingness to sacrifice, whether it be our freedom or time to help others in need. We don’t need the visible presence of an enemy to believe in the cause.

When we mix the metaphors we get in trouble. When resistance becomes personal, we start scapegoating people to name our enemies. We are trying to personify an invisible enemy, such as the Chinese or anyone Asian. We will blame the President for any stupidity on the Right. This is not to say that the Presidency is not where the buck stops, but the President is not necessarily responsible for the messaging from John Cornyn, Ron Paul, or Fox News, that the pandemic is exaggerated. In a democracy there will always be loose cannons, and they are responsible for their own idiocy.  You can make a case for the President’s influence as its own pandemic, but loose lips are not under his control.

In a resistance, you are sometimes your own worst enemy, because you neglect the ritual hand-washing or resist the shelter-in-place orders of the state government.  You get careless because the enemy is still in a neighboring state or at the emergency testing centers. You are home and safe and probably getting restless. Therefore you stray from hand-washing or look for entertainment in groups, wherever they may be. It is hard to imagine that you are at war, because you are really “at resistance.”

Every struggle is not a war.  If we are trying to be good soldiers without an enemy in front of us, we are going to lose discipline and weaken. If we recognize that we must struggle without the enemy lines in sight, that we are engaging in resistance, we may persevere, because we know resistance is essential.

We are the Resistance.  We keep ourselves away from the enemy to succeed.  We don’t have to have friends among the casualties to know there is danger; we keep our distance.  We resist without personifying our enemy. We struggle to keep apart while keeping our morale. We persevere, even while others are waging battles on our behalf. We are the Resistance.