The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!
Ya know, I’ve been complaining about the lack of integrity in the News Media for a long time. This Coronavirus thing has me thinking about the story of Chicken Little though.
I’ve listened to the talking heads lie so much in my lifetime that I’m instantly skeptical about anything they say. Much like politics, the severity of this virus and the effectiveness of the measures being taken to combat the spread of it depend on which network you’re tuned into at the time. It’s become tolerable…hell, almost commonplace…for us to grudgingly accept the flow of unsubstantiated political rhetoric that they attempt to feed us every day. We laugh at it, make fun of the (so-called) pundits, shake our heads and go on with our days.
But this is a little different. What if this COVID-19 really was the second coming of the plague? Nobody would believe it because we’ve been lied to so many times about so many different things. Combine the years of lies with the fact that the media just couldn’t help themselves and quickly politicized it…and suddenly we’re not listening to the data and statistics about the virus, but staring through the television trying to figure out who’s put the virus scare into play in order to gain political ground or make millions of dollars.
That’s our nature as a society anymore, isn’t it? We instantly go straight to the conspiracy theory because we’ve been burned so many times and we can’t trust the people we’re supposed to be able to trust. We can’t trust the media to tell us the truth because they’re in the pockets of the political parties, and we sure as hell can’t trust the word of the political parties. If we stop watching we’re uninformed…but if we watch, we’re misinformed. Here lately the misinformation has risen to levels of epic proportion.
I’ve got it set in my mind that it’s all a scam put in place by the anti-bacterial soap producers, the toilet paper manufacturers union and the hand-sanitizer coalition of America…and they named it after a beer so nobody would look their way.
Seriously though…I’ve done a lot of research and listened to some pretty bright friends of mine in the medical field. Here’s what I do know:
COVID-19 is nothing to fear for us here in the U.S. (Key Phrase: Here in the U.S…keep that in mind…I’m coming back to that.) Everyone keeps touting the number of influenza cases and deaths in comparison to the few Coronavirus cases and deaths. But do the math when you look at those numbers. Divide the number of deaths by the number of cases and that gives you a fatality percentage. From the last numbers I looked at Coronavirus is actually more likely to kill the elderly than Influenza…so, yes…it should be taken seriously. BUT…There’s no need for all this panic-stricken survivalist commercial capitalism though. You don’t need 32 bulk-packs of toilet paper, 340 gallons of hand-sanitizer or 1000 bars of Dial. Most of us probably already had what we needed to survive this little bump in the road on the shelves of our homes before we’d ever heard the word Coronavirus.
So, why do I think we here in the United States are less likely to suffer? No…it’s not because we’re the chosen ones. It’s not because of our stellar performers in Washington either. It has nothing to do with our DNA or the fact that we live in the most privileged society on the planet. It’s really pretty simple when you think of it. As a society, we’re just simply cleaner.
If you’ve spent much time traveling abroad, think back to the conditions. Even in the “cleaner” of the European nations they don’t match up with us in the hygiene game. Sure, there’s some gorgeous scenery and great people all over the planet, but if you pay attention you’ll see that hygiene isn’t a priority to them the way it is to us. The more you move toward Asia, the worse it gets. Those countries our president referred to as “shit-holes” shortly after he got elected…well, I’ve been in most of them…he wasn’t lying. I made friends in a lot of those countries and have a lot of respect for some of those cultures…but their culture isn’t like ours…they don’t place as high a value on cleanliness as we do. Before anyone gets their britches in a bunch, I’m not saying they’re wrong and we’re holier than thou. In a lot of cases it’s not a conscious choice…they either don’t know any better or simply don’t have the means to be as clean as we are here. The simple fact is we’re an overly obsessive culture when it comes to a hygiene comparison with most of the rest of the planet. Waste disposal in many of those countries is abhorrent, personal hygiene is non-existent, and I’ve been in villages where you wouldn’t wash your car with what they consider potable drinking water. When most people think of China they conjure up metropolitan images of Hong Kong or Beijing. The truth is, 90% of that country is poverty stricken and not living a much healthier life than the most remote tribes in Africa. If you want the reality of the situation, those metropolitan areas aren’t clean by our standards either…but you never see that, and the fear mongers aren’t going to tell you that because they don’t want to offend a potential political/economic ally by telling the the world they’re dirty. Rome was the most disappointing place I’ve ever been. I wanted to see the white columned architecture that I remembered from my history books, but they’re dingy gray…most of the town smelled like piss and car exhaust. I’ve heard people say “if it can wreck Italy, it can wreck us”….that’s just not true though.
It’s befuddling to me that we’re canceling school, meetings, and sporting events due to something that literally has less than a 3% chance of becoming fatal if contracted. It’s actually less than one third of one percent if you’re young enough that AARP isn’t sending you mail weekly. But…What’s REALLY pissing me off is they pushed the premier of the new 007 (James Bond) movie from April all the way back to November over this shit…I’ve been looking forward to that movie for over a year now.
Okay…Conspiracy Theory Time: Your 401K’s are taking a beating because the media is driving an agenda right now, Ladies and Gentlemen. If they’re keeping us from work, travel and events by scaring us into thinking we’re all going to die from what’s literally nothing more than an uncommon version of the common cold the markets will keep crashing daily. Oh no…wait…there’s more! If the markets keep falling and nobody’s out doing, buying, and traveling guess what’s coming next…layoffs…which means the unemployment numbers will start to rise again. Again…But, there’s MORE! If we’re not flying and driving to the events we’d normally attend we naturally will use less fuel…less fuel usage causes an oil surplus which drives oil prices down, and that’s currently one of the factors screwing with the market as Russia and Saudi Arabia struggle with crude prices, isn’t it? Now…with that thought in mind…What’s the current administration’s biggest talking point when it comes to reelection banter…the economy, right? So theoretically, If this administration’s opposition can tank the economy between now and November all the while spinning the narrative to make it look like Congress and the White House are inept in their efforts to combat this virus it gives their guys a leg up in the debates and at the polls. The media politicized this virus the minute it made landfall in the U.S. They’ve politically weaponized a virus through propaganda. Tell me I’m wrong.
I hate the fact that I believe that. I used to laugh at people who said such things. However, with what I have seen over the last few years nothing would surprise me anymore. Tell you what I haven’t seen though…I have seen nothing…absolutely nothing…from some of our elected officials or their pet media personalities that would dissuade me from believing those pricks would literally crash the economy and scare the shit out of the entire nation in an effort to advance the prospect of putting their chosen people in the offices they need to take control of the country. That impeachment debacle proved that to me.
Truth be told, though…it’s kind of the last move they’ve got, isn’t it? Crash the economy and ruin the lives of the American middle class in hopes of winning their votes for a power swing in D.C…it’s something of the political nuclear option…but I can’t put it past these people anymore. I’ve lost the last shred of faith I had in the party of politicians who currently hold the House.
All we can do to fight back between now and November is keep doing what we do…damn the Coronavirus, full steam ahead. If we let them scare us, we’re going to be the ones to pay the price for it.
SO….Please trust me when I tell you this…the Sky is NOT Falling, my friends. Use your heads and be smart…but don’t stop doing what we do out of the fear being whipped into a frenzy by the puppets of a political agenda.
BUT…and I mean this wholeheartedly…Wash your damn hands.