The Thing That Ate Society

     

     There's a virus going around but it's not the one you think. The real epidemic is the incessant fear mongering from- everyone. It's the topic of every story in the news and magazines. When I tell people I don't want to discuss it, because it does no good and is irritating, they act as if I'm being unreasonable.

    We are given the impression that this is sweeping away whole populations and everyone is in mortal danger. Not exactly. If you limit contact with people, wash your hands frequently and have no respiratory issues, you should be fine. This will run it's course; then mutate into something harmless when our immune system figures it out. There have been worse pandemics that received less attention. This has happened many times before and will in the future.

    What's unhealthy is the saturation coverage. The endless discussion is warping people's perspective. There is other news happening in the world even while daily life comes to a standstill, but you wouldn't know it from the constant din. People also exploit the distraction to push thru unfavorable laws and profit during the chaos.

    The media has always been about stirring up panic and asking you "are you afraid?" then act innocent when people react to the hyperbole. Take the message with a healthy measure of skepticism  As a specie we have a bad habit of ignoring or forgetting the lessons of history when it comes to crisis. 
     "You don't make the timeline; the virus makes the timeline." Dr. Anthony Fauci the top expert on infectious disease said, countering naive projections of an early end.

     We cling to the Decartian delusion that we can tame nature to do our bidding, then react with bewilderment when it doesn't obey our command. Initial reports were down played or out right censored. Aggressive testing was delayed or not implemented in many countries. Governments believe that they can control any crisis with denial, or simply recast the narrative and the problem will be managed or go away.

    Instead of acting decisively to nature's warning, we plug our ears and engage in magical thinking at the expense of reality. We are being reminded that modern society is more fragile than we think.

    We can learn from this if we turn down the noise and listen. What is important to us? How do we respond with the next crisis? Change is here and we need to recognize it within and ignore the noisy blather."You don't make the timeline; the virus makes the timeline." Dr. Anthony Fauci the top infectious disease expert said, countering naive projections of an early end.


Corona virus, covid-19 media, Dr. Fauci, pandemic,