|
Post by miles on Jul 29, 2020 17:49:12 GMT
"One reason the U.S. is suffering through a worse outbreak than any other rich country: The size and strength of right-wing media organizations here that broadcast scientific falsehoods.
There is no equivalent in other countries."
-David Leonhardt
Oh yeah and the creepy orange guy giving "updates." Get your Alien Antibodies and Demon Semen while they last.
I guess Brazil didn't qualify as a rich country.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Nov 23, 2020 22:32:53 GMT
I was raised by my grandparents. I spent a lot of time looking at numerous albums of family photos my grandmother assembled. I was fascinated by images of my extended family as children, young newlyweds and finally as their more recognizable selves. Not kept with the regular albums was one assembled by my grandmother Alice, during WW2.
You could prompt them to talk about the war. My grandfather was too old to serve and my father was 4F due to a knee injury suffered on his high school track team. Ration tickets, small and large deprivations caused by the war, the drives for metal etc were the fables of the time.
When I found the album buried in the garage, it gave me a different sense of living in wartime. Alice pasted newspaper photos and stories in a methodical, chronological order. Along with the headlines and major events, there was always a text section of terse dispatches, broken in two sections, The Good News and The Bad News. Ships sunk, lives lost, victories and rescues, all reduced to short paragraphs in random sequence. Looking back at WW2 from the point of movies and media, you’re not aware of the terrible uncertainty the average person experienced. In retrospect, everything is condensed. In the daily account of the book, the grim reality continues on, and on, day by day. The losses and gains pile up. For years.
One of Alice’s best friends’ only child, a son, was lost at sea, when his ship was sunk in the Pacific He was given posthumous medals for bravery. The whole sequence was there in clippings. The sinking of the ship, the grainy distant photos, the accounts of his heroism, his photo, the announcement of the service.
Following the grim back and forth of the first years, optimism abounds as the allies victory became inevitable. Also more erratic posting, and gaps at the end. Alice was probably losing interest. WW2 ends with the same optimism that abides when the fighting begins. Young men enlist eager to get to the front before the battles are over. My father was depressed initially when he was rejected, with so many of his classmates volunteering or being drafted. He got over it.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a similar optimism, along with fear, like the start of a war. How many weeks will we be inconvenienced, before everything returns to normal. The denial and magical thinking, the rationalizations and miracle cures. “We don’t have that here, this better be over before my vacation,” etc.. Then it sunk in painfully, for the reality based community, that we would be living with uncertainty, and serious restrictions for months or years. We hoped for the rapid discovery of vaccines, while growing fatigued with isolation, and poverty. Clear eyed we see there would be no quick victory, with an economic recovery unequally distributed. Just as access to testing and experimental treatments are not available to all, but reserved for the affluent.
I’m not a fan of using the war analogy in general. We declared war on poverty and drugs, and barely made a dent. What is most odd is that the virus is truly a universal enemy, and should inspire a unity of purpose instead of denial and willful ignorance. It’s as if a hostile alien invasion occurred ( like The War of the Worlds), and crowds of people rioted saying it wasn’t happening or that we should all just surrender.
Some people are journaling this cavalcade of frozen days and deferred dreams, first person monologues of this time. I’m sure there are Youtube videos and such as well. Perhaps someone is making a scrapbook of COVID newspaper clippings, to be stored away, and discovered at a later date. I somehow doubt it.
|
|
|
Post by donavan on Nov 24, 2020 0:58:46 GMT
New Covid restrictions coming soon. I knew it would end in tiers.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Nov 24, 2020 1:21:19 GMT
On and on, on and on , on an on, the slow crawl of disaster.
|
|
|
Post by Mare on Nov 25, 2020 18:56:57 GMT
I was raised by my grandparents. I spent a lot of time looking at numerous albums of family photos my grandmother assembled. I was fascinated by images of my extended family as children, young newlyweds and finally as their more recognizable selves. Not kept with the regular albums was one assembled by my grandmother Alice, during WW2.
You could prompt them to talk about the war. My grandfather was too old to serve and my father was 4F due to a knee injury suffered on his high school track team. Ration tickets, small and large deprivations caused by the war, the drives for metal etc were the fables of the time.
When I found the album buried in the garage, it gave me a different sense of living in wartime. Alice pasted newspaper photos and stories in a methodical, chronological order. Along with the headlines and major events, there was always a text section of terse dispatches, broken in two sections, The Good News and The Bad News. Ships sunk, lives lost, victories and rescues, all reduced to short paragraphs in random sequence. Looking back at WW2 from the point of movies and media, you’re not aware of the terrible uncertainty the average person experienced. In retrospect, everything is condensed. In the daily account of the book, the grim reality continues on, and on, day by day. The losses and gains pile up. For years.
One of Alice’s best friends’ only child, a son, was lost at sea, when his ship was sunk in the Pacific He was given posthumous medals for bravery. The whole sequence was there in clippings. The sinking of the ship, the grainy distant photos, the accounts of his heroism, his photo, the announcement of the service.
Following the grim back and forth of the first years, optimism abounds as the allies victory became inevitable. Also more erratic posting, and gaps at the end. Alice was probably losing interest. WW2 ends with the same optimism that abides when the fighting begins. Young men enlist eager to get to the front before the battles are over. My father was depressed initially when he was rejected, with so many of his classmates volunteering or being drafted. He got over it.
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a similar optimism, along with fear, like the start of a war. How many weeks will we be inconvenienced, before everything returns to normal. The denial and magical thinking, the rationalizations and miracle cures. “We don’t have that here, this better be over before my vacation,” etc.. Then it sunk in painfully, for the reality based community, that we would be living with uncertainty, and serious restrictions for months or years. We hoped for the rapid discovery of vaccines, while growing fatigued with isolation, and poverty. Clear eyed we see there would be no quick victory, with an economic recovery unequally distributed. Just as access to testing and experimental treatments are not available to all, but reserved for the affluent.
I’m not a fan of using the war analogy in general. We declared war on poverty and drugs, and barely made a dent. What is most odd is that the virus is truly a universal enemy, and should inspire a unity of purpose instead of denial and willful ignorance. It’s as if a hostile alien invasion occurred ( like The War of the Worlds), and crowds of people rioted saying it wasn’t happening or that we should all just surrender.
Some people are journaling this cavalcade of frozen days and deferred dreams, first person monologues of this time. I’m sure there are Youtube videos and such as well. Perhaps someone is making a scrapbook of COVID newspaper clippings, to be stored away, and discovered at a later date. I somehow doubt it. I like your concise thoughts and the parallels you have drawn, miles . Perhaps Alice didn't lose interest, but became burdened by working as part of the population that had to keep the country going. Many men and women were overseas or had unfortunately been lost due to the war. The change in the workforce and loss of family members necessitated that people pull together and make up for it. What a wonderful gift Alice left for you-insight into day to day life of a woman that was changed along with the harshness of war. I do see that we all could work together against a common foe, like a Pandemic or the pollution and wastefulness that are destroying inhabitability of Earth. It puzzles me as to why we don't. Human Nature is so filled with self interest. Those who give of themselves are considered weak by those who are driven to keep up with the Joneses.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Nov 26, 2020 1:41:10 GMT
Yes Mare, there was a lot going on. This piece was written on a 50 year old memory, but a vivid one. First hand sources tell you so much, but you can't go back and ask questions.
"I do see that we all could work together against a common foe, like a Pandemic or the pollution and wastefulness that are destroying inhabitability of Earth. It puzzles me as to why we don't. Human Nature is so filled with self interest. Those who give of themselves are considered weak by those who are driven to keep up with the Joneses."
Divide and conquer has worked too well for some, but we can't continue this way.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Nov 27, 2020 18:20:35 GMT
So Eric Clapton has joined Van Morrison's campaign to get everyone infected. Fucking twit.
|
|
|
Post by donavan on Nov 27, 2020 22:34:55 GMT
From Twitter-
The last time Eric Clapton had a political opinion they had to create Rock Against Racism...
|
|
|
Post by bimble on Nov 28, 2020 8:00:46 GMT
From Twitter- The last time Eric Clapton had a political opinion they had to create Rock Against Racism... And that's why you're invaluable, don.
|
|
|
Post by Mare on Nov 28, 2020 18:01:17 GMT
Awhile back, I watched an interview with Roger Waters and I thought he was very thoughtful and thought provoking. I would be interested in his perceptions of this Covid-19 world.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Nov 28, 2020 19:29:04 GMT
Awhile back, I watched an interview with Roger Waters and I thought he was very thoughtful and thought provoking. I would be interested in his perceptions of this Covid-19 world. He is outspoken for sure. He has taken a lot of heat for his unvarnished condemnation of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. I happen to agree with him about that.
|
|
|
Post by Mare on Nov 29, 2020 19:36:21 GMT
He is outspoken for sure. He has taken a lot of heat for his unvarnished condemnation of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. I happen to agree with him about that. I admire the fact that he is not cowed about presenting his opinions. I can't say that I will ever know enough about the world to presume to know what is best for others. I just want people to be nice to each other and share. Probably dreaming and in denial about that. Freaking human nature.
|
|
|
Post by miles on Dec 1, 2020 22:24:46 GMT
I read a recent interview with Snowy White, a guitarist that played on both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters solo tours. The basic picture he painted was that Roger was quite the harsh, perfectionist bully in the past, but he has mellowed . . . somewhat. The classic story was him firing Richard Wright from the band, and then hiring him to play as a backing musician on the Wall Tour. The tour was a financial disaster, but Richard and Snowy came out of it with fat (guaranteed) paychecks. Is there a karmic message in all this?
|
|
|
Post by Mare on Dec 2, 2020 19:16:14 GMT
I read a recent interview with Snowy White, a guitarist that played on both Pink Floyd and Roger Waters solo tours. The basic picture he painted was that Roger was quite the harsh, perfectionist bully in the past, but he has mellowed . . . somewhat. The classic story was him firing Richard Wright from the band, and then hiring him to play as a backing musician on the Wall Tour. The tour was a financial disaster, but Richard and Snowy came out of it with fat (guaranteed) paychecks. Is there a karmic message in all this? Karma's a Motherbleeper, so watch your ass?
|
|
|
Post by miles on Dec 3, 2020 1:53:00 GMT
The same people you misuse on your way up, you might meet up on your way back down. -Lowell George
|
|