6 Things About The Pandemic That Are More Scary Than The Virus
Yet, Nobody Talks About Them.
People don’t want to be talking about Coronavirus anymore. I don’t either. We’ve all been through those stages. First, it was scary. Then it was boring. Now we’re just over it.
I know it’s a serious issue but after it’s been the only thing people have been talking about for the past 5 months, we are just numb to it now. What new information could we learn anyway?
But more crucial facts about this weird time, than the number of new COVID cases, are the facts no one actually talks about and are more scary than the virus.
Why is no one talking about more how it’s completely changing the society how we know it?
I know it’s upsetting you’re not getting money back for your pre-booked holiday overseas but what about social control, making hostility towards others desirable and categorising workers into essential and non-essential ones?
I don’t want to be talking about vaccines, I don’t want to be talking about working from home, or travel restrictions. I want to talk about the other stuff. The George Orwell kind of stuff. The stuff we all happily ignore in an effort to “flatten the curve” or however you want to call this.
1. Welcome To Social Control At Its Finest
They told us to stay at home. So we did. They told us to be scared. So we were. They told us to minimise social contact. So we did.
Call me crazy but I think that is a type of social control that would fit in 1984 novel. And we didn’t even need the Big Brother to watch us. We happily policed ourselves.
Make people believe that a certain type of behaviour is gonna benefit them and they will do it no-questions-asked. Apparently.
Look, I’m not saying that staying at home was a bad idea, I just find it quite scary that very few people stopped to question whether it was.
What useful research information for the government, that is. How easy it is to make people listen. What else will they listen to?
2. We’re Voluntarily Shutting Down The Economy For “A Few Cases Of Flu”
Hey, take my “few cases of flu” definition of COVID with a pinch of salt. I know it can be serious and all of that but you can’t deny the fact that we’re willingly plunging deep into the recession by choice. That recession that we normally try our hardest to avoid.
Of course in some countries it was probably necessary but for example the NSW in Australia had 30,000 tests done a few days ago, out of which 3 came back positive. That’s 0.01%
I mean, the FAO estimates that as many as 25,000 people lose their lives every day as a result of hunger. And we are all talking about 0.01% of population that might experience mild flu-like symptoms? Is it just me or is something out of proportion here?
3. We Are Tracked Everywhere We Go, In The Name Of Safety
Wanna get a beer? A coffee? A meal? Yeah, sure, you just have to officially pinpoint your location first.
I believe we’ve been gradually losing many aspects of privacy in the past decade. With our phones tracking our whereabouts, our Google Searches and our habits. Now it’s just at an official level.
4. Being Socially Distant Is Now Not Only Acceptable But Desirable
Being in contact with others, socialising and establishing rapport and connection with other people are some of the key things that make us human.
Of course, it’s not useful for social control because then we are closer together, we help each other more and stand together more tightly.
When the lockdown first happened we were all shocked, bored, lonely and missed the human contact. How much things have changed in comparison to the world we used to know back then?!
Now it’s considered polite not to shake someone’s hand, no one will step into the elevator with you and contactless delivery became preferred.
We have quickly become used to something which when encountered first posed a massive strain on our mental health. Now it’s the new normal.
And the new normal is here to stay.
5. Let Me Introduce You The Official Hierarchy Of Importance
Just like that, one day to another, it has been decided which jobs (people) are considered “essential” and which ones are not.
The personal trainers we used to seek help from are now considered non-essential. So are the bartenders that used to sacrifice their weekends for us to have a good time. They were not allowed to come to work. They were not allowed to make money.
At the same time, all the corporate jobs that had no direct contact or benefit for the public were safe. Isn’t that a little bit unfair?
And what’s worse, those people who were privileged enough not to lose their jobs forget that some other people did and, playing along to the whole idea, they are the ones who are most easily controlled and convinced that we all need to be scared and minimise the contact with the public.
Because it doesn’t directly affect them.
How convenient.
Meanwhile they’ll be complaining about how hard it is for them to stay motivated when working from home.
6. Clearly, People Can Get Used To Anything
How strange it is that we can get used to this new reality so easily. And happily play along.
We can start buying fashionable face masks. We forget that hugging people used to be normal. When inviting someone over, we have the hand sanitizer ready at our door.
We are not surprised when we are refused to go somewhere because of capacity limitations. We got used to hearing businesses shutting down. We don’t plan any holidays.
We do not take today’s reality for granted and we would keep our head down and listen if we were told that we’re in the lockdown again tomorrow.
And that’s more scary than the virus.
Don’t you think?
