Just in case you haven’t heard, there’s a bug going round…
Oh ok, I guess you have heard…
One thing about this particular virus (at least for me) is that it’s encouraging a viral perspective of our world and place within it…
I’m especially referring to the following 5 areas of focus…
Globalization
Viruses have always been avid world travelers. Even way back in 1918, before the advent of air travel, the Spanish Flu infected 500 million people around the world, or about 27% of the then world population of between 1.8 and 1.9 billion.
But these days, just one of these little bugs can hitch a jet ride from Wuhan (China) to Wilmington (N.C. or Delaware) inside the mucous membrane of an unsuspecting airline passenger and arrive within hours, allowing an infection to jump from continent to continent, riding first class at 500 mph!
We have to face the fact that our interconnectedness, commercially and socially, has put US (the big one, that is) at greater risk, even as it has lifted our quality of life.
For the past several years there’s been a backlash against globalization, primarily in the form of right-wing anti-immigration movements. Does COVID-19 bolster their case?
In a way, I guess, but I don’t believe globalization is going to go the way of the buggy whip anytime soon. Better to learn to live with it, even at some risk to our health, than attempt to fight the inevitable. Hopefully, COVID-19 will teach us a thing or two about how to reduce the risk for the future.
Capitalism
At the same time that right-wingers are decrying globalism, left-wingers are sounding the alarm against “capitalism run amok.”
Speaking of capitalism run amok, I read today that Donald Trump might be trying to buy exclusive rights to a future COVID-19 vaccine from a German firm, so that Americans would have access to it at the exclusion of everyone else.
Do I really need to ask if you can see what might be wrong with that idea?
[Note: The story referred to is not verified. Source was The Guardian. I posted it for illustrative purposes only…for all you out there ready to fake-news-shame me.]
But that’s sort of how capitalism works, right? It looks at life as a zero-sum contest where every transaction has a winner and a loser. And with the brand of capitalism that has come to dominate the world in the last, say, 50 years, there are precious few winners (around 1%) and a whole lot of losers (the rest of us).
A bright side of COVID-19 (if I may be so bold) could be that it will shine a spotlight on the failures of the current out-of-control capitalistic system and the neoliberal world order that has taken hold to foment it.
Scientific and Mathematic Truth
Lately every news item that’s detrimental to a particular political opinion is decried by the opposing side as fake news. Our very president has basically undermined the entire free press in the U.S. (at least any part of it other than Fox News and the few radio and TV talking heads that say nice things about him) as such. This has given rise to a dangerous phenomenon in which Americans can’t even agree on things that should be viewed as universal fact, or truth. Take the settled science of global warming, as a for instance.
And now even the existence of this virus is being labeled by some on the hard-right as a democratic (meaning communist) plot to derail the chances for Donald Trump to be elected to a second term.
And it is very dangerous to our national collective health.
Donald Trump
Donald Trump has seemed fairly invulnerable, until now. Hillary Clinton couldn’t defeat him (even after pussy-grabber-gate), the Special Counsel couldn’t nail him, and the Senate wouldn’t remove him (even though he was impeached by the House). He is the real and undisputed “teflon Don.” Well, that was until he addressed the nation the other night to outline his attack on this microscopic bug called COVID-19. His attempt to assuage the masses (and the markets) didn’t work. And his mighty “Trump economy” is currently at risk of failing as a direct and immediate result.
There’s not a whole lot Trump can point to proudly, other than the economy. So, if his economy goes down, it’s highly likely that Trump will go with it.
COVID-19 might just end up being what finally brings down the Donald.
Impact Mindfulness
We’re hearing a lot about “social distancing” these days. Basically, that means altering your habits to avoid too much direct human interaction. But old habits are hard to break, unless you have a really compelling reason to break them…
COVID-19 is providing that reason…to save others.
But if you’re not at risk of catching this thing (or, at least, dying from it), why should you limit your daily activities to binge watching Netflix?
Well, you’re being asked to right now. It’s not often that we’re called to so high a duty as to seriously alter our life-styles for the benefit of society as a whole.
Moreover it’s just not consistent with the self-interested, small-us thinking that usually prevails in our dog-eat-dog, hard-core, capitalist, society.
And that might be the number 1 silver lining in this dark cloud we suddenly find ourselves under. Humans being generally mindful of their impacts on others AND in the U.S. even…who would’ve thunk it?
That might be a reason for us to say…
Hey thanks, COVID-19!
And that’s just a viral perspective of this COVID-19 pandemic…
Be safe out there (and wash your hands!).
[…] last post was entitled COVID-19: A Viral Perspective. In that one I discussed how COVID-19 is sharpening our focus concerning the risks posed by things […]