The Crisis Deepens
Coronavirus
The whole country, and everyone in it, is experiencing cognitive dissonance. We want to be safe, kickin’ back in our hidey holes where the virus can’t find us, venturing out for food where we begin to feel like our ancestors on the savanna where a lion might jump us any second.
On the other hand. we gotta work, not become we love our bosses, but we need the companionship, the health care, and the moola.
What to do? What to do? If we go to work, the lion might eat us. If we stay home where it’s safe, the rent monster will get us. Can’t sleep, can’t think, just want it the way it used to be when we ruled the world.
“Apocalyptic times we live in,” says the beggar with the shopping cart.
Now it’s coming to a head. Billionaires are comin’ unglued. The CDC’s been banned by the President. The Federal Reserve is printing trillions of dollars for the benefit of the 1 percent. Wait for it, inflation’s coming to blow us all away. We pay our taxes so they can protect and serve. But if they “open up,” and the virus explodes – you know the surge is coming – how can anyone protect anyone?
The environment gets neglected in the discussion of lesser issues, but it’s the crux of the problem.
Q. What’s so special about Wuhan?
A. Why it’s a big, big city just east of the Himalayas, where the glaciers are melting. Lots of viruses down in the crevices that haven’t seen the light of day in 15,000 years, say the scientists. They’re hungry, too. And we’re not at the bottom of the pit, yet. Let’s go see what’s down there. Maybe we can make some money.
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards us waiting to destroy?How can we fight it? Little brother is running wild right now, and we can’t stop it because, “we want our liberties and we want to party.” Anti-government attitudes remain strong, and rightly so, except when one’s life is at stake. Some white citizens can’t put two and two together so they go to close-quarter, open-up rallies, and then to the ICU, all in a couple of weeks. Still, there’s not enough of them to satisfy the Corona’s appetite for warm flesh.
Now another mindless monster, capitalism, steps into the ring, pushing science aside, to do battle with the surging virus, but it’s all for show. “Keep it going for 15 rounds,” shouts a 1 percenter with visions of ill-gotten gain in his eyes. “More illness, more wealth,” goes their old/new saying. Profits to be made on PPEs, hospital bills, congressional bills, and higher ratings for Fox, MSNBC, CNN, and their other possessions. Yes, we must have more profits, and still more profits, no matter how many lives it takes. That’s just the way it’s done.
Where is that savior we’ve heard so much about? Who’s gonna save us now? How will they do it? Nobody knows.
We lose our train of thought about stopping the virus and saving the environment. Instead, we think how nice it used to be, just a few short months ago. Let’s open everything up, and get the economy rolling. That mean little virus can’t kill all of us. I’m feeling lucky. No matter infections are rising, deaths are rising. Mean old Dr. Faust, or whatever his name is, says there will be “suffering and death,” but what does he know? Let’s drink that wine and pay the bill, tomorrow.
Don’t give a second thought to the elders in nursing homes, to the ill out on the streets, to the inmates of this prison nation, or to the original peoples on The Rez. Same old, same old.
As Randy Shilts put it, “And the Band Played On.”
Please support this ad-free site with a sustainer. With your support, we can build the new media, and pay other writers for their labor.
Art by Elizabeth Campos