I started this as a comment at the coronavirus thread, but then it turned into quite a ramble. Sharing it for the hell of it. Well, I’m also wondering what others are thinking as they go through their day to days and starting to see real changes to our ways and means that we’ve come to take so for granted?
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… On a different note, how about that trump economy? Complacency, disregard, pretending the future wouldn’t get here.
Surprise Republicans, the Brave New Future complacency facilitates. It will be many fold worse because people in general and our leaders in particular refused to pay attention to the lessons from SARS (Severe acute respiratory syndrome) and even Ebola and others. Rather than scorn CDC, NIH, WHO, they should have acknowledged their accomplishments, respected their knowledge & experience and paid attention to their warnings & advice, plus supported their research into vaccines, but no the lousy spoiled brats were too drunk on power to pay the slightest attention, the whole stinking lot of them.
We’d have been much better off had we listened to real experts and been willing to spend a little money on a good thing. But squeezing yet a few more penny out of the masses was too much fun for the murdoch/koch/trumpster types.
It’s weird back during those other “outbreak scares” I was curiously reassured seeing how well the global health community and leaders worked together to catch and stop it in its tracks, particularly SARS. Golly good show and all that. Facts is facts. Petie, I’d think, see it’s not as bad as you worry, at least not yet.
Looks to me like we’ve now arrived at our yet.
The past weeks, months, three years of trump’n team of utter incompetence and disregard - when it comes to operating a government - coupled with just as complete contempt for anything outside their perceived self-interest, they have vandalized our governmental safeguards beyond anything imaginable just a couple decades ago.
The trumpster (murdoch,koch,etal) Me First mentality was there to be seen from day one, and we just went along. Always giving-in a little more at every turn - normalizing ever more hideous self-destructive behavior.
The cascading consequences from this will reverberate, until something even more vicious comes along, that we are equally unequal to, which will achieve a new plateau of horrors, with ever more behind that one, until . . .
Why not be pissed off at the imbecilic ignorant big mouths so many gotta sport? The glorification of greedy, oblivious like a gang of pubescent boys and just as self destructive - and most everyone went along with it, lead by know-nothing parrots that were set loose on social media.
Today we have a fluid health situation, that will have equality fluid consequences for our global economy and society.
physical reality vs. self-certain complacency
physical reality vs our mindscape’s canvas
I went to town for the first time in a week, grocery store with lots of empty shelves, looked spooky empty. Signs on ever more businesses with “stay out if you are ill” signs plus more information, county government building had more of the same, including general cancellation announcements.
Inside at the board meeting, hand sanitizer on a side table, that’s new, okay makes sense, but I’d washed my hands so didn’t worry about it. Never been big on the sanitizer craze myself. Always fancied I had a good immune system and it needed the practice too. Not that I don’t respect there’s a time and place for them. I’ve got a weird resigned feeling I’m going to get exposed to it at some point, too many people moving around, California exposure’s gonna get me, fortunately still fairly healthy, plus I think of death, the long deep sleep I’m good with, though I prefer the arriving there happening relatively rapidly. Besides a plus to dying in the near term is that I wouldn’t be around to the next stages of our general self-destruction.
Back to my day, Corona Virus wasn’t even an agenda item, but that changed in the first minutes, since it was foremost on all of our minds. It became an agenda item. That worked out okay, because we had another agenda item, namely discussing a VIPs visit down here in about three weeks, that until I opened my laptop - where I found an email from him <1 hour old, indefinitely postponing his visit. Fortunately, we’ve done video conferencing yada yada yada, still it’s not the same as being here for a tour and expert evaluation.
On another front we’re a month out from our big D. Meltdown Bluegrass festival, some big acts from across the country, regional and local - my annual food gig for old-time sake, dealing with nearly twenty restaurants, already working on getting things lined out. Heck sent an email this morning - but, now, this evening, if I had to bet, I’d have to put my money on the festival getting cancelled.
Then me thinks, not just this one event, but same same up in Telluride, Pagosa Springs and all through these mountains and the entire country, big festivals planned every spring and summer weekend somewhere. Sporting events? Cruise ships? Spring Graduations? Will it last for weeks, for months? Why would it end sooner? Specially since we don’t seem to have a clue or a plan in this country.
All this is bringing me to our economy, our life blood, but how much of it deals with trivial pursuits - the fun events, the venders, the restaurants, support staff and cleaners, taxi drivers, those coffee shops, boutiques, and the bead shops and T-shirt shops, smoke shop, etc, etc, etc. How big is the hit going to be?
Those infantile libertarians love thinking in simplest terms of numbers and cartoon caricatures, who cares it’ll just kills the old folks’. (A sick echo of the, ‘who cares that sea levels are rising, people can move’.) Not giving a second thought to the complexity of this society and global economy nor the cascading consequences rippling through all those interconnections.
Will Republicans learn anything, or will they continue being too busy blaming others to learn a thing.
Is it so late in the game, does it even matter anymore?
Following on the series of cascading consequences we have set into motion gets overwhelming, I can’t really follow them through because it’s too horrifying and debilitating. Just as I need to turn away from most Washington news, popping up only irregularly to take a reading and turn it off. Listening to our so-called leaders, can’t do it, there’s no head-vise strong enough, so for my good health, no can do.
For me, I need to get back to myself and today and one day at a time. Appreciating every moment for all it’s worth. I remain fairly healthy, have a beautiful wife, family and other good people in my life, rich memories and couldn’t ask for a sweeter home or backyard, not to mention Maddy my first puppyfriend. A veritable heaven on Earth. One day at a time, living with all the dignity I can muster, seems the only way to keep the terror of the future we have created at bay.
My cooler rational scientific side, needs to make room for guy who loves people and living in America, and the life and freedoms we’ve had available all my life. I’ve never taken it for granted, then I look around and am puzzled at how many people are completely oblivious to it. Since I was a kid I thought can’t you people see that we have all we need? Can’t we slow down, leave a little in the saving account for future generations.
We needed some appreciation of Earth and learning to nurture Earth’s biosphere - while preparing for the changes that every intelligent person, who’s studied Earth, knew were coming. We had control over the speed of that arrival, and we collectively have chosen peddle to the metal.
Considered from an Earth evolution standpoint, we are arriving at payback time. Remember while this corona virus is doing it’s thing, global warming continues pushing increasingly extreme climate change driven weather patterns. Nature’s Russian Roulette and it’s going to get so damned unbearable - and apparently sooner than later. It’s terrifying and I’ve had 50 years of preparing myself, I think of all those people who haven’t a clue. Most never will, but others do know and others will learn, especially younger ones. There’s going to be some rage going around on every level - all become it was easier to be complacent and let the madmen do what they wanted. I admit, it’s scary and sad a hell, still then a healthy sense of self-preservation gets me to zoom in, back to the here and now, the living of the moment and appreciating it like a fleeting spring flower.
It’s like that bravery thing, you don’t need to be brave, you simply need to pretend and just do it. Speaking of bravery. A little secret I learned from listening to others is that most acts of bravery are scared people simply focusing on what needs to get done in that moment and doing it. To get through it. I would suggest that “Bravery” is for armchair warriors, and memories and telling tales.
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I also think I need to get my ass to bed. Lordie only knows how many typos and oddities I’ve planted in here, so be it, I’m amongst pals 