Doug's Darkworld

I’m writing a post about Palestine and Trump’s “Deal of the Century” offer. It’s hard going though. Trying to condense a book’s worth of background into 800 words is a challenge. Trying to write so that readers of all stripes can follow it is also a challenge these hyper-partisan days. I have to write though, it’s both a compulsion and a necessity. In any event, while I write my dedicated posts about Palestine and other things, more ‘Through Thick and thin’ posts!

The Wuhan Coronavirus is getting more serious. No reason to panic, hell, no matter how bad it gets there’s no point panicking. The good doctor covers it well. The CDC has good advice for those who may be exposed. Basically wash one’s hands a lot, try not to touch one’s face when out and about, definitely washing the hands when one gets home. Good advice for avoiding all infectious diseases, who wants to get sick? Handwashing also reduces the risk of a flesh eating bacteria infection, that alone keeps my hands squeaky clean. And also of course, being this is a human inhabited planet, rumours and misinformation are flying. The Indian government recommends homeopathy as a preventative measure, not even sure what to make of that. And then there’s what this guy’s girlfriend did …

In today’s Trump tidbit, the Trump justice department has redefined domestic assault using 1950s standards. A win for the abusive men of America, now as long as they don’t leave bruises or draw blood, all other forms of abuse are OK. It’s frustrating, people that think the 50s were “the good old days” and we just need to go back to then and America will be great again are living in a “Father Knows Best” fantasy world. No, America wasn’t great in the 1950s, by all objective metrics there were terrible social failings under the wholesome veneer. And some, like legal discrimination, were out in the open.

The longest tunnel ever has been discovered under the US border with Mexico. Nearly a mile long, over 50 foot underground. Quite the achievement really, it took a lot of money to build this. These sorts of tunnels are all too common, and they will just get deeper and more sophisticated. They are a symptom of our failure as a society, and a reminder that barrier methods of solving social problems are only so effective. The war on drugs has created fabulously wealthy gangs (not to mention corrupting everything from police departments to entire governments,) without actually diminishing the drug problems in our society. A program that enriches criminals, corrupts police departments (And we’re not just talking Mexican police departments here,) and fails to fix the problem it is putatively addressing … is a fail. This is America though, where actual results no longer matter.

A new kind of shoe is giving runners an “unfair” advantage. So the sports body that regulates such things is coming up with new standards. Ultimately their efforts are like sweeping back the sea. Sports is so infused with big money now that every conceivable technological (not to mention biological) enhancement has big bucks to exploit it to the hilt. Means athletes with money can buy improvements to their performance. Hardly sporting. Commercialization poisons everything. And another sign of how screwed up our priorities as a species are. Babies are dying all over the world for want of a few dollars in food or medicine … while staggering sums of money go into things like sports shoes.

Reminds me of a moral dilemma. Say someone is drowning, and a bystander can save them if they jump right in. But the bystander refuses to do so because it would ruin their new $500 pair of running shoes. Most people would find that appalling if not actually evil. Yet spending $500 on a pair of shoes when giving half that money to life saving charity would save lives isn’t even on the radar. An example of just how blinded we are in the west to the hideous inequality that exists on Earth.

And since I started writing this, the Wuhan Coronavirus has been declared a global health emergency. Yikes. Yeah, I did the math, if half the planet gets sick, and 2% die … that’s 80 million deaths. 6 million in the US. Let’s hope this isn’t the start of “The Stand.”

Stay healthy everyone.

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: 1918 Spanish Flu Death Chart. Credit: Unknown, but contemporary to the 1918 Flu. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1925.)