Doug's Darkworld

First order of business, how many readers realize we are in the second worse ongoing mass death event in US history? There weren’t 160,000 dead in the first six months of World War Two or the Civil War, not even close. Only the 1918 Flu pandemic was worse, and only for about a month. A huge number of Americans died in October of 1918. And yet most people are going about their lives as best they can under the circumstances. Really? Future generations are going to look back and wonder what it was like to live through America’s Covid-19 epidemic.

And for the ones reading this now, it’s fucking weird. The nation has yet to mobilize in defense of Covid-19. One would think an ongoing event killing a thousand Americans a day would warrant a national response. Or at least an acknowledgement that something awful was going on. For the most part, no, Covid-19 just turned into another background news item. In fact it’s been thoroughly politicised by many people, by that I mean how one thinks about Covid-19 is a political litmus test. The alien invasion movies all had it wrong, America is not capable of uniting against a common foe.

So, um, one recent thought I had, people need to understand we are in uncharted territory, anything can and will happen. This is just the beginning of a world changing event. There will be completely unforeseen complications/events as a result of Covid-19. Even at the best of times the future is known to no one, these pretty much by definition are not among the best of times. When World War Two started, no one had a freaking clue how it would progress, let alone turn out. Well, World War Three for all practical purposes started in March. Because huge numbers of Americans are still in denial about it won’t change the outcome one whit.

Another brief talking point I wanted to toss out there: Pay no attention to polls. Polls are an industry now, a poll can be commissioned to get pretty much any result desired. That’s why GOPers were so shocked when Obama got reelected in 2012, Fox News polls had shown him sure to lose. And now with the world exploding, polls are even less reliable … and people are even more motivated to use them to influence people. Ignore the polls people.

So, I read a good article on the current situation with a lot of historical background. Most of it I liked, some of it I didn’t. Fair warning to Trump supporters, it has some Trump bashing, that’s one of the problems I have with it. Still a good read though: The Unraveling of America, anthropologist Wade Davis on how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era. I would have edited out some paragraphs. And whatever faults China may have, they aren’t going to try and replace America’s world military empire. The Chinese tend to be practical, not stupid. As the article points out, China pours more concrete every three years than the US did in the entire 20th century. 20,000 miles of Chinese high speed rail to America’s zero.

Yeah, but we have military bases all over the world! Snort. So what? Pissing money away isn’t something to be proud of. The American Empire never made much sense, World War Two ended in 1945, we should have stood down then. Instead we’ve spent staggering sums of money on endless colonial wars and maintaining a worldwide network of military bases. To what end? Made a handful of Americans very rich. That’s pretty much it. The rest of the developed world spends their money on infrastructure and taking care of their citizens. You’d think this would be a no brainer. There’s something more important than the health, education, and welfare of a nation’s citizens?

And in that vein, Trump just promised to terminate social security if he’s re-elected. OK then. Well, the GOP spent decades promoting the idea that government was bad, now with Trump they are reaping what they sowed. Well, if no government is the problem and the free market will fix everything, a Golden Age is beginning. I have no idea what’s going to happen now, but in my considered opinion, it’s going to get a lot worse before it gets better. A horror age, not a golden age.

Hope everyone stays safe this weekend. Constructive comments from Trump supporters are especially welcome. #StaytheFHome #WearaDamnMask

Copyright © 2020 Doug Stych. All rights reserved.

(Image: Snappygoat image of a cat I liked, Public Domain under US Copyright Law.)