Patch of Rough Road

[jaudette3]

Well, we're all too aware of the turmoil around the entire world right now. This is an interesting topic to discuss here given the knowledge and intelligence of the membership. I would like to start with just one question?

Is the world going mad?

I'm trying to sort out not WHY all of these seemingly "existential" (remember when only snobbish readers of Sartre and Camus used that word?) of events are occurring round the world - but IF they are "existential", does it just seem that way due to the worldwide reaction? Is it really a big deal from an historic point of view that we have so many major negative events happening at once? Or are we humans a little more hysterical than usual?

Is the information fire hose drowning us and our ability to absorb and process? Is the world changing too fast? Do we as mere humans lack the processing power required to digest information and make thoughtful decisions? Is the age of decadence upon us and are we really "The Decadent Society" (Douthat)?

No politics - F**K politics. Let's attain an almost mythic level of ideologically-free thinking here and speak directly to the gods.

Cheers,
John

[LiveFromNY]

No politics - F**K politics. Let's attain an almost mythic level of ideologically-free thinking here and speak directly to the gods.

Good luck with that, my friend!

[jaudette3]

Let an old man dream....

[davep]

The situation sure resembles the lemmings rushing for the cliff. I am not part of that crowd.

[JT912]

I feel it is an information-fueled fire. If you wanted to confirm this, simply put out an add that mentions your headlights might "protect you from Covid-19" and see them fly off the shelf. People are not able to process the validity of the over-abundance of information on any given subject. They follow sites that align with their beliefs and take the information from these sites as the truth (factual or not). Somewhere I read a study about headlines which generate the sense of fear are more memorable than ones that generates a sense of calmness. This may be one reason why they don't start the nightly new with the "feel good" story. Unfortunately Oregon is full of nut-jobs that didn't need much provoking to drink the Covid-laced Kool Aid. It will be very interesting to see where this goes over the next month. Will it go the way of MERS, SARS, Zinka, Swine, and Avian flu or will it prove to be a legitimate game changer? It is kind of scary, no? I gotta go. I see them wheeling a pallet of toilet paper into Safeway.

[jaudette3]

The thing that most causes me to take Covid19 seriously, both in terms of the potential damage and harm it can do on a macro level, and in terms of what it might do to a 76 year-old guy I’m very familiar with, is how seriously it’s being taken by medical experts. It’s a different game for the old folks - looks like around a 15% chance you augur. Whether this, now officially a pandemic, is a global game changer is something we will know soon enough.

[beh911]

Whether reactions to or the handling of the situation aren't to one's liking or understanding, one thing that can't be argued is the economic impact that this situation creates for the U.S. and world economy.

The politicizing of the subject by many is unfortunate

[ecostellodo]

So far, the new coronavirus has led to more than 100,000 illnesses and more than 3,000 deaths worldwide. But that's nothing compared with the flu, also called influenza. In the U.S. alone, the flu has caused an estimated 34 million illnesses, 350,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[StephenAcworth]

The thing about COVID-19 is that no-one is really certain of what it is and what it does. There is a chance it will be a two-wave phenomenon, with the first wave seeming to be like a regular flu, and the second more serious. Like John, I am aware that medical professionals are taking it extremely seriously and not politicizing or weaponizing the issue - unlike many politicians. I also have underlying heart and lung issues that make the mortality rate, if I become infected, much higher than seasonal 'flu... oh well...
We are all travelling in very uncertain times, and something like this pandemic should encourage us all to realize how fragile our species is and, as a consequence, rise to a higher level than we have been operating at recently...

[LiveFromNY]

Hitting close to home for me. My 75 year old step-father was diagnosed positive on Monday evening - one of the first 600 cases in the country. He's in isolation in a hospital surrounded by doctors in hazmat suits - none of whom seem to have any idea what to do besides wait and see. Pretty scary stuff.