A few weeks ago, my car was meant to be in for a routine service, but a couple hours before the booking, it was canceled, most probably because of illness of a technician - they might have had a runny nose or something. The service is scheduled for today and I am not really looking forward to it, as the price is about double that I would have paid for my last car, but since I can't do it myself, it is as it is.
It is a bit difficult to organize these kinds of things as it means taking time away from work, whilst still having to work. I will be holding a couple of meetings from a supermarket cafe today. I think that in the not too distant future though, it will be easier with self-driving cars, as the cars will be able to take themselves to service and can organize maintenance at anytime of the day or night.
Yesterday, I was holding monthly training sessions with a client in the industrial manufacturing sector and the location I was dealing with are in a small town, facing their first Covid-19 cases. It was interesting as there is a higher range of concern there than there is in the larger cities and I wonder if it is down to the general flow of life.
With the "second wave" coming, the alarm bells have been raised and people are encouraged to be scared for their lives and take precautions that do very little. The official public narrative (like most places I assume) has changed from death rate to infection rate, which are not synonymous, as infection rate doesn't speak about severity of symptoms or mortality and even though there are many more cases, it doesn't seem to be causing death.
As you can see, even though there are more cases, there is a very sharp decline in Covid-19 deaths and it is approaching zero. It could be that treatment is getting better - but it isn't. It could be that those who are getting it are younger and healthier and therefore not at risk - this is likely. It could be that the initial attributions of death to Covid-19, were not Covid-19 at all and classifications have changed - this is also likely.
From the next graph, Finland crossed 300 Covid-19 deaths in May - 5 months later, the toll is 355. In 2018, 311 people died from flu or pneumonia - mostly people over 80 I suspect - the "risk" group. Everything is a risk for someone over 80.
But, while quite a few people are waking up to the fact that the long-term impacts of the handling of Covid-19 are going to cause far more suffering than the virus itself - people love the drama. For example, with the masks being recommended, I watched at the supermarket as people pored over the range of masks in a bin with enthusiasm. I have the sense that the mask is social media spilling out into the real word - "our thoughts and prayers are with you" - it is the change of a profile picture to show solidarity. Useless.
I also think that it gives people the sense that their lives are exciting, which could explain the difference in attitude between the large and small populations. In places where not much happens, the drama of Corona brings some excitement, some sense of risk to the daily routine. People like the feeling of danger, especially if they are not actually in harm's way, which is why the social platforms are filled with drama and aggression - it is a safe space to feel the adrenaline rush.
There is also the social participation aspect, another thing that brings in the sense of solidarity - including the "if not with us, against us" position, where people can say to themselves that they are doing their part while judging others for not. It doesn't actually matter if "their part" has no value - the personal perception of value is all that matters.
For me, I am quite adamant that the future suffering that the reactions to Covid-19 will cause will far outstrip the lives they saved. The narrative was "you can't put a price on life" while millions of people having been dying unnecessarily for years, because there just wasn't enough money to help them. I feel that there is a tugging on the emotional strings to raise fear so that the wholesale siphoning of the economy can take place and by the time people snap out of their fugue state, it will be too late.
Economic hardship is likely the biggest killer on earth, as in a world dominated by the demand and supply of goods and services with a cost, not being able to pay is going to directly impact on the health and well-being of any individual and their family. When it comes to the factors for quality of life in a modern society, financial opportunity is a keystone factor that puts pressure on almost all other aspects of life. Yes, the best things in life are free, but the conditions optimal to be able to grow and harvest them are not. Yet, here we are, happily creating economic hardships that are going to reach down through generations and impact every layer of society negatively - while a few individuals profiteer.
I feel that while early on the caution and some of the measures taken were likely justified, the longer it is protracted, the less justifiable it becomes, as the future harm is being compounded daily. It has gone beyond public safety and is now being used as a tool of socieconomic control, leveraging our fears and our predilection for drama and excitement to agree to building conditions where our own well-being is getting increasingly hard to accomplish.
Covid-19 has become a factor of entertainment, a gamified experience, where people get to make decisions as to what they buy and how they interact, getting evaluated on their activity, even if it is irrelevant and serves no purpose. A crossover from the virtual into the real world - or vice versa. It is a huge game of Sims, with us the flesh and bone digital puppets, having our strings pulled by self-interest.
Demand drives supply - and when we are scared as a society, we demand security - and control is supplied. The supply comes at a cost.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]