I took a Corona test last night out of curiosity and my wife wanted to know, as I have been sick and have the expected symptoms that are broadcast. I am not too worried about any of this either way though, as when I get it (might have already had it), it will either be like a regular flu, really bad, or I die - I am okay with all outcomes.
What has been interesting in the media from Australia though is, how they have made somewhat of a game out of getting these Rapid Antigen test kits. Reading the news it reminds me of those stories around Christmas time from the USA about the "impossible to find trend toy" that parents are fighting over and shooting each other in stores.
Only in America.
Do American's say that too?
But, what I have been noticing more the longer this pandemic continues, is how gamified it has become, which plays into the psyche of people these days. Do this and score a point. Complete this quest and get an upgrade. Collect enough and you will earn your freedom. And because it is seen as more a game vital to survival, most are keen to play and if anyone doesn't follow the rules or gets in the way of winning, they are cheats and should be punished.
As I have said several times before on and off chain for almost two years;
I am not built for this world.
It is not that I can't survive it, it is more of a question of do I want to survive it? Perhaps seeing it as a game is useful to make it through to the end, as it gives some purpose and meaning to the conditions, even though they are engineered - Kind of like a platform game where there are mazes and obstacles to run and level bosses to beat - but we are still not accomplishing anything practical or value-adding to society. The sense of accomplishment upon completion arrives, but nothing is actually accomplished - the world is still a mess.
But, much like a game that has been played to death, people keep replaying the habit, working on default, doing what they can to reach the next level, desperate for some kind of change in the program that will see them break through to something new. And when it doesn't happen, they blame those who chose not to play the game at all, as if they are the problem.
Friends of mine in a chat group were arguing for the zillionth time about how they see things and I just keep out of it now, as there is just nothing to gain from beating a dead horse. One of them sent me a DM asking:
It’s pointless, isn’t it?
This was in regard to convincing someone someone to change their mind based on what they believe and pointing out the logical fallacies, just doubles them down on it. If they took a step back and recognized how their own fears are affecting their judgement, they might consider alternatives. But this is why fear is so effective as a control mechanism, as it draws the attention to focus on the object creating the fear, blurring out the periphery information that would illuminate under the bed and show that the monster, is not what they have imagined it to be.
I am not claiming I know and they don't here, it is about that step back to observe and then take responsibility for behavior. I don't need a government to make decisions for me on this, I trust myself. There are more people eating themselves to death than from Covid.
It's important to note that a once-declared epidemic can progress into pandemic status. While an epidemic is large, it is also generally contained or expected in its spread, while a pandemic is international and out of control.
The estimate of global deaths (remember these have overreported issues in the first 18 months) is 5.7M - and in 2021 alone, there were at least 2.8M million deaths directly related to obesity. This is considered in epidemic proportions, but since the obesity levels have tripled in the last 40 years, it really is just a slow moving pandemic, as it is not localized and it is out of control to the point that for the first time in the history of the human world, we have a problem with overweight children.
Think about that for a moment. We have people worried about the health of society, yet nothing is being done to tackle something that is increasingly affecting children and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives. Yet, people worry about the affects of "Long Covid". Long dietary abuse is fine.
but, the acute pain condition takes precedence over the slow decline, that will see a persona suffer far more in sum and with all that has been going on, there are many types of suffering. All of this will have a "come home to roost" future, but no one is concerned about that now, because they aren't think that far ahead, as all they want to do is feel safe now.
I have always found it interesting when people say they want "what is best for their children" but don't work to consider how long that child's life is expected to be. If the average is 80 years, if you want what is best for them you have to try to make conditions "the best" for them for that period of time, or at least give them a chance to provide for themselves. If you think that they might have children, then you will have to consider another generation of time on top at least.
Opportunity. Funny isn't it? We complain we want it and some promise to create it, but when push comes to shove, we can't even be trusted or trust ourselves to make decisions about whether we get vaccinated or not - they have to create a mandate for it. What do you think would happen if parents were mandated to keep their children's BMI under obese levels and if they failed to do so, they would be removed from their care? If you care about child health, that might be the best thing for many children in this world.
Obesity prevalence (USA) was 13.4% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 20.3% among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 21.2% among 12- to 19-year-olds. source
Looking good.
How much has been spent on tackling the obesity pandemic over the last 40 years and how much to combat Covid-19 over the last two? Oh, but those unvaccinated Corona patients are taking up all the beds...
This isn't preemptive spending to combat it, this is spending on treating it after it has occurred. Unsurprisingly, obesity is also considered a high-risk group to have complications from Corona.
This is just one of the inconsistencies to highlight how while we like to signal that we care about "looking after society", the fact is that we actually don't care about the health of populations, nor the health of children much at all. When we do feel that we are at risk personally however, we will approve no end of spending to make us feel safe. Screw cancer research!
Perhaps this is why some people don't want to be vaccinated. Because while they might not want to die, they also don't want to live in the world as we are creating it to be. Since the risk is so low for the majority of people on earth of dying, they may as well roll the dice and either way, they will be okay. For those who are living in constant fear though, there will be no peace, no respite, no chance to recover. As soon as one hurdle is cleared, the game already has another ready and out of fear of losing, they have to go on playing.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
