That's where we are.
People used to be afraid of guns, because you know, guns are bad....
But,
Not as bad as Coronavirus! All of a sudden, just like that, people weren't afraid of guns any more. Gun stores are even considered "Essential"! Imagine some of the Anti-gunnuts trying to wrap their heads around that one....
On March 19, #1 wife and I left for New Orleans. At that time "social distancing" was a thing, but not a big thing. People could still go to grocery stores and only stand in line at the cash registers. There were no "Shelter in Place" orders, no mandatory face coverings, none of that stuff. The drill was, don't pick your nose, rub your eyes, or put your fingers in your mouth in public and wash, wash, wash your hands... Don't go to large gatherings of people... but it wasn't full auto apocalypse.
Now, one month later, there are no stores open except those "essential" ones and a lot of them won't let you inside or only allow a certain number in. Most people are wearing face masks (even robbers don't know who's who these days) and keeping their distances. The highways are a lot less crowded and people are staying home.
Now all that and much more is all good, except for one thing. They are doing it out of fear. Mass hysterical fear. Yes, COVID-19 is real, and it Will kill you, ... if your number's up. But, what is really strange about it is that it infects some people and they have "0"(ZERO) symptoms, Nada! and they walk around happy as can be, unwittingly spreading the love. The vast majority of people who do show symptoms are over it in a few days and symptoms range from mildly annoying "I think I got something" to "I feel like $hit", then they get over it. Then there's the 35,000 Americans who died from COMPLICATIONS brought on by COVID-19. The death count of course includes anyone who died, from anything, and was COVID-19 positive.
This is a great news story in a time when the media has been aching, starving, for something, anything that was actually SOMETHING and not a Mueller investigation, Adam Schiffhead lies, or a failed impeachment coop....
So, here it is, Fear... Fear is powerful and it is a powerful tool. We are huddled in our houses and the threat of certain death from The Rona is more terrifying than the loss of our livelihoods, the loss of our jobs that feed our families, or the loss of our right to live free of a governmental yoke of fear.
The things that would have initially averted this disaster, Washing hands, don't touch your face, wash your hands, don't go to large gatherings, wash your hands..... are as true today in eliminating the spread of this disease, or most any other disease, as they were in February 2020. People just didn't do those things. They bought toilet paper... and carried on as usual...
Can you imagine what the world would be like if we ever have a real disaster, a real crisis? 35,000 extra deaths is taxing the undertaker.... What if we had some calamity that decimated our population (approx 3,500,000 deaths in a month). I can think of several scenarios that could accomplish that overnight much less in a month's time. We D@mn sure aren't ready for that one. Oh, the Cultural Revolution in CHINA dispatched about 20,000,000 of their own people, so they could do us, call it a good start and sleep well that night....
I didn't really care for Franklin Roosevelt or G.W. Bush, but They both, in times of crisis, called on America to reject FEAR. It is indeed our greatest enemy.
Alan
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