Coronashit
I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I didn't have anything good to say. There's nothing good here either, but I just have to vent my frustration.
1. “Stay the fuck home”
I'm fed up with this shit! When I hear “coronavirus”, “social distancing” or “self-isolation” I almost feel physically ill. That's all we hear these days.
I hate the lockdown. Perhaps it made sense, initially, but it seems to be getting way too far. It's easy to shout “stay the fuck home” when you can work from home, or when you're extremely rich1, but what about the others?
My wife closed her after-school. It was a flourishing business. Children loved them. Their parents and their dog loved them. It was an organic, small but profitable business. It was a dream come true! And now it's closed for like two months, with no reopening hopes in sight. With schools closed until fall, she might as well file for bankruptcy.
Like her, there are hundreds of millions. What will these people do? How many of them will kill themselves? Things are quite depressing already: you can't see friends, you can't see family, you have to carry a paper with you at all times, where you declare where you're going to and why, as if that stupid paper would help preventing the spread! Add to this the loss of job/business/income, and no immediate hopes for a better future, and to many people suicide will start looking like a sweet outcome.
Wouldn't these people rather go on with their lifes, even if that means to risk getting infected?
I wish we at least stop parroting the news, stop shouting “stay the fuck home”, that's disrespect for those who did or will lose everything because everybody had to stay home.
2. The media
Why are these guys being censored? I'm just wondering, I mean, they're not just some random dude on Facebook; they are doctors, they have some pertinent opinions, that deserve to be mentioned. They're not saying it's a hoax. The disease is real, but perhaps it's not so bad as to warrant shutting down the planet. The discussion on the mainstream news is completely imbalanced, nobody who dares to question the benefits of the lockdown is allowed. Isn't this at least suspicious?
I'd like to see some balanced discussion, I'd like to see someone objectively analyzing the usefulness of the lockdown, and the long-term effects. Like these two doctors seem to do. But nope, the mass media is universally one-sided: lockdown! Anybody who suggests otherwise is “fake news”. Allow me to be skeptical.
3. The authorities
Politicians announced some gradual relaxing, after May 15. Announcements were made in cautious words and nothing concrete has been said, but some business will be allowed to reopen, like barber shops. The coffee shop where I used to go daily with my colleagues? — mmm nope, that stays closed. They're probably doing the final paperwork for their soon-to-be-history business right now. Or writing their wills.
I find some measures contradictory, if not downright stupid. Why open barber shops and no coffee shops?
Why are we not allowed to go out in groups bigger than three, when there's a hundred people in a grocery store?
It is my understanding that office companies will be allowed to reopen; of course, many of them will chose to continue to work from home, but the point is that they can get people to the office if they like to and that means dozens of people in an open-plan room. Why can't we go out in groups bigger than three, then?
Schools remain closed, because if children go to school they might get infected, and then infect their parents and hell breaks loose. But if their parents go to work, can't the exact same thing happen?
Some people go to church regularly. I'm not one of them, but I understand them. Why can't they attend church for a couple of hours, yet they can stay in an open-plan office for eight hours?2
Why can't I drive to another town without having a solid reason — will I get infected in my car? I'd like to visit my parents, is that reason solid enough? Oh, and I can't take my children because then we'd be more than three.
Our PM said the economy will restart when the epidemic is over. Excellent news, thank you very much.
4. Me.
I'm depressed. I guess I'm in the high-risk group, being a smoker for too many years. Still, I'd rather take the risk than live a miserable life for the foreseeable future. If I do get the virus, I ain't going to no fucking hospital; I shut myself indoors and hope for the best, and if I die then so be it!