֎ No sooner than mariner mentions the joy of being a united society against Covid-19 than the gun industry rises up saying it is exempt from the virus-associated instructions to stay in, avoid public gatherings and, in some states, close retail businesses.
Who didn’t guess they claim it’s the Second Amendment that protects them?
Further, reports are emerging that the conservative rural US denies the behavior of the dense city liberals and does not enforce the national mandates; rather, the mandates have become a litmus test for whose side one is on. Mariner suggests Donald instigates this attitude. It had occurred to mariner that sooner or later big government intrusion may not be appreciated by minimalists.
As the mariner’s wife suggests, the rural folks aren’t aware of exponential progression (1-2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256 . . . .). That’s how Covid-19 expands.
Shake the dust, folks, shake the dust.[1]
֎ Following is a significant paragraph from The Economist (March 02):
“So Covid-19 could soon be all over poor countries. And their health care systems are in no position to cope. Many cannot deal with infectious diseases they already know, let alone a new and highly contagious one. Health spending per head in Pakistan is one two-hundredth the level in America. Uganda has more government ministers than intensive care beds … the Spanish flu wiped out 6 percent of India’s entire population.”
It’s a big world and a small one. The world has struggled to redefine cultural values around global warming. Covid-19 will be much more invasive much more rapidly and much more deadly than rising seas and changing weather. Mariner iterates the hope for unity not only in the US but around the world.
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Have news viewers noticed that major newscasts now occur not from a big studio but from the homes of newscasters? Have viewers been distracted by being nosey about what kind of home the announcers have? As the rest of the population begins to learn how to use Skype, Facetime, Zoom and other video conferencing software, one’s friends and business associates may learn about the state of the reader’s kitchen or the noisy, uncontrolled children running around or the unmade bed. “Zip your fly, Dad!”
As the public becomes associated with video conferencing and live streaming, it behooves them to prepare a small space just as a background for socializing from the home. Set the lights so the reader’s face is properly lit; have a nice chair and houseplant visible; if there is a bookcase, reorganize the book titles so that the more erudite titles show (cameras can read book titles); herd the children to soundproof quarters by exceedingly bribing them; have an upscale floor lamp handy and a faux window with a wide angle view of a plush countryside. Of course, one must dress accordingly at least from the waist up.
Ancient Mariner
[1] This is a metaphorical term mariner likes. He invented it in the post ‘Pondering the rest of the year’ posted 03/28/20: “Like a horse rises from the ground and shakes off the dust, the United States must rise and shake off the dust of the twentieth century.”