We have been focused on the COVID Cloud since last March. That’s eight months, earthlings!
Like most false narratives, the design of it fixates on some fractional element of a much larger malady and malfunction. In the case of the COVID (or the “Kovidika,” as I’ve started calling it, one of my numerous descriptors seeking to mock the fear and loathing all about me), Americans seem hard-wired against accepting anything that promises pain: we deny death, lack empathy for anyone suffering through tough times (like grief and loss), and perhaps worse—refuse to own any responsibility for the mess we find ourselves in. It’s as if we’re all clamoring for the Staples “easy button” in some national ceremonial act, hoping away the COVID. Oh, right. I almost forgot. The vaccine will save us. Stupid me.
Today is the first Monday in December. Did you remember it’s National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. Will the day come when white people will have to denounce the events that occurred on that day in 1941? Locally, another windstorm has darkened significant portions of Maine’s power grid. Does Janet Mills see this as a problem? I don’t imagine any of the media sock puppets consider thqt worth investigating any further than a perfunctory posting of numbers of people without power—just like they do each day, fogging their fear, telling us of more positive tests of peopl with COVID. They are invested in numbers lacking context or meaning.
Our infrastructure is badly in need of an upgrade. The solution seems to be stringing more fiber optic cable in order for us to Zoom in perpetuity. But what about our crumbling roads, a malfunctioning power grid that’s the same one we’ve had for 70 years, not to mention our buckling bridges. I have fostered a keen interest in the topic of infrastructure. In fact, I pitched a series of investigative articles to this guy back in the day. He handed me off to some American expat living in Germany who passed on my articles. Not that they weren’t any good, they just didn’t match his “style” of writing. He’s now manning the switch on a fear-fog machine of his own, like much of those remaining in the legacy media. All the journalists with any remaining moral compunction have abandoned panic porn to write honestly, like this guy. I admire his work along with a handful of others. The rest, I’ve left in the dust to pander and put forth their propaganda passing as news.
Why do we fear COVID so much? Rather than address root issues, let’s just shame the guy who’s not so stupid as to believe his mask out running is going to save him. The governor now believes the mask is what recently delivered a “negative” COVID test. That was reported on local news. See what I mean about toadies in the press? Where are the local journalists that used to actually provide some semblance of journalism? If you really care to understand why COVID has had such a significant effect on America, maybe try this podcast with Shawn Stevenson. If nothing else, listening to his podcasts might provide some tips so you can up your health and address your own immune deficiencies that pills and vaccines never will.
You see, however, for most, fear is acceptable to the alternative: actually facing up to the fact we’re a nation of sick people who are susceptible to succumbing to a common cold, let alone a viral infection packing any “ooompphh.” But let’s just blame it on the Orange Man, don a mask, and scold anyone that doesn’t want to do either. Oh, and let’s also defund the police, shame white people for their “sins,” and put up signs saying “Black Lives Matter” even though none of you have ever lived in close proximity to someone darker than you.
If anyone has been paying attention like maybe three people I know, there would be reason to be depressed and even, contemplate drinking a Dixie cup full of Jim Jones’ Kool-Aid.
I can’t lift our national veil of fear, all around us like a horror movie fog. What I can do is tell you that we all have a nascent potential for living a life that has some meaning, isn’t buffeted to and fro by the latest COVID numbers, and push back against people who don’t have your best interests in mind when they work to keep you cowed into submission by the fear-foggers.
This morning, I’m listing to Sufjan Stevens’ beautiful and sometimes quirky Songs for Christmas. Stevens is an interesting musician who I came across about 10 years ago. I have been listening to Christmas songs every morning for the past week. It seems to help, along with the lights from our Christmas tree, in pushing back the forces of darkness, or at least keeping them at an arm’s length.
Christmas gonna’ Christmas with Sufjan Stevens
One of his Christmas songs is called, “It’s Christmas! Let’s Be Glad!” That’s not a bad sentiment and I’m going to try to hold onto this for the next three weeks, at least. He also warbles his way through traditional tunes, like “Amazing Grace.” When it plays, I’m sure there will be tears streaming down my face. Partly, it will be due to me remembering Mark. The feeling will be a mix of both sad and happy at the same time. I remember our Christmases past with Mark and family. I’m remembering Christmases past when the Baumer clan would gather and my Nana and Opa would join us, along with the extended family. My French-Canadian grandmother on my mother’s side would come down from Lewiston with my aunt and uncle and my two cousins, along with my Aunt Dot. Those memories make me happy.
COVID gonna’ Kovidika. What are you going to do and not collapse into a ball of fear and anxiety? Maybe like me, you’ll just remember that there are alternatives. I’m going with Christmas gonna’ Christmas!
I’m so good, look at me–virtue signaling with my mask.