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THE ABSURD TIMES
Illustration: We found this amusing and probably quite true. I do know that at one time Fauci was asked "Why don't you stop him?" when he was talking about Trump's remarks. He laughed a bit and said, "What am I supposed to do? Knock him down, away from the microphone?" Fauci's ability to maintain his sanity in times like this are awe-inspiring.
Let's Try One More Time
By
Czar Donic
The entire Covid-19 incident, or pandemic, has not really been very interesting as it has served to make every story or news event into some sort of version or aspect of itself. Perhaps it would be best to establish a few ground rules before we proceed.
In the current Zeitgeist, science has been relegated to the status of just one more ideology. It ranks along with Monotheistic religions, Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism, Communism, and Fascism – Capitalism was banished during Teddy Roosevelt's administration to be replaced by Democracy, Manufacturing, and so on.. Often, several of these are linked together. For example, what is now called conservatism is often linked to Christianity (one of the monotheistic religions), often with absurd results if, as we do here, one considers Science as more than simply one more ideology.
It is foolish to try to argue why this independence of Science exists at all, especially when it seems to conflict with one of the other ideologies. If, for example, you believe that the earth is only 6,000+ years old, there is no point in my trying to convince you otherwise. I well-remember one discussion wherein I was provided with what the other consider "proof". He had seen an illustration of a man, seemingly a "cave man", walking next to a giant dinosaur. Surely, this was proof enough?
Well, foolishly, I tried to point out that what he had seen was drawn by someone and not real. He described the dinosaur so that I was able to determine that it was, at least a herbivore. He needed clarification. Once he was aware of that, he became more convinced. I pointed out that the animal would first probably take a bite out of him to determine that he wasn't a plant and then spit him out, but he did not take that information very well. If I remember correctly, he told me that I was "evil" and had best get to church and save myself.
At that point, I ended the conversation and resolved never to argue the importance of Science with anybody, only one of two resolutions I have always maintained. The other was a New Years Resolution never to make another New Years Resolution. I never saw any point in creating my own failures.
So, Science, for our purpose, here, is important.
I have more to say on the subject, however. I recently stated that I saw 300K+ Covid deaths in the U.S. with 500K+ deaths world wide and that we had about 4% of the world's population. I am now seeing nearly 80K deaths In the U.S. and nearly 300K deaths world-wide. This is quite a disparity. I suspect that the last figures, as of March 15, 2020, are probably more correct, but reliable data is difficult to obtain as much of it has to do with testing and analysis. There are about 15 different private company's with tests for the virus and each of them requires different machinery and equiptment, a result of private medical research and development. The latest figures given are about 80K dead here and 330K in total. Number of cases is also rather imprecise, the latest I've seen listed the states as having about one and a half million, with Russia second with about a quarter of a million or, as our new outlets would have it, Russia is second only to the United States in cases.
Now, I have a bit of a surprise for many and that is that given a random sample, the larger the population, the smaller the sample one needs to establish a reliable estimate. This is very counter-intuitive, but I have personally worked out the math involved twice, and it does hold true. It involves Probability Theory and the word "Theory" always causes suspicion in the common mind, but it does work. (No, I am not about to try to do it again – I'm way too tired and lazy.) However, we need to start with a random sample and even what that is can be controversial – a reasonable definition would be one in which everyone has an equal chance to be selected and that just will not be done. Not with the current economic and political situation. We can point out, however, that the U.S. has about 4% of the world's population and that figure should indicate that we are not being very effective.
With all of the restrictions imposed because of this virus, movie and television production has been hampered. Late night shows are all done remotely, guests on those shows appear remotely, and it all lends a strangness to the situation. One program on CBS called ALL RISE, a show about an African-American woman who became a judge, was done remotely in an attempt to keep things going, but it has failed. News programs still manage to operate, but they have always relied on remote reporting, especially since CNN began operations using satellite technology.
I need to make a hard transition here, and it is best I simply do it abruptly. There are those of you who are completely tired of contemporary events, the political situation, and so on. Up until this point, I have tried simply to focus on science and its role in society today. From this point forward, we will be commenting on the political manipulation and so on that has been going on, so those of you who do not want to see or read anything about that should simply delete or ignore further from here on.
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Now, for the two of you who are left: you probably know that Trump recommended people should take some sort of anti-bacterial material, perhaps drink it. It turns out that about 6 years ago, Ricky Gervis (I'm not sure about the spelling, but he is on CBS after Colbert at night – assuming those shows are still functioning) said that the fact that they have to put DO NOT DRINK on bottles of bleach proves that U.S. voters could elect anyone as President. The quote was resurrected (pun intended) just recently. We have also recently heard of an ObamaGate! What does one say to that?
We know that with all the layoffs from the Covis pandemic many have lost their health insurance, but they still are against Universal Health Care. They actually seem to fear some nebulous force called "Socialism". They swallow without thinking the idea that Pol Pot, the dictator in Cambodia was a Socialist and believe that the same things would happen to them under an American form of the NHS. (Yes, I've treated some of our mercenaries who were tortured by Pol Pot's employees.) Pol Pot was no FDR. He was appointed by Henry Kissinger.
Our corporations are doing well because they have told investors that profits will be higher because they have no intention of hiring back many of the employees that are still alive after this pandemic. Republicans support Trump by 80%, the latest I heard.
Many of Trump's supporters still support him even though he is responsible for the severity of this disaster. Back when he could have done something constructive, he was afraid it would make him look bad. At that time we had only about 200 cases of the virus and a cruise ship landed with American citizens who had the virus. He blocked their entry because it "would double" the number of cases and "make him look bad." Look at it now. His followers do not care – as long as he hates Mexicans, he is their favorite. Yes, they are stupid.
Most of Republican support comes from the elderly. One of Trump's advocates, Lindsey Graham recently said that, regarding Social Security, "some promises may have to be broken." Even if everyone knew he said that, it would not change a single vote in the next election – if there is one.
In this recent hearing on Capital Hill, Dr. Bright, who was pretty much fired (details are still murky) for saying that a drug endorsed by Trump had no positive effect and sometimes does harm. He has filed a whistleblower complaint. The most information can in a string of rapid questions from Rep. Kennedy who listed them for five minutes and conveyed more information that all the previous members. It will have no effect.
People are now having mental health problems from being confined to their homes as a result of this, so they are being encouraged to go out as if things were normal. After all, if they are going to be mentally sick, why not let them get physically sick too? Then at least they will sense that it is real.
Liz Cheney, one of the more right wing nuts of the past has said: "Dr. Fauci is one of the finest public servants we have ever had. He is not a partisan. His only interest is saving lives. We need his expertise and his judgment to defeat this virus. All Americans should be thanking him. Every day." Naturally, since he bases his statements on science and fact, he is not popular with Trump Republicans. Trump says he is either confused or trying to have things both ways. He used the phrase "all sides of the equation". Ever wonder how many sides there are in an equation? Never mind.
This is getting a lot longer than I expected, but bear with me a bit longer. I promise to stop and go off and do something else, somewhere else, sometime.
This is not the Spanish flu – it is a different virus. The population was smaller then. More people died then (so far). There were no wide spead mass media outlets to cover it. Still, the town or cities where the newspapers paid attention to it had far fewer deaths than other cities (such as Philadelphia) that did not. Today, there is so much coverage, both right wing and left wing, that it is as helpful as having none at all.
We can point out that the measels virus has not been eliminated, the black plague virus has not been eliminated, and the only reason they have not been much of an issue is vaccination. Right now, it does seem that Oxford, of all places, has advanced greatly in developing one against this virus. I hope so. It would be more efficient than in the hands of a private profit driven industry.
At any rate, that is enough for now. I am really tired of all of this. Farewell!
