How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Innula Zenovka]

Singing stops in Italy as fear and social unrest mount

Three weeks on from start of lockdown, Italians are seeing that everything is not all right

www.theguardian.com

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The propaganda goals Russian coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is trying to achieve:

Propaganda Goal 4: A New Round of Persecution of Liberals

This goal involves accusing the opposition of spreading the Coronavirus.

For instance, Oleg Matveechev, Professor of Philosophy at the Higher School of Economics, publicly called for a “return to 1937″ – a reference to Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge – and demanded a massive repression of “liberals”.

“It is this swine who will infect others,” he said. “It is because of this liberal swine that our loved ones are dying. They are not only dangerous as a Fifth Column in the information war. They are killing us. And therefore, they must be surgically destroyed… All participants in rallies and others who subscribe to the opposition.”

We should remember that the pretext for the creation of the Warsaw Ghetto in 1940 was the myth that Jews were carriers of infectious diseases.

The Coronavirus Crisis: 'Liberal Swine' – How the Kremlin Exploits the Pandemic for Propaganda

Kseniya Kirillova exposes the attempts to discredit the West, undermine Ukraine, and persecute dissidents in the current Russian disinformation campaign.

bylinetimes.com

 

[Isabeau]

The propaganda goals Russian coverage of the Covid-19 crisis is trying to achieve:

The Coronavirus Crisis: 'Liberal Swine' – How the Kremlin Exploits the Pandemic for Propaganda

Kseniya Kirillova exposes the attempts to discredit the West, undermine Ukraine, and persecute dissidents in the current Russian disinformation campaign.

bylinetimes.com

Oof! It’s the authoritarian turn (augmentation) news that I find truly frightening right now.

 

[Isabeau]

 

[Isabeau]

Also, just because...

 

[Spirits Rising]

The virus was "politically motivated"??? Oh my God, the stupidity is just astounding!

It is only astounding if you believe that Humans as a whole are at least somewhat intelligent/capable of mostly independent thought.

 

[Eunoli]

The virus was "politically motivated"??? Oh my God, the stupidity is just astounding!

So - if a virus is politically motivated - that means its God's punishment for Trump's behavior?

 

[Innula Zenovka]

So - if a virus is politically motivated - that means its God's punishment for Trump's behavior?

I've been worrying about how Trump's Christofascist supporters manage to align, on the one hand, all the ludicrous -- blasphemous, even -- claims they were making about Trump being some sort of agent of God's will on earth, fulfilling Biblical prophecies all over the place, and, on the other, the pandemic hitting the US.

I mean, having your country visited by plagues and pestilence isn't normally seen as a sign the Almighty particularly approves of the current administration of the plague-stricken country, is it?

On the contrary, were I of a religious frame of mind, and from a somewhat different religious background, I might be given pause for thought by the fact the virus arrived in the UK shortly after Boris Johnson's overwhelming victory, and as some indication of what He thinks of Brexit.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Oof! It’s the authoritarian turn (augmentation) news that I find truly frightening right now.

It really is quite frightening to consider how easily we've all accepted the immediate suspension of at least three fundamental human rights -- freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of worship -- with very little protest, because we know we have no alternative.

Combine that with the intrusive monitoring of public spaces and of individuals' movements and medical status -- again, something we have to accept because there's no rational alternative -- that the pandemic demands, and it becomes clear that, once the crisis is over, the threat posed by this whole security apparatus still remains to be confronted.

It's at times like this I realise how glad I am I live in a country with a strong and independent legal system, a Human Rights Act and the ECHR, and a senior judiciary who are perfectly prepared to hold the government to account, and restrain it when necessary.

 

[Caliandris]

The profusion of cruise lines mean they're always cutting corners to make a profit in a highly competitive industry and the loser is always the passenger. A few cruise lines going out of business would probably improve the industry standards considerably (but also raise prices out of the reach of many people, but honestly, you don't NEED a cruise trip).

As I think I've mentioned before, my wife used to work as a machinist in a ship yard (so much for her MFA), and she saw the dark underbelly of cruise liners (figuratively AND literally). They register overseas to escape U.S. Coast Guard regulations and safety standards; they spend their money on the top decks to dazzle the passengers, but skimp on the actual workings of the ship; they pay their crews slave wages and treat them like indentured servants. When you're on a ship, you're shit out of luck as a victim of a crime (including murder) because there's no clear jurisdiction over shipboard events and the caption can (and often does) simply ignore what happened. And of course, you're trapped if anything goes wrong.

If you're short of things to listen to, try Jon Ronson's book on deaths at sea on cruise ships. A surprising number of people fall off ships and nothing seems to happen. It's called Lost At Sea (it's on Audible). It's 15 hours long, and fascinating. I was never keen on cruises, but I definitely wasn't after listening to that!

 

[Pamela]

I've been worrying about how Trump's Christofascist supporters manage to align, on the one hand, all the ludicrous -- blasphemous, even -- claims they were making about Trump being some sort of agent of God's will on earth, fulfilling Biblical prophecies all over the place, and, on the other, the pandemic hitting the US.

I mean, having your country visited by plagues and pestilence isn't normally seen as a sign the Almighty particularly approves of the current administration of the plague-stricken country, is it?

On the contrary, were I of a religious frame of mind, and from a somewhat different religious background, I might be given pause for thought by the fact the virus arrived in the UK shortly after Boris Johnson's overwhelming victory, and of what He thinks of Brexit.

It has occurred to me that this feels like a reckoning on the scale of the flood.

 

[Rose Karuna]

My husband and I have been home now for more than a month with no visitors, we haven't even gone to the grocery store as I've been ordering everything to be delivered. My husband did make one brief trip to home depot when he broke a pipe but that's it.

Yesterday was his birthday, fortunately, when I see a really cool card I buy it, so I already had cards for him. I made him his favorite meal and brownies. He seemed happy, I would have liked to have done more.

I'm not particularly social but I am having more difficulty social distancing than I expected. I miss some of my co-workers. I miss our friends. I miss shopping with them, I miss going out to dinner with them, I miss cooking for them and playing board games with them and just hanging out someplace with them. It turns out that I'm a lot more social than I thought I was.

I read this article written by a hermit: Tips From Someone With 50 Years Of Social Distancing Experience

I like the idea about having a routine (since I work remotely, I do have one for during the week). I need to start something on weekends. I think it will have to be gardening. Measuring growth on the plants I've started or something like that.

I'm actually surprised to find my self feeling a bit sad.

 

[Isabeau]

Strangely, I’m not so much feeling sad or blue about all this at the moment, but just have a general feeling of frustration/anger. Everything corona related is getting on my last nerve. I think it may be because I can’t “do” anything to change what is happening besides “nothing” if you know what I mean.

I’m also easily ticked off about little things. I’m tired of well meaning suggestions about what to do with my spare time as if I’m a dolt who can’t find my own projects, etc. Or being told to wash my hands, stand 2 metres away from people, and all the obvious stuff from 2 weeks ago. Yeah, thanks, I got that. There was once those who poopooed it to now mass histeria upon seeing someone out walking alone... I realize that many people may not have gotten it, and that everyone around the world is processing this at different times and living in different (political) situations so I’m not frustrated at individuals, I’m just not in the mood.

 

[Stora]

It really is quite frightening to consider how easily we've all accepted the immediate suspension of at least three fundamental human rights -- freedom of movement, freedom of assembly, and freedom of worship -- with very little protest, because we know we have no alternative.

Combine that with the intrusive monitoring of public spaces and of individuals' movements and medical status -- again, something we have to accept because there's no rational alternative -- that the pandemic demands, and it becomes clear that, once the crisis is over, the threat posed by this whole security apparatus still remains to be confronted.

It's at times like this I realise how glad I am I live in a country with a strong and independent legal system, a Human Rights Act and the ECHR, and a senior judiciary who are perfectly prepared to hold the government to account, and restrain it when necessary.

Someone didn't get the memo.

York woman fined for breaching coronavirus rules

A woman has been fined for breaching coronavirus restrictions after she refused to tell police who she was and why she was at a railway station.

Marie Dinou, 41, from York, was arrested at Newcastle Central Station at 08:00 GMT on Saturday.

North Tyneside Magistrates' Court imposed a £660 fine under the Coronavirus Act 2020 on Monday.

Dinou, who did not enter a plea, was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £66 and costs of £85.

Woman fined £660 for breaching coronavirus rules

 

[Caliandris]

My husband and I have been home now for more than a month with no visitors, we haven't even gone to the grocery store as I've been ordering everything to be delivered. My husband did make one brief trip to home depot when he broke a pipe but that's it.

Yesterday was his birthday, fortunately, when I see a really cool card I buy it, so I already had cards for him. I made him his favorite meal and brownies. He seemed happy, I would have liked to have done more.

I'm not particularly social but I am having more difficulty social distancing than I expected. I miss some of my co-workers. I miss our friends. I miss shopping with them, I miss going out to dinner with them, I miss cooking for them and playing board games with them and just hanging out someplace with them. It turns out that I'm a lot more social than I thought I was.

I read this article written by a hermit: Tips From Someone With 50 Years Of Social Distancing Experience

I like the idea about having a routine (since I work remotely, I do have one for during the week). I need to start something on weekends. I think it will have to be gardening. Measuring growth on the plants I've started or something like that.

I'm actually surprised to find my self feeling a bit sad.

I'm spending a lot of my time furious. Furious that we have been put in this position by our leaders not realising that an infection spreading as fast as SARSCOV2 was going to be a problem for our countries too. Furious that the party which has done it's damndest to break up the NHS is now praising them and expecting nurses and doctors to put their lives at risk without the right equipment. That they deliberately blocked buying proper eye protection for staff on the basis of cost three years ago and the same guy - Jeremy Hunt - is now campaigning for proper protective equipment for the job.

But today I am sad and angry about a 13 year old dying in hospital without any of his family with him. I have been in the position of sitting in a hospital not knowing if my son was going to live through the night, and the idea of a thirteen year old being forced to go through that with only strangers at his side fills me with rage and fury.

We haven't been testing the staff and so the NHS has no idea how many of its own staff are infected but asymptomatic. The staff are in any case dealing with a known case of Covid-19 and so they will be having to protect themselves from the patient. What possible excuse can there be for not allowing him to have a parent by his side? I'm beyond angry. I'm going to have to go and do some exercise to try to get my blood pressure down my fight responses calmed.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Someone didn't get the memo.

York woman fined for breaching coronavirus rules



Woman fined £660 for breaching coronavirus rules

Yeah, but the Human Rights Act and the ECHR allow for the restriction or suspension of most fundamental human rights, to the minimum degree necessary, and for the shortest possible time, as part of a reasonable and proportionate response to specific extraordinary situations, such as a public health crisis.

So while at the moment Ms Dinou would probably not get very far trying to persuade a series of appellate courts that the legislation and regulations under which she was prosecuted were an unreasonable restriction of her rights, having regard to all the present circumstances and the current advice from the public health authorities, there's every reason to believe and hope that the same will not necessarily be true by the end of the year.

At that point, a court might very well say that regulations and restrictions were unlawful under the HRA.

 

[Maggy Hazelnut]

In my little corner of the world (Skagit County, Washington State, USA) the corona virus is starting to affect even the Trump fans. Two weeks ago they were screaming that the virus was a hoax by Democrats & the liberal media. Since then they've stocked up on tp, guns & ammo. Now the local food banks can't collect & deliver food because most of their volunteer staff is either sick or quarantined. So the National Guard has been called in by the governor (the liberal that Trump hates & calls a "snake") to help collect & distribute food. Now those same Trump idiots aren't saying it's a hoax but they're going about their days as they normally did before the virus hit. And they're posting on the local FB pages that we're all under "martial law" because the National Guard is here & telling everyone to get ready because "this will be bigger than Ruby Ridge was"! Honest to god they've flushed what few brains they had down the toilet!

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I'm fluctuating between anger, sorrow, frustration. I don't -mind- not going out, I don't. Its the worry about everyone who is stuck out there anyway because greed, or stupidity, or even just holding an essential job.

And part of it is worry over how this will change things, but also, worry it won't change anything when its all said and done.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I'm fluctuating between anger, sorrow, frustration. I don't -mind- not going out, I don't. Its the worry about everyone who is stuck out there anyway because greed, or stupidity, or even just holding an essential job.

And part of it is worry over how this will change things, but also, worry it won't change anything when its all said and done.

‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world?

The long read: Times of upheaval are always times of radical change. Some believe the pandemic is a once-in-a-generation chance to remake society and build a better future. Others fear it may only make existing injustices worse

www.theguardian.com

 

[Pamela]

OMG It never ends!