Looking back on 2020

 

Looking back at the year that’s almost over:


At this time of the year folks in the media spend quite a bit of time looking back at the year that was.

I used to be a community reporter for the local newspaper for 11 years (2000-2011) and got into that habit in regards to local news. It is a good way to fill some empty white space when not too much is going on, apart from eating and drinking : )


It is also a good time for a bird’s eye view of the year and then look forwards to what might be in stock in the coming year.

Of course, 2020 will stand out in history as one of those years that was different in a profound way.

That’s something everybody can agree on no matter what side of the many issues they are on.
And in regards to those issues, there is some room for humour here, in spite of what appears to be very serious questions.

One the one hand, the pandemic is recognized by governments across the world as a serious threat to their populations and sick care systems (because they deal with sick people rather than healthy ones).

And drastic actions are being taken by governments to seek to minimize the perceived threat.


On the other hand, a considerable number of people see the pandemic as an engineered phenomenon designed to subjugate the world’s population to the will of a few power hungry fanatics, using the COVID virus as a tool to that end.


And a lot of people don’t know what to think and just put up with what is going on as best they can.


So now we are right in the middle of what is called the “second wave” of the pandemic with reports coming in about a mutated more virulent virus spreading out into the world population.


Amidst all of this I find it interesting to observe that the two main opposing camps have something in common:


One camp sees the power of the virus as a real force that must be subjugated by the hero in the story, the newly created vaccine(s).


The other group sees the virus as a ploy to get the villain of the story, the vaccine, into the arms of the population at large in order to subjugate/kill off, most unwanted people.


Both camps are latching on to a set of simple ideas, albeit opposing ones, in order to create a sort of mental life raft in which to find comfort with fellow passengers. They can then lash out at “those guys in the other raft” as a distraction from their feelings of discomfort. This is greatly facilitated by social media.


For those that are not satisfied with feeling “comfortable” I have a suggestion: Using the internet you can easily check out plagues in times past, their causes and consequences, etc. And come to your own conclusions.

My overall conclusion is very simple: People haven’t changed one little bit in the last 2,500 years : )


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I have a hunch

Russian progress in the invasion of Ukraine is not going to plan. That is evident from negotiations between the warring parties as I write this piece. I have seen photos of burned out military vehicles and speculate that they are Russian. Back during the end days of WWII when Soviet armour invaded Germany from the east, Germans were issued with large numbers of shoulder mounted anti tank weapons to help slow down the onslaught: Strategically positioned, one man could take out a Soviet tank in short order. And that happened. Fast forward to Ukraine, shoulder mounted missile launchers are an order of magnitude more effective than in WWII with smart missiles actively seeking their targets over the course of their trajectory. Sitting inside a tank these days, is sort of like being a knight in shiny armour, in the face of a lead ball from a musket. The tank becomes your coffin.
Read more

Metaphysical speculation

. George Orwell (Eric Blair), the famous author of "Animal Farm" and "1984", among other works, used to work in the British Imperial Civil Service during his early years, as a policeman in Burma, as I recall. A statement he made in reflecting upon that time in his life, when a local person was executed for something he had done, has stuck with me: "A universe ceased to exist" Over the years, that statement has given me pause for reflection on many a time, especially following a car accident in 2011 when I was knocked out cold for about half an hour and took some time to realize where I was and what had happened. One way to 'look' at things is as follows: What we perceive, feel and understand is a product of our material bodily structure and the many forces acting upon same. 'The Universe' is an aggregate of the above and give us a sense of who and what we are within the grander scheme of things. Now, let's put ourselves into the shell
Read more

Smelly cities

Watching a video of Imperial Rome reminded me of an experience I had visiting Singapore in 1971. Staying overnight in a modern hotel on the outskirts of the downtown, I ventured into the heart of the old city where narrow cobblestone streets had an open sewer running down the middle. In fact, if you approached the downtown from downwind, you could smell it a mile away. Eventually you get used to it but the initial impact is quite powerful. And so it was in Imperial Rome, a city with some 1 million people, many of whom lived in poverty and squalor. A hive of activity and breeding ground for all manner of infectious diseases. On the other side of the ledger, I lived in the City of Baghdad in 1961 where dry heat day temperatures in the summer ranged between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius. It did not have open sewers (the water would likely have evaporated) but the smell was so different, and not unpleasant, that I experienced it in my dreams long after having returned to Norway.
Read more