A Matter of Perspective

Those of you who are so sure this is a hoax or a conspiracy, listen up, and then think.

Who’s at greatest financial risk from this virus.  Answer: the wealthy.  The stock market is crashing. American Senators dumped their stocks just prior to the fall after receiving confidential information about the seriousness of this virus. That’s illegal. Will they get away with it? Probably.

How many poor people do you know who give a shit about the stock market?  They don’t have stocks and bonds, do they? They are living paycheck to paycheck and still not making it.  Why?  Because they aren’t paid a living wage for their hard work, that’s why.

Those who imagine that the wealthy and powerful are faking this to get more power over us are missing the facts: we’re already enslaved to them. They already have us by the balls. The infrastructure they rely on to move their manufactured goods, for instance, was built by us, not just physically, but using our tax dollars. (The wealthy have ample loopholes to avoid paying taxes. Why do you think Trump won’t show us his tax returns? C’mon! Think!) So they use our roads and bridges to move their goods which were made and financed by poorly paid labour.  And you imagine they want more?  Fact is, they’re suffering financial losses from all this.

Who's getting preferential treatment in this?  Why, the wealthy and famous of course. There are tests a-plenty for them.  But if we go to the hospital with symptoms but haven’t traveled recently (where can we afford to go?) we don’t get a test. And yet who’s at greatest risk of human to human contact?  Why, we are. Because while the wealthy and well-known are safely sequestered in their lovely homes, who is out there in the world, taking care of business?  Stock people, clerks, site attendants, garbage collectors... all those “essential”services.  Not to mention doctors and nurses.

Let’s look at the overview now: who’s safe in their homes after having been tested?  The rich and famous. Who’s at the greater risk of exposure and can’t get a test? The working poor.

Well, that seems cushy, except for that falling stock market, eh?

So why are companies suddenly giving some of their workers raises?  Why are some landlords waiving immediate rent payments? Why are gov’ts giving the working class an allowance to help them get by? (Mnuchin thinks $1200. should last you 10 weeks.) Is it out of some genuine concern for us and some sudden benevolence or generosity on their part?

It’s because they need us.

The world turns on the backs of the underpaid, overworked and over-taxed. This is what you need to notice and understand. The rich and powerful aren’t faking this pandemic. It’s been thrust upon them, it’s lowering the value of their stocks, and it’s killing their workers. They very much want things back to normal where we’re increasing their wealth for them. They had it good already. Same goes for gov’t. We might grumble, but we pay those taxes, those rents, those prices for goods and services and for the most part, we obey those laws, even the stupid ones.  They all have us by the balls, no hoax needed.

Conspiracy theories are only going to distract people from the truth... that things need to change, and that maybe this pandemic will actually cause some change in favour of the working poor. The ones that don’t die that is.

I have one “friend” who is sure it’s a hoax. “Use your own brain,” he says.  Yeah. Use it.  Please. Take every precaution you can to protect yourself from this novel virus that comes to us from selfish human abuse of wild animals, and that’s killing us. Do not even imagine that you are invincible. Protect yourself, your families and your friends. Not just so you can go back to working hard for the man, but so you can live to help change our society.

We'll Be Fine!

"We’ll be fine," he said.

WE'LL be fine... meaning human beings I guess. Never mind all the species dying off. The rapid loss of species happening today is estimated to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate. A lot of leeway there, but apparently we're in the middle of a mass extinction according to scientists. As well, all these fires happening around the world have killed a lot of animals and destroyed their habitats too.

The ocean is warming, and the Great Barrier Reef is dying because of it, along with some ocean species. One respected biologist has said the oceans could be dead as soon as 2048. And as the ocean goes, so goes humanity. All manner of marine life is at risk from all the plastic we’ve dumped into the oceans as well. Whales are washing up on shore with bellies full of the stuff. All kinds of animals are at risk from our waste, including our shit from those floating toilets we call cruise ships and balloons released into the air.

 They do land somewhere, often where animals are at risk from what’s left of them. Then there’s melting glaciers and water rising over coastal cities and Pacific islands. And just for added fun, there’s glyphosate all over our food put there by the corporations that are actually running our world. I know, I know... little Mary Sunshine.

But take heart, WE’LL be fine, he said, with the calm assurance of an entitled old white man who doesn’t believe climate change is anything to be concerned about. He’s done the math. He says if the CO2 drops too low, all plant life will die. I have never heard anyone else point out the possibility of that before. I thought the problem was too much CO2, with more coming with the thawing of permafrost.

Anyway, there are quite a few of these creatures here on Earth... the old white men, I mean. Apparently they’re in no danger of extinction, especially to hear them tell it. You know the ones I mean. They don’t agree with the climate scientists. But most do not have the courage or integrity to criticize these scientists to their faces. Instead they go after those who believe the scientist’s predictions, the more vulnerable the better. Like school kids, for instance. They write open letters to a kid who’s been taught this science as fact in school. They don’t write to the scientists. They don’t write to the schools. They don’t go after the teachers and challenge them. Oh no, none of the people involved in teaching this science are approached. Nor do these climate change deniers hold a sign with their objections clearly stated outside the legislature, like the kids did. Nor did they have the gonads to go after the first messengers, Al Gore who produced a film on this, or Bill Nye, the Science Guy who also did a film on ice core research and climate change deniers.  No, they don't go after these people. Instead, school kids, and old ladies on Facebook, are fair game for the climate change deniers. And if you’re lucky enough to avoid the anger, accusations, threats, and the magnificent hyperbole, you get the old patronizing pat on the head from the all-knowing old man instead.

So no worries.  All those scientists are wrong. We’ll be fine.