Corona Thoughts From the Golden State

Writes C.Jay Engel:

Lew,

I decided to walk a public park up here in the greater Sacramento area with a friend yesterday. Of course, halfway through a motorcycle cop rode up and told us we needed to leave because “[my city] parks are closed.” We politely informed him that if us being out there made him uncomfortable, we would leave. He gruffed but we complied.

Which of course brings up the point that one of the most zealously emphasized reasons everyone (especially the internet) is saying that this differs from the flu is that “there is no vaccine!” With this, I was reminded that the majority of people actually go get flu shots every year and it’s no wonder they are panicked. Though I have never gotten one, and never go to the hospital if I get sick (my Grandparents passed on this ancient theory that the body will fight the sickness), vaccinations to them are medical salvation. Here I was, looking to build up immunity with sun and exercise, but the grand narrative in all this is I need to wait inside until they’ve come up with an injectable solution. It’s madness.

The entire affair has been helped along by extremely well-produced graphics, GIFs, aesthetically stimulating tracking tools, live-charts, and social media hashtags (#socialdistancing, a marketing tool that would have impressed Huxley, is being printed on state and private announcements and posted everywhere). Under the guise of “keeping us aware,” it is actually unifying the global narrative and drowning out rational thought. How can an investigative essay compete with masterful visuals in an age of the maleducated and overstimulated?

It’s quite obvious that the hysteria around us would have been similar if they had done the same marketing and live tracking and statistical tools on influenza viruses. We are now obsessed with tracking all these little details about the virus, how many have been exposed, who has it, how many have died, and the prospects of the death of millions. The Entertainment Class has trained us well.

Reminds me of Richard Weaver’s warning (in Ideas Have Consequences):

“In the popular arena one can tell from certain newspaper columns and radio programs that the average man has become imbued with this notion and imagines that an industrious acquisition of particulars will render him a man of knowledge. With what pathetic trust does he recite his facts! He has been told that knowledge is power, and knowledge consists of a great many small things.”

I read LRC every day right now as I otherwise try to stay offline. Thanks Lew!

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