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Too Many Ripples
Mar. 24th, 2020 07:27 am
Just when I thought I had a handle on how much the people in power loved money, there is a literal Lt. Gov. saying that grandparents would be willing to sacrifice themselves to save the economy on television. What in the world has happened to the human race that this is the way the most powerful country in the world takes care of its citizens during a pandemic? "Let the old people die, we must preserve the money." It's so depressing.
In other news, a 60-year-old woman went to the hospital with her husband (who died there) after ingesting chloroquine after days of Trump saying that it was effective against the novel coronavirus. After the deaths of dozens of migrants seeking asylum and a better life due to the administration's fickle and cruel policies, this feels like a really dumb thing that *finally* connects the president's policies directly to the death and suffering of others. It should not have taken this long for all of this to become apparent.
I think I'm fighting a low-grade depression about the state of the world. When I'm not working, honestly all I want to do is check out and not think about anything. In movies about pandemics, the illness spreads through the world in a matter of days and society grinds to a halt because the sheer scale of death is beyond anyone's ability to cope with. In reality, we're perfectly willing to kill ourselves because we're just that dedicated to the myth of the capitalist ubermensch. Our economy is designed to extract the value of labor from almost all of us to line the pockets of people who have more money than they could ever spend. And there are way too many people who think this is the way things are supposed to go.
I don't think I'm up for fighting back against this. It just feels like too much anger and frustration for no movement at all. Even in leftist circles, it feels like we're learning the wrong lessons from this. Our anger isn't used as a tool to fuel our fight to build a better world -- it's a weapon being used to tear down the old one. We indulge in our anger to the detriment of our ability to actually come up with solutions. Instead of learning to become the better people capable of living in the world we want, we engage in purity politics and center our anger and frustration over our values. Any organized resistance I could join would just end up making different mistakes that would result in the same thing we have now -- inequality, suffering, and death.
I've been trying to focus on the things I can control, all the ways I can make things better in my immediate sphere. But that's a bit touch and go. Sometimes I have the energy for it, sometimes I don't. I'm also trying to be gentle with myself, letting myself have the space I need for my emotions, but at the same time I'd really like to be more positive and productive if I can. During our virtual writer's group meeting, the folks said that writing was a relief because they could think about something other than the coronavirus. That might be my ticket out of this -- just focusing on the small things that can bring small comforts, reaching out to people so they feel seen and connected. I mean, if that's all I'm up for, then that's what I'll do.
In other news, a 60-year-old woman went to the hospital with her husband (who died there) after ingesting chloroquine after days of Trump saying that it was effective against the novel coronavirus. After the deaths of dozens of migrants seeking asylum and a better life due to the administration's fickle and cruel policies, this feels like a really dumb thing that *finally* connects the president's policies directly to the death and suffering of others. It should not have taken this long for all of this to become apparent.
I think I'm fighting a low-grade depression about the state of the world. When I'm not working, honestly all I want to do is check out and not think about anything. In movies about pandemics, the illness spreads through the world in a matter of days and society grinds to a halt because the sheer scale of death is beyond anyone's ability to cope with. In reality, we're perfectly willing to kill ourselves because we're just that dedicated to the myth of the capitalist ubermensch. Our economy is designed to extract the value of labor from almost all of us to line the pockets of people who have more money than they could ever spend. And there are way too many people who think this is the way things are supposed to go.
I don't think I'm up for fighting back against this. It just feels like too much anger and frustration for no movement at all. Even in leftist circles, it feels like we're learning the wrong lessons from this. Our anger isn't used as a tool to fuel our fight to build a better world -- it's a weapon being used to tear down the old one. We indulge in our anger to the detriment of our ability to actually come up with solutions. Instead of learning to become the better people capable of living in the world we want, we engage in purity politics and center our anger and frustration over our values. Any organized resistance I could join would just end up making different mistakes that would result in the same thing we have now -- inequality, suffering, and death.
I've been trying to focus on the things I can control, all the ways I can make things better in my immediate sphere. But that's a bit touch and go. Sometimes I have the energy for it, sometimes I don't. I'm also trying to be gentle with myself, letting myself have the space I need for my emotions, but at the same time I'd really like to be more positive and productive if I can. During our virtual writer's group meeting, the folks said that writing was a relief because they could think about something other than the coronavirus. That might be my ticket out of this -- just focusing on the small things that can bring small comforts, reaching out to people so they feel seen and connected. I mean, if that's all I'm up for, then that's what I'll do.
