We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are. - Anais Nin
Yellow Fever, Bubonic Plague, Measles, Cholera, Typhoid, Malaria, Tuberculosis, Leprosy, Smallpox, Russian flu, Spanish flu, Polio, Hong Kong flu, SARS, MERS, H1N1, COVID-19. That's just a short list of pandemics that have ravaged humanity through the ages. Not enough disease for you? Read more here.
Throughout history, the first thing we have done when confronted with something that feels out of our control is to find a reason for it. We have only the world we know to count on for security and safety, so when the Covid-19 pandemic hit on a global level, we went through the first steps of grief over the demise of life as we knew it, then we sought to explain it. Do any of these hit a chord with regard to your response to the pandemic?
Denial. Anger. Bargaining. Depression. Acceptance.
A virus has no vendetta, ulterior motive or motivation against humans. Unlike humans, viruses have no malice, grudges, or political agendas. They've been here far longer than we have and short of total annihilation of the planet, they'll be here far longer than us. Bummer, right? We top-of-the-food-chain, arrogant, mixed-motivated, large-and-in-charge humans brought to our knees by a microscopic virus. This can't happen to us. It's just outrageous, so let's blame somebody. In the age of disinformation, that's easy to do. After denial and anger, we bargain with everyone to believe that THIS is why this mess happened. Bring in the clowns, er, conspiracy theories, please.
The virus "escaped" (read: was released by the Chinese on purpose or by accident) from a laboratory near Wuhan, China, where the outbreak first occurred. To get behind this one, you'll also need to believe that some radical person, group or rogue Chinese official(s) who had access to the Level 4 Wuhan Institute of Virology (the highest level of containment that exists) released the virus, knowing it would irreparably harm not only China but the entire globe. Or perhaps, more innocently, one of the six people who work with the coronavirus in the lab became infected and took it outside. It's a handy way of deflecting blame, but the chance of a virus contained in this type of lab being released by some bad actor on a vendetta or escaping on its own through an infected worker, as opposed to the millions of people who are exposed yearly to viruses that can jump from animals to humans, is next to nil. Is it possible it escaped? Sure. It's not unheard of that viruses have escaped labs. Is it likely? Not so much, considering the extreme measures such labs take to prevent accidents. Wikipedia: BSL-4 laboratories must be separated from areas that receive unrestricted traffic. Additionally airflow is tightly controlled to ensure that air always flows from "clean" areas of the lab to areas where work with infectious agents is being performed.[10] The entrance to the BSL-4 lab must also employ airlocks to minimize the possibility that aerosols from the lab could be removed from the lab. All laboratory waste, including filtered air, water, and trash must also be decontaminated before it can leave the facility.
The Chinese engineered the virus as a biological weapon. This idea persists because most of us suspect that the Chinese are not above doing such a thing. Therefore, they did this to...um, kill a bunch of their own people, hurt their own economy as well as that of every other country in the world, put a dent in the new world order, and just in general, be radical anarchists bent on the destruction of society at large. Scientists from many independent laboratories around the globe have confirmed that the overwhelming weight of evidence is that Covid-19 is a zoonautic disease, passed initially from an animal to a human, which most emerging viruses are.
The virus originated in America and was spread to China by the U.S. military during the 2019 Military World Games. If you're Chinese, this one's pretty appealing. After all, it's not nice to have it called "The China virus", so let's make it just as implausible to blame the United States for it, and start calling it "The U.S. virus". That'll make them stop pointing their fingers at us. Unfortunately, no it won't, the aforementioned science notwithstanding.
It's the virus spreading on the 5G network that's killing people. Unless you're a complete idiot, you must understand that there is no physiology, biology or epidemiology on earth in which a virus, which is a living entity composed of proteins and nucleic acids, can be transmitted in the electromagnetic spectrum in which radio (cell) signals operate. There is zero evidence to suggest that the 5G network has anything even remotely to do with the deaths attributed to Covid-19. If you believe this one, seek help immediately.
Bill Gates unleashed the virus. Gates first warned of a future pandemic in 2010, and in typical fashion, most of us dismissed him with a wink and a nod. No talk then of a conspiracy to thin the herd or to make more money (despite the fact that Gates gives away large portions of his wealth for humanitarian causes). Fast forward to 2018. From the Medical Futurist: In an interview with Stat in 2018, he (Gates) mentioned that he urged Donald Trump to invest in pandemic preparedness. (The President didn’t listen.) This year the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged up to $100 million to improve detection, isolation and treatment efforts; protect at-risk populations in Africa and South Asia; and accelerate the development of vaccines, drugs and diagnostics. The choices here are: either Gates somehow knew about the virus long before the rest of the world did (and before it was discovered) and released it so he could develop a vaccine and make many more billions of dollars on it, or he simply looked back at the many pandemics the world has experienced and tried to warn us that there would be more in the future and we should be ready for them. Occam's Razor, folks.
These are just a few of many more conspiracy theories out there regarding the virus. You can read in more detail here.
The bottom line is that no matter what your beliefs are about it, evidence or not, this virus is particularly insidious because it is much more highly infectious than the flu, it can be spread by a person with no symptoms, the incubation period can be up to two weeks, and it is much more deadly than the flu or other viruses. We're still just scratching the surface on how this virus behaves and transmits, and why it is so much more devastating to certain people regardless of age or underlying conditions.
We're tired of isolating ourselves from others and upset that keeping distance from others and wearing masks seems like some sort of violation of our rights in a free country like America to go wherever we want whenever we want. Lockdowns, shmockdowns. You can still go wherever you want whenever you want, with or without social distancing and masks. When you do, just be aware that you risk being infected by an asymptomatic person and carrying that back to someone who is in a high risk group, or to someone young and healthy you may love who is genetically predisposed to devastation by the virus. It's not a matter of taking away your freedom of choice. That is your choice.
Is it all the insidious plot of a billionaire? Politically motivated agenda of the alt left, alt right, or deep state? The work of anarchists bent on the destruction of society? The engineered bioweapon of the Chinese? An unfortunate lab accident? Or just another in a very long string of pandemics that have plagued mankind from the beginning?
We will always see things as we are.
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