Before beginning this piece of writing, I’d like to point out that while I’m trying to be as transparent, objective, and honest as possible, this is a difficult topic to tackle. So, feel free to provide any constructive criticism to my writing or my perspective in the comments if you think I misrepresented facts or presented fallacies of any kind.
Let’s begin, shall we?
Coronavirus, specifically COVID-19 has caused massive shifts in the global economy. It has made entire nations bow down to its terror as people flee to their homes and lock themselves up.
A huge loss to human life has also been endured as the number of cases seems to rise, it’s almost as if the virus is here to cause an extinction event. It very well may not be the case, but some people ought to think that the origins of such an effective species of the virus may not be the womb of mother nature, but something or someone might be to blame.
In these trying times, the general public might easily be persuaded into believing anything, which is exactly what Dr. Judy Mikovits has tried to accomplish in her documentary “Plandemic”. Nice wordplay there Judy.
What she actually does is present a sob story filled with circumstantial evidence and dangerous misinformation to back her claims. It baffles me that a scientific researcher would advise people not to wear masks as they could ‘re-infect’ themselves.
The documentary was quickly taken off YouTube and Facebook, but at the rate at which it was shared is alarming.
As one Reddit user noted,
“It’s being shared at a rate by people who usually don't even have the attention span to get through 10 seconds of YouTube ads and somehow watch 20+ minutes of this bullshit and then feel the need to share it to the world X 1000.”
In this article I would like to present facts and figures and reason with them from a rational standpoint to arrive at a conclusion that is most in line with the truth.
Why was the virus so successful in spreading?
For a disease to become a pandemic, spreading around in just months and taking thousands of lives, it has to find an extraordinary balance between contagiousness and deadliness.
Take the example of Ebola. With a mortality rate of 50%, the disease is quite deadly. This is much more fatal than COVID-19, but it has only killed approximately 11 thousand people so far. As of today, COVID-19 has killed more than 280,000 people.
The deadlier the disease the less contagious it seems to be, and the less likely it is to kill a lot of people. Which looks counterintuitive, but does make sense.
Ebola causes severe symptoms of high fever and blood vomits by day 10, and brain damage by day 11. Such a virus will find it very hard to find new hosts as the existing one will not be in a condition to spread the seeds of disease.
Whereas a patient with COVID-19, who shows mild symptoms 2 weeks after an infection, can roam around and infect tens if not hundreds of healthy people before being put into an isolation ward. The fact that the symptoms experienced match exactly the profile of a patient with common flu, allows COVID-19 maximum communicability by hiding in plain sight.
Fortunately, the virus is not airborne, otherwise the death toll would have been insurmountable by now. It is good that it actually spreads through tiny droplets that are released when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
What I think about this situation
I think it is quite natural for people to panic. Such a reaction is good as it allows people to be more cautious, which is exactly what is required. However, this emotional response can easily be manipulated for personal gain by people through their many malicious ways.
This is because most people DO NOT operate from a statistical perspective backed by cold, hard facts, but from something much more unreliable as personal anecdotes and misguided judgments.
During an unprecedented turn of events, when nothing makes any sense, people look for some explanation behind the mayhem. When they find nothing in their recent memories or even the long-term past that matches the current situation, they look for explanations and sources to blame.
This psychological vulnerability is exactly what conspiracy theorists wish to exploit. They provide easy to believe explanations involving a sob story of Good vs Evil and the bully vs the bullied. This works best because entire fictional/non-fictional narratives have been built around this central theme, so it’s not that hard to digest.
On the other hand, investing time and effort into studying ‘actual’ data is quite considered quite cumbersome, and it is. The conquest of truth is not an easy path to tread on, but it is surely the right path to take.
A Plea for Humanity
While your worries are totally understandable and warranted, please take a moment to consider the number of lives at stake here. This moment will be remembered as the first big disaster of the 21st century in History books.
Thankfully, I don’t have anyone in my family who has COVID-19, but a good friend of mine whose father has contracted the disease can provide us useful insight as to what mindset should we all cultivate. Here is what he thinks:
“You turn your telly on one day. Coronavirus cases climb. People around the world suffer. They show you a picture of that person on the bed and a news reel of pitiable occurrences located maybe in God knows where. Too bad. Something is always going on. Doesn't it always? We think that behind that pixelated screen, we're safe. Nothing can touch us, can it?
Well, you're wrong.
I admit that in some ways Covid-19 is an eye-opener. I'll give it that. It brought this world down to its knees, writhing in agony over total confusion. It showed us that no one, anyone, and everyone; no matter wherever you live, whatever your language, belief, geographical position, or indeed your net worth, you're no better than anyone else.
I hope we can promise ourselves one thing. On this planet, we're stuck together. Unfortunately. Nothing is going to come out of retreating back into the illusions of the same superstitions and prejudices that got us here. The same divisions. The same hate. The same fear that subsides by a degree when we put our blame on the other.
If we truly are meant for someplace beyond, well, this, let us come out of this somewhat better evolved than we were before.
Take care out there. Of yourself, and of others.”
- Muhammd Samraiz
https://qudratthenatureofstuff.home.blog
-js
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