Scared? No.

[guppiecat]

Yesterday, for the second* time since all this started, someone asked me if I was "scared of the virus" - and I had a strong reaction.

I am *not* scared of the virus. I have educated myself on the biology of viruses. I am aware of the history of pandemics and disease spread. I know about lasting organ and tissue damage that can happen and what a post-COVID life may look like even if I or those I care about "recover". I am not scared of any of these things. I am aware of the risk and taking what actions I can to prevent them.

There is no fear involved. I do feel a lot of anger though - toward the government, toward the conservative news media, toward decades of my country promoting an uneducated population that can be easily swayed into voting against their best interest, toward an economic system that exploits confirmation bias to trick people into trading their lives for their livelihoods, and toward people who feel they have a right to judge other's safety measures when they themselves are not placed at risk by them (and, in fact, it is often the other way around).

I also feel sadness over the likelihood that some of the things I had wanted to do will likely never happen now, over the likelihood that there will be friends I will never see again, over the all the possibilities that are never to be for so many - simply because so many believe that opposition is not polite**.

I feel both anxiety and depression over what the future holds.

However, I am not "scared of the virus". You can kill that sucker with soap.

* Yeah, I'm not talking to strangers much these days. (Not that I ever did a lot of that.)

** A problem I have as well, for a lot of reasons.

Comments

[quadong]

+1

[dreamshark]

Perhaps the questioner really meant, "Do you take it seriously?" Which you clearly do.


I do love this as a response, though, even if it does risk sounding a bit flippant. I am not "scared of the virus". You can kill that sucker with soap.

[howsmyenglish]

Nodding a lot.
Even our friends don't get it. They actually think we're afraid of the virus, when we refuse to shake hands or hug when we meet then. And, amazingly, no explanations work.

[pameladean]

I hate that talking point (and that's what it is) so much. My instinctive response to it is "FUCK YOU." Honestly, I think a lot of these people are projecting. It's they who are scared but they can't begin, partly because of some of the factors you discuss in your post, to cope with what that means or even to acknowledge it.

So endeth the amateur psychology remark of the day. But so many reactions employing that talking point are so irrational and yet so consistent that I can't help drawing conclusions.

P.

[pauamma]

That's more or less what I feel, although perhaps for different reasons. I do what I can to try fending it off, knowing (or is the right word "believing"?) that God's will will prevail anyway.