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Scared? No.
Aug. 11th, 2020 09:47 amYesterday, 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.
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.
