In “Coronavirus: The Worldwide Lockdown” at March 14 below, I wrote about lockdowns triggering all kinds of unintended consequences. In addition to spikes in incidences of depression and suicides, I warned that they would create a “perfect storm for a wave of domestic abuse.”
Sure enough:
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, citing a [horrifying surge] in domestic violence amid global coronavirus lockdowns, called on governments around the world to make addressing the issue a key part of their response to the pandemic.
‘For many women and girls, the threat looms largest where they should be safest — in their own homes,’ he said, appealing ‘for peace at home — and in homes — around the world.’
(NPR, April 6, 2020)
No shi+t!
Political leaders clearly did not give this a second thought. Just as they did not give a second thought to the unsustainable joblessness and other wholly foreseeable consequences of their COVID-19 war strategy.
And all this because they seemed possessed of fetishistic delusions – not only about what staying at home portended for most people, but also about how such orders might help them play war heroes in their fight against this invisible enemy.
That said, I fear victims being forced to stay with their abusers in times of pandemics may become the new normal. In my March 31 commentary, I denounced leaders not only for “setting an untenable precedent” with their war strategy but also for failing to say “what happens next.”
Well, during their daily briefing yesterday, Dr. Anthony Fauci turned President Trump’s orange face beet red when he admitted that we may never return to a pre-corona normal world. Fauci did not elaborate, but this can only mean lockdowns (i.e., shutdown of all non-essential businesses and stay-at-home orders) every season – as I reasoned in my “fed-up” commentary on April 3.
Except that, imagine a “brave new world” in which, among other social-distancing requirements, billions of conscripted germaphobes have to wear masks every time we leave our homes and remain six feet apart from other people. I maintain that living in such a world is not only untenable; it’s impossible. After all, by definition this would preclude continuing many of the social, sports, cultural, and entertainment events that give life meaning.
Oh, by the way, have you heard any political leader mention that COVID-19 is only one of many viruses that are just lying in wait to cause similar pandemics…?
In the meantime, if I could only get politicians and pundits alike to stop making specious allusions to fatalities from previous wars. Ever since my first commentary on February 18 (and again just yesterday), I’ve been making allusions to those from previous pandemics. This strikes me as more honest and appropriate.
But I suppose, for others, doing so would make COVID-19 fatalities seem too low (or, dare I say, normal) by comparison. In fact, to take just one example, the infamous 1918 flu pandemic killed 675,000 Americans; whereas, to date, the 2020 coronavirus has killed “only” 11,000 (and Fauci is already talking about its death curve flattening out).
Note on Home Deliveries
Much is being made these days about no-contact deliveries, especially of cooked meals. But this smacks of providing comfort to fools.
People seem reassured if they know that the person who delivered their food did not touch it. But what’s the point if they can’t be sure that the person who prepared that food did not have their corona (or fecal) fingers all over it?
I’m sorry, but as George Michael might say, you gotta have faith.
Related commentaries:
worldwide shutdown…
untenable precedent…
fed-up…
coronavirus thread…