Covid 19 : Day four of lock-down : It’s the media stupid

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I can't stop watching the news broadcasts. It was the same for me during 9/11 when I was living in the U.K. There were these really crazy pictures on the tele of planes flying into buildings. In response to the emergency, the grounded local aircraft had wiped the London skies clear of contrails.

This time it's a bit different. The news reports change almost hourly. I remember getting a bit bored during 9/11 because after a couple hours all the reports were rehashed.



Lunchtime and I’m reheating a sausage and onions for a sandwich.
Someone has cranked their stereo up, and it’s nice to hear that other people are still out there.
Went out for a walk and noticed a few teddy bears in windows. Then I saw this horror...



Last century I visited the U.S. of A.
Every day during that trip I felt a little bit uneasy.
My whole life, I've been consuming American media. When I actually visited the place the whole country seemed a little bit unreal. Like it was all one big TV show.
Or a giant theme park. It didn't help that we stopped over in Los Vegas which is literally a big theme park.

This coronavirus thing has me feeling the same way. So much science fiction and horror has used a virus outbreak as a premise to drive the narrative. Now that I'm actually experiencing it, I feel a bit distant to the reality.
I'm literally waiting for zombies to appear on the street, or aliens to float down from the sky.

I’ve been watching the spread of the disease across america.
I reckon Trump is going to get more desperate as it invades his core voting block.
The middle of America is full of people who think Trump is going to fix all their problems for them.
This is from the Johns Hopkins map on Friday…



The U.S. is looking more and more like Europe. Impotent slow moving central government, and states taking individual action...
texas-closed-borders-travel-ban-constitution-trump

The toxic mix of evangelicals who are hoping that this is the end of the world, widespread gun ownership, and a preoccupation with being ‘the most powerful righteous country in the world’ has got to eventually spark some crazy evening news items.

It’s not just Trump in the U.S. It’s the same with all these other Conservative politicians such as Boris and Bolsonaro. A tenet of Right wing ideology is ‘small government’. These guys are so loath to use government power to control the individual, that they are doing everything they can to put off the inevitable.


And finally, a shot from my backyard tonight.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 30, 2020 at 8:25 AM

    Awesome back yard shot! Who's the crazy neighbour? Maybe lay off the politics a bit - I look forward to your blog for a bit of gardening light relief (and great information from a fellow local gardener too) - get out in yer green, it always makes you feel better! Look forward to tomorrow's instalment..

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