Apparently it's the new normal in today's political dialogue, a takeoff from the classical idea of a politician being someone whose feet are "firmly planted in mid-air." The Whitehouse does it--so often if not all the time--but so do all of its critics. The premium is on being able to say black-and-white without producing grey. It has to be cleverly crafted so that you can say later "I meant black when you thought I said white" and vice versa. It makes you sound like a person of conviction while vascillating between two conflicting positions. What the hell do I mean by that?
See, that last paragraph is a perfect example. It said a lot without really saying anything. The point is gone are the days of straightshooting fellows who left no doubt in your mind what they meant by what they said. More importantly, there was a time when you could hold a person to his words, and that person looked for no convenient escape not to be held accountable.
But then came the ubiquitous invention of forked-tongue language, the phrase "at your own risk." Are Chinese biotech stocks a good investment? They're worth the value you assign to them "at your own risk." Is air travel safe now with social distancing factors evident in folding down middle seats? Transmission remains a distinct possibility to be considered "at your own risk." Should I refinance my mortgage or avail of a buy-out for a loss? Liabilities equate with either option taken "at your own risk." You don't need to have experienced any of these personally, you can just take note that I said so at your own risk."
Another way that people obfuscate is to remove the human element from the picture. You never say anymore that "Police officer John Doe beat up black guy so and so with a nightstick, he could be fired" Instead, it's "Law enforcement made a mistake that resulted in regrettable injury for which appropriate sanction is now under review."
Apparently, President Donald Trump was already COVID-contagious when he insisted on attending an indoor fundraising event in New Jersey and everyone among the boatload of characters surrounding him knew it. When pressed by reporters who greenlighted the risky move, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that Whitehouse operations determined that it was safe for the president to travel, Secret Service made appropriate plans, Whitehouse operations authorized the execution of that plan. Translation: Donald Trump said "I wanna go!" and everybody said. "Yes, sir!"
The reason COVID-19 is proving intractable is because everybody have removed the human element--especially human freewill--from the transmission chain. More than a million people worlwide and 210,000 Americans among them have been killed by this deadly virus. Really?
"Kill" is a verb, an action word. It connotes intent and intent requires will. If you left the virus alone in the petri dish--or better yet in its natural commensal host in the wild--the virus wouldn't "kill" anyone or anything. When a person drowns, we don't say the water killed him. We say his lack of foresight or lack of skill killed him. He is a victim of his own reckless imprudence. Or the reckless imprudence of people supposed to look out for them. The COVID-19 pandemic is not the runaway triumph of a biogenetic enemy, it is the colossal failing of human common sense.
The virus doesn't fly, although it can be flung into the air when we exhale. We release the virus the same way we release carbon dioxide into our personal space. However, since our personal space moves with us, and we move around, we move the virus around. It doesn't move around by itself. We are the vectors. We don't spread the virus so much as we spread ourselves. Is it any wonder that the only means that has proven effective in slowing down the spread so far are human-rights violative lockdowns?
Again we say the economy will rebound when the virus disappears. Don't look now but the virus is actually creating a new underground economy--several sub-economies, as a matter of fact. Never has the internet been more festooned with devices of free enterprise than today. Even working from home is spawning growth in a reborn door-to-door delivery service industry--at first only of food and small mechandise, but now of all kinds of chattel. If it has mass and occupies space, anything tangible, it can be at your doorstep in a few swipes of an iPhone or Android app. All those people meeting on zoom have got to eat too, you know.
The point is, the economy is not taking a beating. You can't dismiss it that simply. People are the economy and people are busy fighting back. They could use some help, some stimulus to take the place of so much economic infrastructure they can't access for the timebeing.
But actioon is stymied by fear of accountability, and nowhere is this more evident than in the highest policy-making levels of governments across the globe, not just the United States. It's hard to believe that given the severity of this global pandemic, the United Nations is not holding continuous emergency sessions of the General Assembly right now. What would it take to really unite the whole world against a common threat? A meteor on its way to blowing the planet Earth to smithereens?
Where does humanity go from here? It's hard to say given that "all forces are in feverish search for a holistic solution" and will leave "no stone unturned." Words used to matter, because words are the precursor to action.
I make one notable exception: Dr. Anthony Fauci whose words are so simple, so blatant and perhaps too explicit billions of peopole can't understand it: "Please wear a mask." Ⓒ 2020 Joel R. Dizon
NOTE FROM JOEL: Hi, folks! Recently, I started a YouTube channel which is called "Parables and Reason" It is kind of similar to this blog content-wise. You can check out my channel by clicking the link below:
Joel R. Dizon - PARABLES AND REASON
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