🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢

Excerpt from https://medium.com/@cdl.tuebingen/someone-infected-neil-gaiman-with-covid-19-24ddbbd9f91d

Neil Gaiman didn’t just get COVID-19.

Someone INFECTED Neil Gaiman with COVID-19.

And many someones in overlapping layers of responsibility ENABLED this infection.

This linguistic shift from the passive to active voice might seem irrelevant but, instead of just echoing the framing we see in the headlines — that Neil Gaiman got COVID-19— it’s time to own that somebody has infected Neil.

The passive voice has served a macabre purpose in this pandemic. The passive voice, by erasing the subject of the sentence, neatly obscures accountability, and with it our own role in unmitigated infections. Moreover, it has prevented us from identifying the layers of responsibility in enabling infections on a mass scale. This mental block is the first obstacle to advocating for effective mitigations and constructive solutions. It stops us from preventing infections. But that is changing now.

It is time to own the damage that we are causing by infecting others with COVID-19. I believe that we all know, deep inside, that we are causing harm. And many of us are suffering from the cognitive dissonance of pretending that we aren’t. Because, in a pandemic, this is serious and large-scale harm.

This harm that, according to estimates, has killed over 25 million people and disabled at least 65 million and counting. The sooner we face the harm we are causing by infecting other people, the less damage we will cause to ourselves, to our loved ones, to our community, to strangers on the other side of the world. And to people who entertain and inspire us, like speculative fiction author and TV creator Neil Gaiman. And inspiration is necessary when we are facing so many challenges. It’s that simple.

#COVID #COVIDisNOTover #COVIDisAirborne #COVIDisOngoing #MaskUp #masks #masking #mask #SARSCoV2 #pandemic #airquality #NeilGaiman #DavidTennant

Oct 9, 2023 at 5:10pmWeb
Show thread🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢Oct 9, 2023

There's a line, later in the article-

"a real emotional crisis we're facing is black-pilled misanthropy where we want to let the world burn and all humans in it"

I have been thinking about this for a little bit; it's not just that accurate and up to date information are needed- we need to work through despair, on a personal and societal level.

This despair isn't new.

I have a Lot More Thoughts but nothing I think can really articulate very well right now

I am reminded of

Rat Park (a comic) https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/comic/rat-park/

and what I read in

Dr. Bruce Alexander's The Globalization of Addiction https://brucekalexander.com/my-books/globalization-of-addiction

and

Dr. Gabor Maté's In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts https://drgabormate.com/book/in-the-realm-of-hungry-ghosts/

Rat Park drug experiment comic – Stuart McMillen comics

Comic about a classic experiment into drug addiction science: Rat Park. Would rats take drugs if given a stimulating environment and company?

Show thread🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢Oct 9, 2023

Not my most organized thoughts, but, related those links:

Addiction is a flawed coping mechanism after trauma; although the nature of the substance will affect the impact of the addiction on the one addicted, it's not the substance causing the addition- it's the trauma

(and trauma is the RESPONSE to the wound; trauma is the injury)

and people are so very traumatized by living in systems based on subjugation and environmental destruction

even if they don't realise it

sometimes a kind of hopeless outlook may seem like the only realistic point of view- but if we despair, what then?

we cannot fix things if we are despairing

despair is not "more mature" or "less naive"

but it can be so overwhelming

that the COVID pandemic is still ongoing nearly into the fourth year here is due to issues long existent-

disregard for other humans (social inequity) and other species and the biosphere (environmental destruction and climate catastrophe)

but

we all breathe the same air, here

and

if we don't take care of one another we suffer <3

Show thread🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢Oct 9, 2023

it's not just enough to say "it's bad"

and I mean, it IS bad

and we do have to keep saying "it's bad", because so many people keep saying "it's fine"

but ALSO adding "...and we don't have to despair"

because in absence of that second part people can fill in the blanks like

"it's bad _so there's no point caring because it won't get better_"

"it's bad _but I can't make a difference anyway so there's no point trying_"

despair doesn't fix things, though it can seem easier to give up trying, to pretend things are fine and slip into comfortable denial

we're never going back to what things were like before 2020; pretending we're back to normal doesn't solve things

and this is so much easier said then done

but keep on keepin' on

we may never meet but that does not mean we cannot care about one another

<3

Show threadGreySkiesOct 10, 2023

@pip

Agreed!

In fact, people WANT to pretend that the event of getting infected is inevitable. That way, they don't have to do anything to prevent it, and are absolved of personal responsibility. Anything else is much, MUCH too hard, or so they believe, because they've never properly been shown how to develop empathy, which i believe is a skill one can learn, if willing.

Show threadDavid PeningtonOct 10, 2023
@pip Rat Park is fascinating.
It reminds me of my father who refused opiate pain relief because he hated how it made him feel. Panadol only for him after his open heart artery bypass surgery!
Show threadDikobraz (Одинокий дикобраз)Oct 9, 2023
@pip YES. Thank you for putting this out there. So many are ready to be “done and finished” with COVID-19, and are consequently ignoring the fact that the virus continues on its evolutionary path of infecting, adapting, mutating and re-infecting. Yours is an important reminder to conscientious-minded folks to remain vigilant, and to take preventative measures against spreading the virus.
Show thread🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢Oct 9, 2023

@Dikobraz

thanks for the thanks, but I didn't write this article on medium; I just found it when doing an internet search for neil gaiman covid

Show threadBc Clarity Carlton-MartinOct 9, 2023
@Dikobraz @pip My local dept store took down their plexgiglass barriers at checkstands. I'm hearing the old* familiar coughing. Un less the hospitals overfill, this will go on for another Winter.
Show thread🟡 ⚪ 🟣 ⚫ PIP ZEROES 🟣 ⚪ 🟢Oct 9, 2023

@Clarity

I reckon the current COVID pandemic will be going on for more than another winter, at this rate...

it's so frustrating seeing precautions/mitigations further reduced as cases continue and even increase...

Show threadBc Clarity Carlton-MartinOct 9, 2023
@pip I used to almost laugh (2020) when young folks called it "Boomer Eraser" 90% of deaths are 60+ aka boomers so it was not a joke afterall. The Powers want anyone not deoendent on work to survive not survive,
Show threadJennifer Moore 😷Oct 9, 2023

@Clarity

To be fair, plexiglass barriers possibly weren't a great idea in the first place (if it's the same type as I've seen). They're designed to protect against droplet spread, not airborne viruses. I saw an article a while back, explaining that they can be counterproductive in some situations, by impeding the flow of fresh air.

@Dikobraz @pip

Show threadBc Clarity Carlton-MartinOct 9, 2023
@unchartedworlds @Dikobraz @pip I didn't order the salad bar? It came with the building.