We Have a Pandemic

But it's not coronavirus. It's much more sinister than that and it won't be cured without a lot of work by everyone. It's a lack of critical thinking skills. This fact slapped me in the face when I watched this clip of MSNBC's Brian Williams and the New York Times' Mara Gray fall horribly on national television for what was apparently a prank Twitter tweet that asserts that Mike Bloomberg could have given every one of the 327 million citizens in the United States $1 MILLION for what he spent on his failed presidential bid. In their rainbow-hued universe, the $500 million that Bloomberg reportedly spent divided by the 327 million citizens somehow works out to over $1 million per person! Please, take the time to watch Brian Williams tell people to follow us on the math here.

Their reaction demonstrates the trap that awaits all of us if we take tweets, memes, sound bites and the other snippets of what passes for news at face value. We're seeing it with the shelves at Costco and Sam's Club barren of toilet paper and bottled water. How is coronavirus going to impact the water supply? If you're quarantined, you can still turn on the tap. Hand sanitizer is another issue. Using hand sanitizer works only if the other person uses it too. If a few people monopolize the supply, it's going to do no one any good.

The stock markets are down on coronavirus news. It doesn't seem to matter what the bad news is, from Y2K to Zika virus to coronavirus, people think the end of the world is around the corner and panic. The market goes down because people expect it to go down, so they sell. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

We're in an election year. The presidency, the full House, one-third of the Senate, a number of governorships and state legislative positions are open. Dig deeper than tweets and memes when you make your decision. Actually think about things. Become a critical thinker.