Year 2020: Coronavirus Breaks the World
Channeling all the bleak and dystopian science fiction films like the Planet of the Apes, I am Legend, 28 Days Later, Children of Men, World War Z and many more of those, I can say that the Covid-19 has brought those on screen horrors to the reality and we are amidst a virulent pandemic which much like those aforementioned films, is going to fundamentally change the human civilization once it passes over, if it passes over.
Comparisons to the fiction aside, the so called novel-Coronavirus, the latest avatar of the whole family of viruses which have claimed human lives over the last few decades, has proved to be this stubborn, highly adaptable, sneaky contagion which has caught us all off-guard. Well, probably not some. There are evidences that China was prepared for it. Ergo, it has fully and miraculously recovered and is back at its commercial activities while the rest of the world remains in a lockdown. If there is even an ounce of truth in the conspiracy theory that China did it to bring down the western civilization and to become a Super Power, then congratulations to China. You did it! There will be retribution and China knows it and probably have been preparing for it for years. Such a terrible act for mere power and dominance. Shame.
This post however, is not to rant about the alleged involvement of China in attempted killing of half the world population. Makers of the Thanos memes, Class Action Attorneys and Democratic Media are there to pursue the matter. Also if people of China still won’t stand up to their oppressive Communist regime then there is anyway little hope for people. People should at best die in peace then. There are many here who are still enamored by how great China is. Lord save their souls.
Talking about “lord” saving us, we can reasonably deduce that there is a higher power. He or She or It or They is/are keeping an eye on us. Yes you too my friend who’s leaping over Ganesha statuettes and pretending that the floor is lava. It your karma that you are going to answer for and no Allah, no Mary, Jesus are going to save you. This post however, is not ranting about the conflict of faiths either which by the way has started to become more obvious in the face of "apocalypse". For that there are enough internet trolls, religious debaters, pseudo intellectuals and Vatican assassins out there. They can duke it out. If not then there are always politicians and blame gamers to take it to the next level. I’m just amused by the Secular nature of Coronavirus. Yeah its got no chill.
There is a solemness about the transformation of those perfectly groomed and neatly dressed prime time talk show hosts into these stay-home dads. The Stephen Colberts and Jimmy Kimmels of the world are now capturing the spirit of self isolation and are telling their audiences how to “Social Distance”. As if they needed that advice. Most of their audiences never socialised much anywway. The funny part is that its hard for them to find the material for jokes as criticising the Government has suddenly become a thing of poor taste. I’m sure they will find a way to segue into that segment. But that’s all just entertainment and no one takes them seriously. John Oliver’s career might be over for now. Its a shame, he did a lot to spread awareness. Only that he never had the guts to talk about China’s involvement and ranted about everything else.
The role of liberal media has been most questionable in these times of crisis. The NDTVs and TOIs of India have been showing pictures of poor people not getting access to food and posting photo galleries of daily wage labours walking towards their villages. There is something visually appealing in images of exoduses. Human civilization is punctuated by great exoduses and media was just mesmerised with this so much so that they forgot to tell those labours and poor people to calm down and report the administration to provide them food and shelter. It didn’t occur to them to make the people aware that there are ample arrangements made by district administrations to distribute food and the Government has banned the landlords from evicting their tenants and asking them for rent during the lock down period. Yet, “As always the poor suffer the worst fate” declared the media sanctimoniously and shamefully left the poor at their own devices. Applause! Applause! I’m no different. I’m also writing away, harbouring just general contempt for all you assholes out there while doing nothing real. But I’m not a hypocrite.
Ummm… This post is not about the above things. Then what did I want to say? Well, just that, this terrible affliction is going to leave us changed forever. Nothing will be the same. Through China or not, the nature had its revenge. Now we are in a limbo. We are free falling and we don’t have the slightest idea where its going to end. Water, electricity and internet still running so there is a semblance of normality left. We don’t know for how long…
The AIDS pandemic taught us important lessons about taking precautions. Life changed after the HIV was discovered and ended the excesses and sexual freedom of 1970s. We became cautious of even small things like changing of razor blades at a saloon. Heck, even the truck drivers started using protection. Didn’t stop the partners from cheating though. Yet, life was no longer the way it used to be before. There was a lot of misinformation and stigmatisation. It took decades before we started to accept it and started living with it. The cure for HIV however, is still elusive. Yes we can manage the disease and its symptoms better. The AIDS pandemic was in a way easier to handle unless you are a poor African country. Still it changed the world. Coronavirus on the other hand is scythe with a pretty long blade and long staff. I know its a cheap allusion to the grim reaper but you must respect the reaper, especially now.
While we think of ways of limping back to our lives in only what we can call the new normal, we should be considering the fact that the dignity of human life is greatly diminished by the way people are dying all over the world, alone, isolated and without knowing much about what hit them. Think of all the things that are going to change for a long time before we start living with Coronavirus. Eating out with friends will not be the same again. Ordering drinks from the bar would be now more adventurous than ever. Going to movies would be like a job for the suicidal and the workplace would be no place for socialising anymore. Not everyone will have the privilege to work from home but those working from home would have even less of a chance to ever see an office. We Indians of course can make light of every situation. Perhaps with a vaccine in place, we’d return to our chaotic ways but parenting would change almost certainly. The next generation is going to get lesser playtime outdoors. Tourism is going to change forever. People are going to be scared for a while before we see the intrepidity return among travelers. Event management would see the shift of events from large gatherings to more private and smaller gatherings. Maybe online events & artist management will evolve from the fringes and become mainstream. Maybe we should more seriously explore Second Life and Virtual Reality as the main bastion of future events. Maybe we can do an Indian wedding in VR with a 1000 guests signing in…. Save on the catering!
The Industry will have all the more reasons to replace human labour with automation which they have been mulling over for years anyway. Education has to become more flexible with its schedule and curriculum and will have to open up more towards home schooling and online learning.
The outlook may sound grim but it doesn’t have to be world ending. We will get back to business. We will start to build up our economy and we’ll overcome this atrocity inflicted upon us originating from the wet markets of Wuhan, China. We don’t give a damn if this was a biochemical attack or if it was a misunderstanding about natural viruses and delayed response to contain it. The West is wiped out. We are still on the brink of disaster. There is no certainty. There are only ideas as to how we will cope up once its all said and done. Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
Take Care and Stay Safe.
The post was originally published on dontcribb blog. Find the original post.