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coronavirus

“Keep Calm and Carry On” won’t carry us through the coronavirus crisis

By David Futrelle

We like to think we can defeat almost any national trauma by remembering to “Keep Calm and Carry On,” as the popular poster declares.

It’s no accident that the poster, originally produced (if not widely deployed) in pre-war Britain in 1939 had a second and much bigger life in the US in the wake of 9/11, when we were routinely exhorted to keep going to restaurants and bars and theaters lest our social cowardice prove that “the terrorists have won.” (And there was some logic to this argument: the point of terrorism is to terrorize, so by resisting our fears and “carrying on” as normally as we could we lessened the impact of the attacks.)

But we now live in a world where this comforting fantasy no longer applies, where the health of our older and immunocompromised citizens depends on us changing our habitual behavior radically. Social Distancing is hard both practically and psychologically, especially in the US, where it challenges Americans raised on an ideology of rugged individualism to adapt a lifestyle that seems decidedly unheroic – and, for those who are young and healthy, to do it for the sake of others rather than for themselves.

So it’s not surprising that there are still people out there who still think the bravest response to the coronavirus is to refuse to change at all. Think of those who filled the bars and restaurants this past weekend – in Chicago there were long lines of St Patrick’s Day revelers outside the bars in Wrigleyville. Think of Devin Nunes, tut-tutting those too “scared” to go out and suggesting that visiting the local pub was the best thing people could do for our economy.

“I’m not afraid to go out and do what I want,” wrote a Twitterer called Lucky Tony.

In my world, it is … a necessity to go out and have a good time at my local bar and not be stuck at home cause of some ‘virus’ that scares you.

Now that bars and restaurants in many locales have been forced to close their doors to customers by decree – in part because of the terrible decisions people like Tony made over the last weekend – there are some calling for some sort of “resistance” to the closures. “It is now evident that this is an orchestrated attempt to destroy CAPITALISM,” tweeted the cowboy-hatted former sherriff and MAGA ideologue David A Clarke Jr.

First sports then schools and finally commercial businesses. Time to RISE UP and push back. Bars and restaurants should defy the order. Let people decide if they want to go out.

Or stay home and get delivery until the crisis passes. Is that really too much to bear?

Going out won’t help us defeat this enemy; it will enable the virus to do more damage. Hitting the bars isn’t an act of courage; it’s an act of selfishness that puts more vulnerable others at risk. Keeping calm is well and good, but carrying on as normal, well, that’s just what the virus wants us to do.

Send tips to dfutrelle at gmail dot com.

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Ohlmann
Ohlmann
4 years ago

@Moggie : the thing is that, the flu is already a nasty disease, and the worst epidemic ever was a flu epidemic. (and on some aspect, the spanish flu was worse than the coronavirus, like it being more dangerous to 20-60y people than to older people).

Sure, the coronavirus is a souped-up version who is a lot, and I mean a lot, nastier than the average flu. But there’s a very big problem when you can say to people “it’s just the flu”, and people don’t freak out. It’s one of the big problematic disease remaining with cancers and the HIV !

Sheila Crosby
4 years ago

Day 4 of lockdown here in Spain. We’re dealing with the exercise thing by putting on music and dancing several times a day. Obviously more space is better, but you can do that in a square yard – just. I’m writing a lot.

Moggie
Moggie
4 years ago

@Ohlmann, oh, absolutely! Flu can be a killer! But, today, most people’s perception of it, based on their own experience (and the practice of mistaking the common cold for flu), is that it isn’t a big deal. Here in the UK, the NHS doesn’t even recommend flu shots for everyone, just high risk groups.

Pie
Pie
4 years ago

@Moggie

But, today, most people’s perception of it, based on their own experience (and the practice of mistaking the common cold for flu), is that it isn’t a big deal

This sort of thinking is a real problem, and there isn’t an obvious easy way to fix it. Antivaxxers often suggest that measles isn’t a particularly big deal, for example, (Orac calls this “argumentum ad brady-bunchum, though thats a cultural reference that doesn’t speak to many people these days) and yet it kills and can have long lasting effects on the immune system that leave victims more vulnerable to other infectious diseases that can kill or cause other long term health effects, and so on.

Its like the only way people will learn is to watch their friends and family die in front of them, and that’ll only last one generation…

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Pie

Antivaxxers often suggest that measles isn’t a particularly big deal

The response I give to anti vaxxers who say this is “if measles is so unserious, I assume you wouldn’t need medical treatment for it.” That usually shuts them up for a bit.
I’ve never had measles (I’m vaccinated), but my grandmother had it as a child in the 1940s and told me that it was not pleasant.

Nicholas Kiddle
Nicholas Kiddle
4 years ago

I don’t know if I’m an introvert or an extrovert: I get very anxious in most social situations but I also don’t function well if I’m left alone for too long. About four months ago I realised that loneliness was making my mental health worse and took steps to get out more by volunteering at a charity shop. It’s still open, but I decided I can’t justify going in and spreading my germs to a bus full of people so I’ve let them know that I won’t be coming in until this is over. Now I feel like I’m back to square one.

I think we all, even the really introverted people, have routines that rely on being able to go out and have human contact, and maybe we didn’t realise how important those routines were until we’re suddenly having to dismantle them. And then there’s all the anxiety about money and bills and food and it’s not surprising many of us are finding it very hard. It’s just some people understand it’s necessary to prevent people from dying horribly and some people stamp their feet and insist it’s a democratic conspiracy.

Ohlmann
Ohlmann
4 years ago

> I also don’t function well if I’m left alone for too long
To different degree, that’s common to all human, introvert like extroverts. Humans are genetically social creatures, even more so than the average mammal or bird, who themselves tend to be quite social.

And yes, people confuse the flu and the common cold, and don’t imagine how bad it can get. That’s pretty sad 🙁

Katamount
Katamount
4 years ago

More power to the introverts! Whoot!

*sigh* And I’m the one who has to come in to the office. Ah well, gives me some additional podcast time.

Moggie
Moggie
4 years ago

@Naglfar:

I’ve never had measles (I’m vaccinated), but my grandmother had it as a child in the 1940s and told me that it was not pleasant.

I had it as a kid. I have very little memory of what it was like for me, but I still remember my parents’ fear. Anti-vaxxers make me very angry.

Moggie
Moggie
4 years ago

Not every business is suffering:

Just read a press release claiming that Covid-19 has seen sex toy sales shoot up by 135% in Canada and 71% in Italy. The UK, meanwhile, lags behind with just a 13% increase. Make of that what you will.

Think of that next time you’re in a Zoom meeting with colleagues “working” from home.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Moggie

Anti-vaxxers make me very angry.

Same here. Especially seeing as they have mostly assimilated into the alt-right and share in a lot of the antisemitic conspiracy-mongering in addition to their anti-autistic bigotry and wanting children to die.

Re: sex toy sales
The other day I was on the phone with a friend and we were joking about how in 9-10 months there will be an uptick in births because of people quarantining with significant others. Makes sense that there would be an uptick in sex toy sales as well, there’s not much to do when you’re quarantined.

Weird (and tired of trumplings) Eddie
Weird (and tired of trumplings) Eddie
4 years ago

All:

For those who can suffer reading material written by Scott-Adams-before-the-fall, there’s an ancient Dilbert thread where Dilbert works from home…

“… Day Three: all forms of hygiene have been abandoned. My dog wears a gas mask and shouts ‘Tarzan’ phrases….”

Google it… you got time 🙂

Hope everyone stays safe

Cyborgette
Cyborgette
4 years ago

Yeah, as an autistic extrovert who grew up with rather extreme touch starvation, the social distancing thing is hitting me hard. Not being able to hug my friends fucking hurts. It beats dying (or getting someone else killed), but it hurts, and I’m glad my mental health is relatively stable right now because the next few years are going to be really fucking long.

Re sex toy sales though: I mean… good. Maybe cishet dudes can finally start breaking the stigma around seeing masturbation as a skill. Gods know they’ll now have plenty of time and incentive to do so.

Nequam
Nequam
4 years ago

Antivaxxers often suggest that measles isn’t a particularly big deal, for example,

I remember seeing a letter in a local paper from an antivaxxer who thought polio wasn’t a big deal. I spent a while wishing I could track her down and ram one of my father-in-law’s spare crutches up her ass.

Moggie
Moggie
4 years ago

@Nequam:

I remember seeing a letter in a local paper from an antivaxxer who thought polio wasn’t a big deal. I spent a while wishing I could track her down and ram one of my father-in-law’s spare crutches up her ass.

I’m old enough to remember seeing people in leg irons. And the iron lung was still a thing. Yeah, fuck that.

Ohlmann
Ohlmann
4 years ago

@Nequam : … I propose to reformulate Poe’s Law into “there is alway a point where sincere extremism is more grotesque and exagerated than parody of extremism”.

I need to go directly to fantasy disease like Andromeda’s strain or the one from The Stand to get something worse than polio. Can they really think what they say ?

Amtep
Amtep
4 years ago

I think online games will get a revenue boost too.

Can we finally replace “Millennials” as the default generation name? Introducing: the Coronaboomers.

Fabe
Fabe
4 years ago

Re:Sex toy sales

I can see a uptick in camgirl site use as well even if people just want someone to talk to.

Viscaria
Viscaria
4 years ago

@WMDKitty, I don’t think you’re weird at all. I’m glad to hear that you’re having a better time with the isolation than most, just as I feel for everyone who is struggling with it.

Myself, I’m fairly introverted, and if left to my own devices I am inclined to just stay at home in pyjamas for days on end. Unfortunately, I get very depressed if I don’t leave the house every once in a while. That was a great thing about my work: I was forced to put on real clothes 2-4 times a week and be with people, and then the rest of the time was purposeful alone time in my home office.

Since I can’t work, I have been trying to temporarily do the stay-at-home partner thing, a difficult and underappreciated job that I am not at all suited for. So far it has featured bouts of crying and days like today when I set my alarm for 7 am and have yet to get out of bed at 9. I did find some checklists from the folks at Martha Stewart suggesting what you should clean on daily, weekly, and monthly bases, which I’ve been trying to use to create some sort of structure for my ADD brain.

Moon Custafer
Moon Custafer
4 years ago

@ Fabe:

I’ve heard at least one claim there’s been an uptick in dating app registrations, probably for that very reason.

Naglfar
Naglfar
4 years ago

@Moggie

And the iron lung was still a thing.

Apparently there are still a few iron lungs in use for people who can’t use other types of respiratory devices. I can’t imagine the people who use them are all too happy about the anti vaxxers.

@Amtep
IIRC the millennial generation ended in the mid 90s, so I could foresee Coronaboomers being a name for people born shortly after the virus if there is an increase in births like I predicted.

@Cyborgette
*sends hugs*

Fishy Goat
Fishy Goat
4 years ago

@Moggie @Nequam

My aunt had a shortened leg due to polio and has to wear special shoes. So, yeah, fuck that , indeed.

Nicholas Kiddle
Nicholas Kiddle
4 years ago

Amtep: surely the coronaboom will be the generation about to be born?

Genjones
Genjones
4 years ago

I’m nervous because I have immune issues and have always been susceptible to upper respiratory infection, and I have to go to work in a densely crowded space. I work at a grocery store managing a frozen/dairy department, and this past week has been intense. We also get detailed market reports, and things are not looking so good. Because trucks have so many stops along their routes, we’re rationing shipping space now.

We’ve also had several poor harvests over the past two due to drought, frost and floods, and these economic disruptions are projected to cause delays several months out. There aren’t actually huge stores sitting in warehouses, supply has always been pretty shallow to cover predictable rhythms of demand.

I’m talking with my neighbors on NextDoor about using available space to start up vegetable gardens in the meantime

Weird (and tired of trumplings) Eddie
Weird (and tired of trumplings) Eddie
4 years ago

re: anitvaxxers….

They HAVE to contend that epidemic disease is “not so bad,” because the incidence of complications from vaccinations really IS very low.

One that I was vaccinated against, smallpox, was wickedly endemic in Asia for millennia. It’s been wiped out in the wild, the only reservoirs of it now are lab samples, mostly held by stable national leaders, trump, Putin, and Xi.

So, we’re fine.