A few thoughts this Monday...

[PCIntern]

Those of us who were Kennedy assassination aficionados know what it’s like to be termed conspiracy theorists. Many of us were alive and aware at the time and watched the conspiracy unfold on live television. Yes I know, many of you think this is tripe and BS and that’s fine, because at this point everyone involved is dead, and we will never have complete resolution of this, but what I personally find amusing is the incredible conspiracy theory of Trump and his minions which put all of ours to shame. And yet millions of people are clinging to every word as though it’s gospel. Of course, these are the same people who believe that there’s a worldwide conspiracy involving over 100 nations faking COVID-19 to bring down Donald Trump. It’s all a giant paranoid nightmare, and there are no lines between truth and fiction any longer.

Every day since the inauguration Of this miscreant, I think about the old Twilight Zone episode with a very young Billy Mumy wherein he could wish anything to happen and it did instantly. This character is presently in the White House, and all these senators are afraid to be “wished into the cornfield”. For me, the most prescient and interesting aspect of the episode was Rod Serling’s narration as prologue, wherein he said that it was unknown as to whether that section where the farm was had been moved away from the world itself, or if the world was gone and this was the only remaining section. This guy in the White House has done as much as he can to destroy the order of the world and we are now going to have to effect repairs which may take a generation. A Horrifying turn of events.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

1. that twilight zone episode?

Could it have inspired Field of Dreams?

I know this isn't what your thoughts were focused on. But Rod Serving may have actually aided in our national anxiety and paranoia epidemic. What's the vaccine for that?

[hedda_foil]

2. A Horrifying turn of events --- and that's if we're lucky.

[Upthevibe]

3. PCIntern....

How I remember that episode of The Twilight Zone ! When Chris Matthews had his show, he actually (on more than one occasion) compared dt to Anthony, the Billy Mumy character.

And a lot of this same crowd has completely bought into QANON. Not only have the "libtards" conspired with the ENTIRE world to be faking COVID-19 to bring down their dear leader, this INSANE group of lunatics think Hillary, Dr. Fauci, Bill Gates,(who's also planning on putting "chips" in all of us via the vaccine-I'm still not clear on what the chips are about), Tom Hanks, other Democrats, and some "Hollywood Elites" are operating a world wide cabal who are trafficking thousands upon thousand of babies and children. The "hero" to bring down "the deep state" is none other than Donald Trump.

"THE DARK AGES were rife with plague, fanaticism, and accusations that Jews secretly fed off the blood of children. In 2020, we too are beset with plague, rampant medical misinformation, and a persistent rumor that “global elites” torture children to harvest the chemical adrenochrome from their blood, which they then inject in order to stay healthy and young." (Wired, 7/21/20, Brian Friedbarg).

I've completely cut off communication with was used to be a very close friend because she's absolutely brainwashed. It's terrifying that people REALLY believe this...

[2naSalit]

4. Silver lining...

I have stated this several times since mid March, and discussed it with a few academic friends and they agree with my idea.

This pandemic and all the other issues we are enduring currently can lead to great opportunity that would have taken much longer to act decisively upon had we not been faced with these problems.

A famous Anthropologist, Stephen Jay Gould, worked out a theory involving genetic evolution which I think can be applied in a human culture environment. His theory of Punctuated Equilibrium*, a concept to describe genetic evolutionary splits, is something I see taking place throughout humankind since the beginning of this pandemic. We, all humans, are faced with this one common threat and we are being forced to deal with it simultaneously. This threat forces us to re-evaluate our lifestyles, health, manner of communication, everything in our daily lives is affected in some way.

I see a rearrangement of cultural norms and practices in the present. It's a punctuated equilibrium event that will end up being a shift in psychological, philosophical and cultural norms to a great degree by the time we get to the other side of this pandemic.

The opportunity is that we can make numerous changes in how we go forward from this and appropriate planning now can facilitate a rapid shift in the right direction to ensure our survival as time goes on. This isn't the first biological threat of this sort that we will see as we keep increasing our population as a species, there will be more so we have to prepare for that including addressing uncomfortable topics, like population numbers.



*Punctuated equilibrium theory, basically, claims that evolution didn't happen at a gradual pace throughout time but in many cases was foisted upon those affected by major events upsetting the norm and hastening distinct changes due to necessity for survival. I realize that is a simple explanation but for my argument it will do, and I know his theory was about genetic evolution but I see a similar set if events taking place on the human cultural level and it's the best description I can find for the time being.