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The Virus is a Time Machine
The Virus is a Time Machine
Around mid-January I started including coronavirus news in the daily Automatic Earth “Debt Rattle” news aggregators, and wrote the first essay on the topic on January 29. Tons of people since have asked why, but I thought the virus had “potential”. Though not everybody would agree, I still think that. So the Debt Rattles are full of coronavirus these days.
For a proper understanding, we must remember that China was 4-5 weeks too late in reporting the disease, and after that the west was 4-5 weeks late in acting on the news. This happens simply because a politician who cries wolf will have a short career, and reporters, certainly today, follow that same model.
I explained 5 weeks ago why this happens the way it does in China in The Party and the Virus, but western countries’ political and media systems are structured very much the same way. Being early to warn does not help your job prospects. Unless you’re 100% sure, but then you won’t be alone and there’s nothing left to warn about. So might as well stay mum.
Until you must speak, and then you’re way behind, and you’ll be as wrong as you are late. Cast in stone. Bias “R” Us. But then, that’s why there’s the Automatic Earth. The Matrix is never perfectly sealed.
In the case of COVID19, the story is not about the numbers of cases or fatalities at any given point after two months and change, it’s about the disruption it will cause. We have a highly contagious virus that can cause death. That is all you need to know really. Feel free to claim that reactions and measures are over the hill, but no government has the option to say things are not all that bad and it’s business as usual.
Over 100 Dead Amid Violence, Looting As Brazil Police Strike Sparks Chaos, Anarchy
Over 100 Dead Amid Violence, Looting As Brazil Police Strike Sparks Chaos, Anarchy
Police officers patrol the perimeter at the scene of a fatal shooting in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo, Brazil
In a scene out of a MadMax prequel, the Brazilian army mobilized airborne troops and armored vehicles on Thursday to reinforce the roughly 1,200 soldiers and federal police trying to contain the chaos in the coastal state north of Rio de Janeiro. Most of the violence was centered in the state capital Vitoria, a wealthy port city ringed by golden beaches and filled with mining and petroleum companies.
With the country’s economy continuing to crater as a result of record unemployment, soaring inflation, leading to a record high murder rate in the tourism capital Rio, police in Espirito Santo are demanding a pay rise amid an economic downturn that has hammered public finances in Brazil, with many states struggling to ensure even basic health, education and security services.
Police officers patrol the perimeter at the scene of a fatal shooting in Vila Velha, Espirito Santo
As a Reuters report recounts, soldiers patrolled abandoned streets in downtown Vitoria, stopping and frisking the occasional pedestrian against shuttered store fronts. State officials said they needed hundreds more federal troops and members of an elite federal police force to help establish order and make up for the absence of some 1,800 state police who normally patrol Vitoria’s metropolitan area.
Policemen carry a body at the Institute of Forensic Science in Vitoria, Espirito Santo
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
