Post 42: #Coronavirus and a global perspective.

We’re sharing our experiences, thoughts, and uncensored opinions during lockdown, quarantine, and self-isolation. For some of us, it’s DAY 42. 

Today: free-form writing.

Why I’ve Come to Despise the Hypocrites Who Call Themselves the Press

Charlotte, Metro Washington, DC

As I sit here in a Gimme Cap about to hop on a Zoom call, I feel my fury toward the #press growing exponentially. Why am I “attending” a Zoom call in a Gimme Cap? Because my roots, after a month of hair salons being closed, make me look like a skunk, and I’m now starting to look like “Geezer Godiva” my hair’s so long.

Why is this setting off fury in me about the press? Because I listened to it for about a few nanoseconds a day and hear a prominent female anchor criticizing a state for opening, among other things, hair salons. She says, “Why are they opening hair salons? They are hardly essential?”

REALLY, PRESS B*TCH!!!!! You old geezer. You’re telling me no hairstylist and colorist hasn’t touched your locks in the last four weeks. You’ve got no roots showing. Your hair hasn’t grown so much as an in the last month. And no one’s styling your perfectly styled and sprayed down hair every day before you do on the air? What is YOUR secret? And besides, why is it so essential for you to look good on camera, and not important for me to look good on camera when I’m on Zoom everyday trying to make a living.

And don’t get me started on all your female and male colleagues who look equally well-styled above the neck every day on the air.

You in the broadcast press are busy lecturing us schlubs at home to stay at home for the health of nation, but you flannel-mouths are using bootleg hair folks to keep you looking good? I don’t think it’s essential for you to look “good” on camera. I think it’s essential that you truthfully report the news AND walk the talk you preach to us.

But I’ve learned not to expect much from members of the press and professional yammers broadcast from their fancy kitchens and dwelling digs while “chatting their opinions” and lecturings to us common folks. Is this where your bootleg hairstylists come to do your hair? Or do you go to them?

I’m going to close with a rambling about one doctor who’s clearly “auditioning” to be the next Sanjay Gupta. The newly shorn male anchor welcomes her to the show, and there she sits in warm lighting highlighting her magnificent head of just-styled hair. Behind her you see her fireplace ablaze and a wall festooned in truly gorgeous masks from Africa. And outside the sliding glass door near her, you see the palm trees of Los Angeles.

If the press is going to talk out of both sides of its mouth about getting your hair done, what else are they double-talking us about?

Let them drink Lysol

RafifJ, #Malaga, #Spain

Hey, Trump supporters! Your leader has offered a possible cure for the Coronavirus. Will you follow his medical advice? Have you started drinking Lysol? Taking those Clorox tablets yet?

Get yours while supplies last!

You want to liberate yourselves? You think it’s un-American to be under lockdown during a pandemic? If you think you should end social distancing because your freedoms have been curtailed, TRY THE CURE!

If you believe your First or Second Amendment rights have been violated, TRY THE CURE.

Help your country thin the herd. My family is not expendable to me, but you are. So get out there and socialize with like-minded folks! Sarcasm aside. Think of what you could accomplish: you could free up jobs; they’ll be back eventually. You could liberate hospital beds. You could save the country lots of stimulus money – maybe I’d finally even get my check.

But best of all: you can make America great again if you TRY THE CURE.

I know you’ve all seen the picture on social media. I have no idea who created it, but thought I’d share it here anyway. Definitely no copyright infringement intended, and I hope whoever designed this gets an award.

Leadership, Wherefore Art Thou?

Tina F., Fairfax, #Virginia

I, for one, am outraged and appalled – not only because the president is using the forum of the White House daily briefing to spout harmful theories. But also because no one is able to stand up to him and silence his BS.

Sarcasm or not, the president is wasting the time of reporters, his health committee, and the general public by using the podium to invent cures and ranting insane and dangerous ideas.

We need leadership! This is no longer just a coronavirus issue. People’s anxieties in the United States have shifted from the coronavirus pandemic to the lack of real viable information. Governors are handing out conflicting messages. The president is making “sarcastic” remarks. It seems our future varies, depending on which leader we choose to follow.

  • Retrieved from Stockhead.com. No copyright infringement intended.

The positive side of #Coronoia

RJD, #Beirut, #Lebanon

I tried all day to see the positive side of the lockdowns and being stuck at home. I spoke to a few people to see how they are feeling. Here in #Beirut, the news has been very depressing this week and most of the friends I spoke to are feeling the weight of the political and financial uncertainty. Our nationwide mental well-being is on the verge of a major psychotic breakdown!

Then, it dawned on me that we need to turn our negatives into positives. When we listen to the news, all we hear about is how bad things are. We forget, in that moment, to look at the positive outcomes.

For one, when we look at #Corona numbers, we always read how many cases and how many deaths. Today, I looked up how many recovered cases there are. Worldwide, the recovered cases are over 812,000, that’s a 28% recovery rate. In small #Lebanon, with its population of 6 million (of which almost 1/3 are refugees), we only have 704 cases of #COVID-19. Of those, we have 143 recoveries; 20%! For a country that’s financially bankrupt, economically devastated with barely any public funds spent on health care in centuries, that’s a major positive.

Then, when I look at how people are working together, helping the needy, neighbors helping neighbors, I find positivity. Humanity. We are also having conversations about the new normals and not going back to hurt our environment like we used to. That’s another positive.

Are we going to be poorer than we were, worldwide? Yes, we are. Same happened in 2008 and we all recovered. Some more than others. I am sure that many businesses are going to shutter, but many new concepts, ideas, and ventures are going to fill the void and change things around. Survival of the fittest. And as Lebanese, we are endowed with the creativity to make things happen. That’s yet another positive.

And when the world re-opens and we resume the normalcy we were used to, maybe one of the positives will be less greed, fewer wants and needs, and more compassion. What we need right now is a light to begin to acknowledge that we will leave the tunnel. Watching the news, reading the articles, and staying glued to social media is not going to change what is happening. Being aware, having faith, and embracing the changes that will happen is what we should focus on.

Dealing with fragile feelings in a place like Lebanon today seems impossible. But what I know is that we, as humans, throughout history, turned the tide. And this worldwide standstill was very much needed in order for us to assess, accept, realign, and persevere.

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We often use photos we find on the Internet. No copyright infringement intended.

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