Week of March 22nd, 2020

Howdy. Sorry this is a day late.

The world's come to a stop. It's weird. Whatever. I have no comments you haven't heard already. I have been news obsessed at a detriment to my own sanity. I'm seeing folks talking about how much time they have now, but I couldn't feel more different. All my days are blending together, and I just can't stop reading COVID-19 studies like a maniac. I've been trying to get outside everyday, but with mixed success. I've put on a couple of quarantine pounds. My family has gotten stir-crazy. We're cleaning constantly, my mom has reorganized nearly every room, my dad is practicing guitar all day. My father, Ben, and I have all gotten buzz cuts, and we gave one of the dogs a haircut today since it's been so damn hot out. My brother takes on increasingly complicated hairstyles each day. Hopefully, you've found some satisfying way to keep yourself busy.

I'll try to keep this brief so that I don't suck myself into another wormhole of world news. I shared many things with you earlier this week since the threat that they posed was so immanent, but there's really nothing I can do but keep isolating and donate what money I can, so I'm trying to calm down. Plus, I think I adequately detailed my perspective last week.

I told you on Sunday about that awful medium article that kicked off the whole “hmm should we save human lives or my stock portfolio?”narrative we've seen all week. I don't have any new thoughts on that, except to say that fortunately, it hasn't had as big of an impact as I feared it might. The idiots are still saying the same shit, but, so far, they aren't really doing anything. I don't know how long that'll hold, but for now, we're okay. There has still been some really bad stuff. I'm particularly angry at Liberty University for opening up its campus and demanding students return. People will die because of that decision, and the State of Virginia ought to intervene. Very on-brand for Liberty, I guess. I want to remind you that my parents, knowing full well that I was secular, tried to convince me to attend that shithole. I think this situation has made many right-wing commentators whom I've held some respect for show their true colors. Yes, this is going to hurt the economy in an extreme way. We're going to have to recover together for years to come. Seeing 3.3 million file for unemployment in a week makes me want to cry. There will be people who, despite never getting sick, will still die due to this economic downturn.  And yes, public policy has to weigh costs and benefits that include human life. It's serious business. And I hope as much as I could possibly hope that the improved testing and production of necessary medical equipment which has been ramping up facilitate a more careful approach that allows the economy to reopen as quickly as possible. But these fucking vipers, man. All these pundits demanding the economy reopen right now to put dollars in their pockets while explicitly dismissing the tens of thousands of lives which will be lost. All these fuckers spreading scientifically-illiterate bullshit about "bell curves" and the assholes saying morally-bereft drivel about the productivity of the elderly can get the fuck out of human society right now. We need a new fucking Australia we can send these guys to where they can free-market all day until they all get sick and die. The sheer lack of empathy necessary to dismiss the lives of the immunocompromised and the elderly terrifies me. A great example is yet another medium article, this time from Bioengineer Stephen Quake. I can't link it since it's been deleted, but it got quite a bit of reach. Here's a good takedown of the piece by biologist Carl T. Bergstrom. Look, I could spend all day showing you examples of this shit, but just believe me that it's out there, because damn near have a stroke every time I see it, and I don't need that in my life right now.

Despite what these goons suggest, this is not actually a liberal (in the classical, right wing sense tips fedora) position. No, the liberal position is for the government to fulfill its role to protect the citizenry from externalities. The government's job is not to decide that some groups can be sacrificed to save the economy. It's not the government's job to save the economy at all. So these guys need to stop pretending they give a fuck about the founding principles of this country. If you're a libertarian, fine, call coronavirus a hoax like medical doctor and disaster libertarian Ron Paul. But to those who call themselves Conservatives, shut the fuck up. I'm looking at you, Dave Ramsey. In addition to this moral horror, I've seen a ton of right wing folks angry about jails releasing non-violent offenders (most of whom have not been convicted!) for their safety, preferring that inmates just fucking die like they're supposed to with justifications like “jail's not supposed to be fun.” I understand concerns about releasing criminals. Some of them are justified; some aren't. But Jesus Christ. The people who this disease is impacting are people. I think what I've seen in the last week will probably impact my politics forever. Again, sorry for the dearth of examples. (Also, it's not just the right. I'll never forget the Democrats holding up the relief bill so that they could add politically motivated BS to it, but I'm sure you've heard your fill about all that.)

Here's a hilarious video of an Airbnb dipshit ranting about being forced to shut down. To me, this man is the icon of the “but my stonks” reaction to COVID-19, and I hope his business dies in the way he apparently hopes that his tenants do.  And here's a video of Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick telling Tucker Carlson that the elderly must be sacrificed to save the economy. I think this is a really good article about the phenomenon.

President Trump tweeted the single most passive-aggressive tweet I have ever read regarding Mitt Romney. Now his fans are trying to play it off as though it wasn't sarcastic. It's indecent, but that's our President. May as well enjoy it.

That's all I got. I'll give you updates on buzz-cut related relationship drama when I have some.

Thanks,

Jacob Morris