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We and the pandemic

2020-03-24T20:42:28.351Z


The Covid-19 is no joke. What is tragicomic, as always, is human nature


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  • Pandemic, conspiracy and smile
  • The eternal "dark forces"
  • Nostradamus in slippers

We have been quarantined. Our social, labor and even family movements are restricted or about to be. Following hygiene and insulation precautions is essential. The Covid-19, of course, is not a joke. What is tragicomic, as always, is human nature. A pandemic, a war or any catastrophe puts us to the test, as moral voyeurs of the type of La Bruyere or La Rochefoucauld (and, after them, Freud, Jung, Lacan and company) knew, and serves to reveal who we are. A server is neither a moralist nor a psychologist, but an amateur observer. For this reason, I dare to sketch a few notes on the most pronounced characters that I have perceived in the face of the coronavirus advance, through those means and those public and private networks that, for now, are our periscope to the world:

The “Nostradamus”: one who ventures overwhelming prophecies and searches every journalistic dispatch or gossip online for the mark of the Apocalypse. “Oops, deaths are nothing; wait for the crisis that will come later, "he says. Or also: "If there in China, that the government gives an order and everyone obeys, even the parakeet died, well imagine here."

The “Hold hands”: someone whose character becomes religious (or at least mystical) because of anxiety and who tries to exorcise it by sharing all kinds of brotherly thoughts: “Let's see if we now understand that we are brothers and we have to help each other " Or: "This is a notice 'from above' so that we stop things and respect each other."

The "Come that meteorite": symmetrical opposite of the previous one, is the one who takes advantage of these moments to confess that he hates us as a species and longs for the moment of our extinction (there is a variant that, to alleviate the frigidity of misanthropy, excuses himself by saying: "Hopefully we all disappear, but so that the poor animals recover").

The "Flaming Finger": one that never remembers the thousands and thousands who die every day from hunger, violence or various diseases in the world, but does so now only to give himself the pleasure of telling us that the deaths due to the coronavirus do not they are important and we should focus on others.

The "Well Informed": one who transmits, with a professorship air, all kinds of distorted or openly false data. "For months the gringos have had medicines and vaccines ready and they are waiting for the worst to release them and be the heroes." Or: "It is a plot by the Chinese to stay with the thousands of companies that are going to fail." Or why not: "This is a genetically engineered virus launched by the gringos on the Chinese [or the Chinese on the gringos] by the trade war they bring." Or even: "The virus does not exist, it is a flu and can be cured with buckets of onion water and a bite of garlic." It is very important to remember that, although he speaks as if he were sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office, whoever holds these things does so from the living room of his house and his sources are obscure: “A very connected person”, “A friend who he knows about it ”,“ A relative of my comadre who walks in those things ”, etcetera.

The “Orquesta del Titanic”: the one that, even at this point, continues to share all kinds of memes and jokes about disease, death and destruction on its networks and family and friendly messaging groups.

The “Karma chameleon”: the one who gets angry with the one who shares jokes because, deep down in his soul, he thinks that this is how he lacks respect for the virus and fears that, by laughing, he will attract his anger.

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Source: elparis

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