Tag: coronavirus

Fear Itself

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Not often do I quote FDR. Strictly speaking, his statement was false then — at the beginning of the decade-plus-long Great Depression that led to WWII.

And it is false now.

There is plenty more to fear than merely fear itself.

But it does point up the importance of not allowing fear to drive our decisions — as individuals, in families, as well as for governments and civil society.

We are facing a worldwide pandemic, something not seen in over 100 years, which we can only hope is not more global or deadly than the so-called Spanish Flu in 1918. This is largely uncharted territory.

Therefore, even when public officials make what turn out to be poor decisions, I plan to be as understanding as possible. This is not aimed at any specific public official or specific accompanying criticism. Instead, let it be a broad policy — though, of course, we must hold corrupt or criminally negligent decisions accountable.

It’s a great time to give each other a break from politics and to foster a spirit of love and connectedness to our neighbors — even [gulp] politicians — replacing the natural fear that will otherwise occupy our thoughts and actions.

During this crisis, I hope that officials at all levels will summon ‘We, the People’ to do what we can as volunteers, whether working sequestered in our homes or in roles outside the home. We are an enormous strength.

And please, oh leaders, fill the information vacuum with daily accurate information — keep Anthony Fauci close to a microphone. And help them, journalists.

Let’s rise to the occasion by getting tough and staying united.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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general freedom

Freedom’s Front Lines

coronavirus, Covid, China, police, protest,

Last weekend, riot police broke up a candlelight vigil for Chow Tsz-lok, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology student, who died back in November. He had fallen a story from a parking garage as Hong Kong police were “clearing a group of anti-government protesters.”

“Police said they seized petrol bombs, bricks and other protest items from the car park where the memorial was held,” reports the South China Morning Post. “Officers then stopped rally-goers from leaving and checked their identity cards and bags, arresting more than 40 people for unlawful assembly.”

If the police can be believed.

They can’t.

As Tom Grundy, editor-in-chief of Hong Kong Free Press, puts it: “[P]eople just don’t trust the Government.”

While people were violently arrested, it wasn’t for violence or weapons. It was for daring to use what we call “freedom of assembly.”

Now with the spread of the COVID-19 virus, protesters have been reluctant to call for mass gatherings. Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based regional director of Amnesty International, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, “The authorities may be counting on the coronavirus epidemic to extinguish the unrest.”*

On Friday, authorities used the lull to charge three prominent pro-democracy leaders — Jimmy Lai, owner of media highly critical of China; Yeung Sum, the former Democratic Party chairman; and the Labour Party vice-chairman, Lee Cheuk-yan — for taking part in a protest march last year.

They join more than 7,000 demonstrators arrested since the protest movement began last June.

Young people — and some not-so-young — are risking their very lives for freedom, for the right to choose their leaders . . . knowing that without such basic mechanisms, they have no defense against the Butchers of Beijing.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* Amnesty International has called for an “independent investigation into police violence.”

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responsibility

Don’t Panic, Prepare

The other day, on Neil Cavuto’s Fox News show, Democrat Tulsi Gabbard — my favorite of the “blue” party’s blues-inducing candidates — suggested, inartfully, that the coronavirus is “something that requires all of us as Americans coming together, standing together . . . just as we would in wartime.”

The best way to fight contagion is to “come together”?

Maybe not so much.

What should we do? I mean, separately.

Although there’s a flood of information about the scary new coronavirus (COVID-19), that information is fragmentary.

Reliable tests for the virus are not easily available. It’s unclear how many people are really infected. But the fatality rate is apparently much higher than that of regular flu. The elderly and those with other medical problems are especially vulnerable.

The virus is spreading fast despite (and because of) efforts to contain it. Cases have now been reported in 45 countries.

COVID-19 may not yet be where you are or where I am. But what should we do now to be ready if and when things around us change drastically?

One, stay informed.

Two, follow advice about reducing the risk of infection, including such simple measures as carefully and frequently washing your hands.

Three, stock up — on food, water, medicines, other emergency supplies — in case you must hunker down at home for a long time. When panic strikes, grocery shelves can empty out fast. You may not want to go where many people are congregating anyway.

Some vendors specialize in providing bulk supplies of food at a discount: Wellness Meats, Bargain Wholesale, markets in your neighborhood. There’s also Walmart and Amazon, offering a wide variety of staples. You can trade advice and information at sites like emergency-preps.com.

Such preparation won’t be wasted. If we’re lucky and the coronavirus threat fades as flu season wanes, we’ll be ready for some other emergency that comes along.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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general freedom

Catching Something

Our civilization depends on our ability to move about and trade.

Which is based, in part, on trust and reciprocity and mind-your-own-business. The basic ‘deal’ is ‘I won’t hurt you if you don’t hurt me.’

But it’s not just manners and morality. When we fear that being around others, especially strangers, could lead to catching a severe or even life-threatening illness, the normal business of commerce breaks down.

Which becomes clear, now that a new disease in China threatens to break out worldwide.

Called the ‘2019 Novel Coronavirus,’ the illness has become widespread there, leading the government to quarantine the city of Wuhan, said to be the epicenter of the contagion.

“The lockdown follows fears that the respiratory disease could become a global epidemic,” writes Isabel van Brugen in The Epoch Times, “and as the United States this week became the fifth country outside of China — and the first outside Asia — to confirm a case of infection.”

“The closures,” said the municipal government, “will continue until further announcement.”

Pestilence and war are the two major reasons for this kind of collapse in normal commerce. But contagion may be less controllable even than war, so learning the lesson Wuhan’s inhabitants are now learning is something we can eagerly import from China right now.*

The lesson?

Have food on hand, in case a pandemic bars you from going to market for days or weeks on end.

Wuhan folk are scrambling for supplies now.

Take it as a cue to shop for staples: stock up on bottled water, beans, sterno cans, and, say — with a tip of the hat to the beset Chinese — rice.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

* Since my first draft, two more cities have been closed to travel, and six countries outside of China have experienced cases of infection. And questions have been raised about how transparent totalitarian China will be.

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