She thought she had heard it all from the white, puckered lips of the Orange Leader. But this new utterance took the metaphorical cake, in one bite.
He had suggested in the daily news briefing, that the virus could be killed in humans with disinfectant, or ultraviolet light injected into the body. He then tried to walk it back later by saying he was making a satirical remark. A joke. A funny. In a country where the death toll just surpassed fifty-thousand people.
Hilarious.
When he said those insane words, his aides furiously began texting each other, trying to figure out why he was saying this, and where he got the information from. There had been in a meeting in the Oval Office where people were discussing how the virus was indeed killed on surfaces with bleach, disinfectant, and ultraviolet light. And like a star “D” student with ADHD* this man with little attention to details and with no regard for factual information, twisted the few words from this briefing on how to kill the virus on surfaces into a recommendation for how to combat the virus in humans.
It wasn’t like this was the first stupid thing that he had said in public, but most his previous ridiculous statements were also fill with hate and racism, which his followers loved. But this statement affected all people, including his followers. Even the simplest of people knew that drinking bleach or other cleaning products was probably not a good idea. An illiterate person could still register the warning symbol on a bottle of bleach. And now he was recommending this as a cure. The leader of the free world. Someone who held the same position as such great leaders as Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, was recommending that people drink poison.
The makers of disinfectants had to put out a statement telling people not to drink their product.
She supposed the next news item would be “Church Group Dies in Attempt to Prevent Coronavirus.” Would they all drink it once? Would they make a ceremony out of it like the Heaven’s Gate followers? Neatly tucked into their beds with purple blankets and black Nike Decades tennis shoes?
Maybe there would be a rally for the Orange Leader (he LOVED rallies) and they would all inject ultraviolet light into each other’s orifices.
This was really how the rise of opinions over facts, and personalities over expertise and competency, would end. The demonization of the educated had been on the rise for the past twenty years, as false news exploded with the help of social media and the ubiquity of internet connectivity. Anyone could be published now. Quick blurbs were eaten up by the masses, as small bits were easier to digest than lengthy academic discourse. The desire for money and fame surpassed anything else.
Writers and academics had written warning after warning, but were ignored, and this was the result. People fed on a steady diet of false information, fear, and a cult of personality which now was recommending that they drink disinfectant and inject their body with ultraviolet light. She thought that in the year 2020 there would be flying cars and a colony on the moon. But now, she was watching the opposite effect- a deep disrespect for science so much that the current leader was ignoring scientists and spouting insane and deadly cures to the country. And she knew people would believe it, drink it, and hopefully take themselves out of the gene pool. That was the only silver lining to this entire debacle. Maybe these de-evolved humans would believe so deeply in personality alone, that they would just end their existence, clearing the way for the rise once again, of science, empathy, and academics that would rebuild the country so that they could get to the moon, and ride in those flying cars.
It was sad that the only hope for humanity in her country was the mass suicide of a group of people who had already drunk the Kool-Aid of feelings over facts and opinions over science.
*No offense to people who are “D” students or who have ADHD. I’m sure all of them are more intelligent than the Orange Leader.
He had suggested in the daily news briefing, that the virus could be killed in humans with disinfectant, or ultraviolet light injected into the body. He then tried to walk it back later by saying he was making a satirical remark. A joke. A funny. In a country where the death toll just surpassed fifty-thousand people.
Hilarious.
When he said those insane words, his aides furiously began texting each other, trying to figure out why he was saying this, and where he got the information from. There had been in a meeting in the Oval Office where people were discussing how the virus was indeed killed on surfaces with bleach, disinfectant, and ultraviolet light. And like a star “D” student with ADHD* this man with little attention to details and with no regard for factual information, twisted the few words from this briefing on how to kill the virus on surfaces into a recommendation for how to combat the virus in humans.
It wasn’t like this was the first stupid thing that he had said in public, but most his previous ridiculous statements were also fill with hate and racism, which his followers loved. But this statement affected all people, including his followers. Even the simplest of people knew that drinking bleach or other cleaning products was probably not a good idea. An illiterate person could still register the warning symbol on a bottle of bleach. And now he was recommending this as a cure. The leader of the free world. Someone who held the same position as such great leaders as Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, was recommending that people drink poison.
The makers of disinfectants had to put out a statement telling people not to drink their product.
She supposed the next news item would be “Church Group Dies in Attempt to Prevent Coronavirus.” Would they all drink it once? Would they make a ceremony out of it like the Heaven’s Gate followers? Neatly tucked into their beds with purple blankets and black Nike Decades tennis shoes?
Maybe there would be a rally for the Orange Leader (he LOVED rallies) and they would all inject ultraviolet light into each other’s orifices.
This was really how the rise of opinions over facts, and personalities over expertise and competency, would end. The demonization of the educated had been on the rise for the past twenty years, as false news exploded with the help of social media and the ubiquity of internet connectivity. Anyone could be published now. Quick blurbs were eaten up by the masses, as small bits were easier to digest than lengthy academic discourse. The desire for money and fame surpassed anything else.
Writers and academics had written warning after warning, but were ignored, and this was the result. People fed on a steady diet of false information, fear, and a cult of personality which now was recommending that they drink disinfectant and inject their body with ultraviolet light. She thought that in the year 2020 there would be flying cars and a colony on the moon. But now, she was watching the opposite effect- a deep disrespect for science so much that the current leader was ignoring scientists and spouting insane and deadly cures to the country. And she knew people would believe it, drink it, and hopefully take themselves out of the gene pool. That was the only silver lining to this entire debacle. Maybe these de-evolved humans would believe so deeply in personality alone, that they would just end their existence, clearing the way for the rise once again, of science, empathy, and academics that would rebuild the country so that they could get to the moon, and ride in those flying cars.
It was sad that the only hope for humanity in her country was the mass suicide of a group of people who had already drunk the Kool-Aid of feelings over facts and opinions over science.
*No offense to people who are “D” students or who have ADHD. I’m sure all of them are more intelligent than the Orange Leader.
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