If you’re tired of reading about the virus, then don’t read this article. I won’t be offended. Trust me, I’m absolutely fucking sick of hearing about it, too, and really don’t want to contribute to an air of panic.
Let me be clear here, by my understanding of the issue, and yes, I am not as well-informed as some—so please take that into consideration—this is not a deadly disease for most people. It is dangerous to people who any disease would be dangerous to, and the media is blowing it out of proportion on a scale that’s kind of nauseating.
I’ve never seen panic-inducement like this before. American media is always a barrage of negativity nowadays, but this is painting a problem as an apocalypse.
But you want to know what’s really causing issues? Like, will cause lasting damage I’m going to end up telling my kids about? The rapid shutting down of companies and events, the closing of every public place, and the isolating of everyone to where they are right now. The economic damage it’s causing is staggering to speculate. A ton of small businesses might just flat be killed by this.
And then there’s the toilet paper thing. A panic cascade that’s hilarious if not for how harshly it’s happening.
Because, if I understand this correctly, a relatively few people started going into prepper mode. They started buying survival products, especially toilet paper. An item that doesn’t even help much if someone catches the virus, mind you.
And that’s not notable, except it had a knock-on effect. Again, this is my stepped-back look at it, and maybe I’m missing something, but it seems like right when people realized that toilet paper might get scarce, they started also buying it. Making sure that they and their families didn’t run out from the first wave of shopping.
And that second wave is scary. For people not seeing it where they live, shelves are bare. Common online stores are literally out of toilet paper from all the major brands.
My household happened to have a decent stock, but that was an accident—and now we only have what we have until this blows over and ends.
And who the fuck knows when people are going to stop panicking? Who knows when the world will get over this madness, and return to some semblance of calm?
Our current system of commerce, of living, of society, is apparently unprepared for panic like this. And that bothers me way more than any virus.
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Special thanks to: Melissa Potter
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