04-06-2020, 03:03 AM
(04-05-2020, 01:24 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:(04-05-2020, 01:16 PM)Isoko Wrote: I would argue and say that this is not a climax but more the beginning of the of the end of the 4T. If I was to describe it, this is more of a Franz Ferdinand moment. The crisis that will ultimately reshape the world.
What's the equivalent of the World War, though? Once the pandemic is over, it seems to me things return to where they were just before the pandemic, rather than changing.
People are going to find that much that they did that they quit doing that they used to do with little thought will be unnecessary. People will often take the scary Voyage to the Interior and find something delightful or ominous. People may discover new talents that they can use to enrich their lives, if not find new ways of making a living.
Much that was substandard will become irrelevant and lose its economic basis. People can do little impulse shopping, and impulse shopping makes much retailing possible.
Mobility is much a part of American life except in perhaps the most self-contained community in America (I am guessing New York City, which I know from media portrayals and not from having ever been there). We are still social creatures, and this plague disrupts such activities as courtship. We will want to go back to the bars and clubs. Nature will be just as beautiful as ever.
If you wonder about reading -- it is enjoyable only if one gets to share an experience of reading.
Many of us will be obliged to confront our own demons, our inadequacies, and our worst impulses. We will be better off if we can deal with those and come out better for it.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.