The Great Coronavirus War Is Upon Us
Townhall,
by
Victor Davis Hanson
Original Article
Posted By: abuela10,
3/12/2020 7:43:54 AM
Try this thought experiment. Envision the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, as a living, breathing enemy -- which, of course, is exactly what it is.
But imagine for a moment that we are in real war with a cognizant, thinking and clever enemy whose sole reason to live is to hurt, maim or kill as many of us as it can.
COVID-19 may not have jets, tanks or nukes, like our past enemies. But its arsenal, numbers, cunning and willpower are said to be formidable.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
ARKfamily 3/12/2020 7:52:19 AM (No. 343797)
I listened to Donald Trump addressing the nation and he was reassuring.
13 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
lakerman1 3/12/2020 8:41:20 AM (No. 343852)
there have been changes in our culture over the past decade or two, that laid a predicate for the pandemic.
social distance, an awkward term, shrank.
People who were strangers started hugging other strangers. purel replaced handwashing for too many people. celebrities led the way in the hugging and kissing. Physicians and dentists began shaking hands with their patients - a particularly stupid idea. (I admonish my physicians and refuse their handshakes.) congregations got caught up in the handshaking stuff, along with hugging. Priests and pastors allowed congregants to drink from the same chalice.
there was an excellent episode of Big Bang Theory about a decade ago. Leonard had two tickets for a trip to the super-collider in Switzerland, planned to take Penny, which angered Sheldon. But Penny became ill with a stomach virus, so sheldon was to replace her on the trip. But Penny gave the virus to Sheldon when sheldon, a germaphobe, allowed Penny to hug him.
If you traveled by air, you were packed in, unable to stay away from other passengers.
common sense disappeared.
And just one more thing - some employers came up with 'no-fault' attendance policies to control absenteeism. that created situations where a sick employee might have to come to work to avoid being terminated. (I won't go into the details but federal laws played a part in such policies.
7 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
DoneinCalif 3/12/2020 8:44:00 AM (No. 343854)
Kung Flu!!!
2 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
oldmagnolia 3/12/2020 9:22:01 AM (No. 343904)
Exactly #1. Do you imagine this with the hildebeast or demented Biden in charge?
5 people like this.
A bit overwrought...
6 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
HotRod 3/12/2020 10:25:25 AM (No. 343998)
Well, we can't live in a sterile bubble all our lives. Human interaction is a fact of life. New diseases will randomly appear. All we can do is take preventive measures until treatments or cures are developed, or until we develop immunity.
There has been the theory that many people have ailments because cultural changes made them more susceptible. Children of past times played outdoors, in the dirt, among fauna and flora, and among other children. Now, many children don't have that advantage. They are raised with less outdoor activity, favoring indoor activities instead. Television, electronic games and computers have changed recreation for many children. They have less opportunity to develop a robust immunity system.
YMMV
2 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
DVC 3/12/2020 12:05:24 PM (No. 344113)
Good look at the situation, but no virus is "living and breathing". They are not alive, do not need sustenance, do not excrete, do not use oxygen, they are not alive. But he is right, if we isolate for a few weeks, the transmission chain is broken and the virus fails to spread, and then burns out in the already infected individuals. That ends it.
A virus often mistaken for a living thing, but it is "just" a set of genetic blueprints on how to make a duplicate virus, with an installation system wrapped around it. If it touches an appropriate cell, the installation system injects the blueprints into a LIVING cell, and the living cell's reproductive 'machinery' is hijacked to make copies of the original blueprints and injection system. The 'blueprint' is RNA, genetic instructions to make copies of the virus.
A virus cannot replicate itself any more than a paper blueprint can replicate itself - you need a builder, with tools and raw materials to build from the blueprint. And a virus is no more alive than a set of paper blueprints.
0 people like this.
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