Op-Ed Pages #4: An insidious push toward viral euthanasia?
The lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are many. Unfortunately some are about scurrilous human behavior. As much as we say “Be smart…stay apart” and “Don’t be an ass…wear a mask,” there are knuckleheads and jerks who can’t seem to follow that advice, creating danger for others as well as themselves. One young man in California stated, “It’s so good to see people out here [on the beach] breaking quarantine.” It seems partying is more important than keeping people alive for some.
The most scurrilous behavior comes from young people who think it’s okay that older people die. Another party goer might say, “You have to die of something,” but “those people in nursing homes were going to die anyway,” or “They’ve lived a long life; I need to live mine.” These pronouncements show a lack of respect for elders shown by too many Gen-Xers on down who are selfish and arrogant. These people are basically condoning viral euthanasia: Get the old-timers out of our way now! is their mantra.
What are these people thinking? Every COVID-19 death, all 100,000-plus of them as I write this, is tragic. What gives these people the right to steal a woman or man’s remaining days so they can go out and play, eat, drink, and be merry in some bar or at some other event packed with fellow party-goers? “Irresponsible actions” isn’t a fit description of this attitude. These people don’t even deserve to be called human!
It seems that working together to defeat this virus is just too much trouble for some idiots. While it’s true that the Trump administration isn’t showing much moral leadership in this regard, these knuckleheads—many of them with red MAGA hats—don’t care about nursing home patients dying, they don’t care that little kids’ hearts are stopping, and they don’t even care that persons their own age get sick and die. It’s time these people become more responsible and less stupid. Frankly, I wouldn’t care so much if the virus only killed the irresponsible people—we could eliminate some of the stupidity genes from the gene pool—but they’re probably in contact with responsible people who do their civic duty but will die as these knuckleheads spread the contagion. That’s how the virus spreads! Through knucklehead behavior. It loves ignorant and selfish people.
Sanjay Gupta, the CNN medical reporter, has summarized why COVID-19 is so bad. It’s as deadly as Ebola, which isn’t as contagious. It’s more contagious than influenza, which isn’t as deadly. It’s the perfect stealth-assassin, infecting and killing efficiently…everywhere, because no country is immune. There could be second peaks and multiple waves before an effective vaccine is produced, if that ever happens. People who don’t give a damn will only make the situation worse…for themselves and others.
People are accessories to murder when they behave irresponsibly during this pandemic. The person killed might be their father, mother, or other relatives and friends; they’re not only putting their own lives in danger. Youth is no magic shield against the virus, and dehumanizing persons’ deaths, especially when they’re old, is despicable behavior taken right out of dystopian science fiction.
Please don’t practice viral euthanasia.
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Comments are always welcome.
The creation of ITUIP. The “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy,” my celebration of and homage to Asimov’s Foundation series, tracks how the Interstellar Trade Union of Independent Planets (ITUIP…pronounced “eye-tweep”) came into existence, and a lot more. In Survivors of the Chaos, you’ll travel from a dystopian Earth dominated by multinational corporations and policed by their mercenaries, to a starship’s arrival at the distant planet New Haven in the 82 Eridani star system. In Sing a Zamba Galactica, you’ll begin with first encounter at New Haven and end with humanity saving Swarm, a strange collective intelligence. In Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand!, you’ll meet a psychotic human industrialist who wants to control all of Near-Earth space—he’s my version of Asimov’s Mule…and a lot scarier!
I’m proud of The Chaos Chronicles Trilogy Collection and its extrapolation from current to futuristic science. Here’s what Pulitzer-nominated author David W. Menefee said about the first novel: “Readers steeped in current literature will appreciate the brevity of scenes that burst in front of you with a blinding flash of startling detail and then exit as quickly as a comet streaking through the night sky…ensnares you aboard a mental roller coaster catapulting over the hills and valleys of a world gone mad…a disquieted galaxy peppered with a roster of characters that would make a casting director envious, highly detailed space scenes, and an inspiring plot that will keep you on the edge of your seat.”
Many centuries of the galaxy’s future history await you in this ebook bundle of all three novels. Only $5.99 at Amazon and Smashwords and all the latter’s affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor’s, Gardners, etc.), this bargain bundle will give you many hours of reading entertainment.
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
