Spreading alarm has become a sideline for the mainstream press. If it isn't inciting fear of Russians, Ukrainians or other assorted malefactors messing with our elections and supposedly recruiting republicans to carry out their misdeeds (democrats are never under suspicion by virtue of their party affiliation), then it's whipping up dread of disease.
The sorriest part of this equation is watching the gullible portion of the public darting hither and yon to hoard household goods as if they're soon to be extinct. Or is it how the media has purposefully manipulated the Trump administration into playing a role in the pandemic panic?
The only ones being hurt by the media-induced anxiety are businesses
As one who kept their college classes open during the H1N1 outbreak of 2009, sending sick students home and helping to overcome absentee issues so they could heal properly, the flu was kept at bay. Common sense won the day in my bailiwick and it could now if only the press conducted themselves with a conscience.
Driving back to Mississippi from Washington, D.C., other than viewing empty aisles where paper products and bottled water were no longer stocked, customers in the stores and truck stops acted normally. It's still a mystery why people have been stockpiling toilet paper for an upper respiratory virus. Go figure.
The only ones being hurt by the media-induced anxiety are businesses. One hotel near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and other tourist venues had 30 cancellations for the following two days. (Hint: there are some great deals to be had by hardy travelers who follow proper hygiene and aren't frightened into complete seclusion.)
The reason for not including schools and government in the category of victims is that students may find relief from the steady indoctrination, and government is always more useful the less it does. This is another reason to give the president proper accolades for bringing businesses into the productive loop of serving in the national emergency, the declaration of which has been a pressure tactic to unleash billions of dollars that will promptly dissolve into thin air.
Mortality rate for Covid19
When the mortality rate for Covid19 is a mere fraction of the current tally for the regular flu "season" in the United States and worldwide, it's apparent the public has been bamboozled into virtually shutting down the economy. The result of the media marketing game is political as much as the impeachment and Russia hoaxes. This is not to say that people haven't tragically lost their lives to the coronavirus, it is to say that the panic has been blown out of proportion to the actual danger of contracting a deadly version of the illness.
It didn't take long before the Ohio Department of Health Director, Amy Acton, admitted she was "guesstimating" when she claimed 100,000 Ohioans were carriers of the Wuhan Virus. (Yes, I used the racist name here just like the CDC does with the Yamagata and Victoria strains of the flu.)
Meanwhile, America's enemies have been inventing ways to pin the panic on President Trump, the USA in general, or Israel… and it's the usual list of suspects. Nor can they get their stories straight as to whether the new coronavirus is a blessing or a curse.
Between the Lebanese-American anti-Semitic professor in California making wild claims that Israel is mistreating non-Jews who contract the Wuhan Virus, the Palestinian imam saying Covid19 is punishment for non-believers and Iran accusing Israel of developing it to destroy the rogue state, Islamic spokesmen can't agree on talking points.
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All the hype to instill public panic will be over in a flash
Not to be ignored, PRC officials, the liberal press and democrats have been busy trying to hang the virus that originated in China as an albatross around Trump's neck. When it comes to progressives and communists (which make up the majority of democrats) everything is dropped into the political column and even a potentially deadly virus is not to be left off the list. And when democrats can't fill a vestibule with Biden or Bernie voters, what better device could be used than a contagion to force President Trump to postpone (better yet, cancel) the monster rallies that just might (but wouldn't because the virus has proven to be controllable) spread the dread disease?
All the hype to instill public panic will be over in a flash. Maybe our legal researcher, Toddy Littman, is right that the probably concocted virus was released too early in the election season to cause any serious harm to Trump's campaign. Liberals always forget how short the public's memory is and that cabin fever will overtake fear of a viral fever every time, especially when the coronavirus does a disappearing act.
Give it less than two weeks before people are back to their normal shopping, church-going and visiting habits. The stock market is bound to rebound with little more delay and it will be business as usual.
Maybe President Trump will schedule his first rally after the brief coronavirus hiatus for April Fools' Day because the unfunny joke will be on the democrats.
Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper, from ad composition and sales, to personnel management, copy writing, and overseeing all editorial content. During her tenure as a news professional, Kristenev traveled internationally as a representative of the paper and, on separate occasions, non-profit organizations. Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.
ChangingWind (changingwind.org) is a solutions-centered Christian ministry.
