I called myself a ‘Friend of the Virus’ from the beginning. I joked about being the founding member of the VPL, the Virus Protection League. But only to friends I trusted.
I didn’t want people to stay home because of COVID-19. I wanted them to go out and to spread the coronavirus. I wanted it to get into old people’s homes and care facilities where the people who would die from corona virus lived.
It was for the good of future generations.
I accept the warnings of scientists concerning the effects of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I also heed the scientists report abnormal increases in rates of species depletion and extinction. I listen to the scientists who observe increased levels of toxicity, especially as a result of the use of plastics.
I believe the only rational thing to do is to act on a near-worst-case scenario. ‘Expect the Best. Plan for the Worst.’ Is one of my mottoes.
[It’s not as helpful as ‘The only bad mistake is the one you make twice.’ But it’s close.]
I was a Friend of the Virus.
But I kept quiet. I’d be a monster if I said anything like that. So, I wasn’t a true friend of the virus.
I told trusted friends because I strongly believed it.
My Facebook posts started to reflect my position. I didn’t say ‘I’m a friend of the virus. Let the virus spread!’ I came close, however. I shared links that showed that the coronavirus mainly kills older people and I suggested that we were responsible for the state of the planet and ought to be taking risks with our lives.
I posted about economic costs as well. I wasn’t concerned at the debt holes that governments were digging for themselves by shutting down their economies. I worried that an obsession with reducing the massive government deficits that had been created would mean that governments had no money to do anything about climate change and its effects after, what I call, The Great (COVID-19) Shutdown of 2020.
A complaint about one of them led me to take down all my COVID-19 posts. I’d posted a link to an article that reported modelling of the effects of closing schools. I can’t recall if it was just about primary schools (Years 1–6 in Western Australia) or all schools. The modelling showed that closing schools would simply delay the peak in coronavirus infections by two weeks.
I’d provided a link to the article, but I’d ignored the finding that there would be a “slight increase” in infections among the children. They weren’t going to die, though. Besides, my recollection of my children’s earlier years was that they built up their immunity by getting sick and producing antibodies. Getting coronavirus was worse than getting the flu; a lot worse. The numbers of young people dying of COVID-19 was almost negligible, however, and I remain convinced that they had other health conditions.
But I kept quiet. I’d be a monster if I said anything like that. I wasn’t a true friend of the virus.
I wanted old people to die. I’d have preferred that it was wealthy old people, because they have the largest carbon footprints. It seemed fairer. I knew it wouldn’t be that way if the virus spread as I wanted. Poor old people would die. Poor people with health conditions would also die. Younger poor people with health conditions would die. Indigenous people would die in greater numbers than their colonizers. (Saving the planet meant that some indigenous people might be able to maintain a traditional way of life, though.)
But I kept quiet. I’d be a monster if I said anything like that. I wasn’t a true friend of the virus.
My mother is 91. I told her that I wanted old people to die. I didn’t tell her that I wanted her to die. I didn’t. I just wanted her to risk dying. Her generation and other generations, including mine, had ignored warnings about climate change. I wanted her to risk death. My children’s grandmother… I thought she was taking the risk for them, though.
But I kept quiet. I’d be a monster if I said anything like that. I wasn’t a true friend of the virus.
I wrote a draft of a piece for Medium.
Then I was confronted with the statistics with respect to the effects of the coronavirus on the African-American community and I lost my nerve about uploading that piece.
So, I kept quiet. I’d be a monster if I said anything like that. I wasn’t a true friend of the virus.
Then it happened.
I witnessed a conversation between two old men. I don’t think it matters that they were men. Old women manifest the same spirit, if a little differently. I’ll return to that.
Anyway, back to the conversation. D’s telling T that he’s old and he isn’t going to change and everyone else has to suck it up. T agrees, but I can’t tell if he really agrees or he’s just being polite.
OK, you have to know that D is a controlling prick. I did. So, I know he’s saying that other people have to accept that he is a controlling prick with too many opinions and too few thoughts. And we have to accept it because he is old.
Let’s be clear, being old is no excuse for being a selfish-arsehole.
First, it’s not an excuse because there’s never an excuse to be a selfish-arsehole. Don’t be a selfish-arsehole. Ever. We don’t need more selfish-arseholes in the world — we need a lot fewer. I don’t care how old you are… being old isn’t an excuse for being a selfish-arsehole.
And, like mine, D and T’s generation were part of the trashing of the planet and they’re still doing it.
Like mine, D and T’s generation ignored warnings from scientists.
Like mine, D and T’s generation are still ignoring warnings from scientists.
Like mine, D and T’s generation are not doing the decent thing by looking to die as soon as possible.
Not only have their carbon footprints been large. Like mine, D and T’s generation are having the holidays that mean that they continue to have carbon footprints the size of yetis.
And everyone else, especially younger people, are supposed to put up with them remaining selfish-arseholes because they’re old…
Their and my generation’s selfish-arsehole behaviour has contributed to the impending environmental doom of this planet.
So, we’ve already been selfish-arseholes and fucked it up. And now the Ds of the world want to claim that being old doesn’t mean that we have to stop being selfish-arseholes and start caring about the future generations we haven’t given a fuck about.
Old women are no better. I’ve never met one who thinks she needs to change. They’re not as bad as men; but they are little better.
I’m going to publish this piece.
I’m not going to keep quiet anymore. I’d be a monster if I didn’t say something like this. I wasn’t to be a true Friend of the Virus and I need to be. For the planet. For my children.
D and T’s conversation convinced me of that.
Postscript:
A Facebook friend put this question to me: “why not infect your mother?” I think this is a pretty good representation of the Shutdowners feeling morally superior and wanting to shove their moral superiority in my face.
The question provided inspiration was a good opportunity for me to respond… which I did in a series of comments that came to me as I reflected on the thinking that underpins posing that question.
Here are my replies:
I don’t respect her choice, but it is not my choice to make. And even if I was there, I would obey the rules and conventions that operate in the context in which I act. I’m not uncivilized. Your question suggests that you expected less. …
First, I failed to add that I asked my mother about euthanasia and she shook it off. I didn’t put it as directly as it could be put. I didn’t need to. She could not consider it. While her Anglicanism played a role, I think it more a cultural thing. People of her generation were fighters and survivors. So, despite the fact that she readily admits that she is tired of life, I was not surprised at her answer. She’s not rotting in a nursing home, though, as so many her age are doing.
Correction: I laughed at one man and called him an idiot for not doing what the others were doing and waiting outside the kebab shop so that we could go in one at a time. So, I had one verbal altercation. It was with a women who called me arrogant and condescending for suggesting that she didn’t need a sign to tell her to wait for me to vacate that same kebab shop before she entered. She marched back into the shop as I was agreeing with her.
