The Other Pandemic

[sasha]

 

 

[saw]

this rejection of science is our nadir of existence
the devolution of mankind thought unimaginable in my younger days
but now is common......citizens believing wild conspiracy theories over provable facts
what will come of us I do not know, but the direction and vision is poor for many citizens
Wear Your God Damned Mask Asshole !

[judih]

why believe experts?
why not assume they've been paid to do research, so who can trust them?
yeah.

[sasha]

Oh, the lies we've been told!

...that thunder and lightning are natural phenomena, and not manifestations of the gods
...that the earth revolves about the sun, and not vice-versa...
...that disease is caused by microscopic organisms, not "bad air" or "evil spirits"...
...that over generations living organisms adapt to changes in their environment
...that the earth is a spheroid, and it is 4.5 billion years old
...that vaccines can protect us from disease
...that we visited the moon nine times between 1969 and 1972
...that the contrails we see from commercial aircraft are mostly just water vapor
...that bumblebees can, in fact, fly

What could people who've spent their lives studying such things possible tell us that some sketchy YouTube video cannot?

[saw]

artificial intelligence
deep fake
the internet
all play big parts
in man's ability to spread
disinformation
russian bots
real russians
angry white supremacists
angry faux christians
clever corporate agitators
uneducated population
once upon time a conspiracy theorists
would have to print leaflets
walk the streets hoping for a couple converts
now they recruit hundreds in their PJ's
while sipping their first cup of coffee
it's so easy
can we go back to that other world
the real one
when kooks were shot down by science

I don't think we can

[mnaz]

Pure poetry, Mr. saw. Pure poetry.