51. Coronavirus boredom
I
have noticed that the public’s interest in coronavirus news is dwindling. This
is hardly surprising, it has been an information onslaught. Everything else has
retired into a discreet second plane, with coronavirus issues, be it lockdown,
PPE, ICU admissions or economic impact, dominating the agenda. It taints all
aspects of life. The news, printed and broadcast. Our shopping expeditions. Our
WhatsApp groups and Twitter threads. Our exercise. And this has been going on
for weeks. No wonder our sensibility to it is dulling and our interest fading.
I, like many, cannot wait for a more normal situation where life becomes multi
issue again. And then I thought of the World War generations. They would have
experienced the same, but for 4 and 6 years respectively. The constant
hammering of the same issue into their perception, the inability of anything
else to rise above it, the dull, repetitive, unrelenting cacophony of different
news which are really the same. Tough times. Tough people
Length: 997 characters
Comments
And regarding previous generations, I cannot stand this general feeling that we are going through something so hard...ok, this is not easy but come on, nothing compared to our grandparents, our to our fellow humans in low income countries. We want to be proud of being able to stay at home for 6 weeks while receiving free health care and a government subsidy? Whatever... we should be better be thankful to generations that put us in this privileged position to face a pandemic.
Clara, I am sure this is happening all the time, even during what you call 'normal times'. I am not sure suppressions are intentional, rather just an evaluation by journalists and editors of what they think their public will be interested in. After all, nobody gets paid in the media to generate content for the selected few (we have things like Twitteretter for that). As for previous generations, I think you are also right, they had it much worse. Our current suffering is very much luxurious suffering for most, except who are hospitalised and fighting death and their relatives. We think little of the plight of many everyday in our World, and do nothing to assuage it. We should not expect too much sympathy in our current, warm, dry, well fed (even too well), entertainment full confinement. let's not forget however that, even in our countries, confinement will be very tough for many. The poor and hungry. Those living in violent and abusive households. Etc.
And, alas, accepting it as normal is something we, the public can do, but the media seem to struggle with it. They drive it down our throats trying to exploit a certain morbid tendency in our interests, which they try to not only exploit, but foster. They will stop writing and talking about it once they realise nobody cares any longer.
Having said that, i keep also writing about coronavirus observations, as it is very hard for me to publish on anything else. If 50 of my Twitteretters will be about coronavirus, they need to be published now, and all else i am writing is waiting on the background to be released once the current topic is exhausted (you will be relieved to know i don't intend 1,001 posts on coronavirus)