Posted on 03/11/2020 6:57:20 AM PDT by Kaslin
PARIS -- As of this writing, there have been 1,412 confirmed cases of the coronavirus here in France, and 30 people have died from it. In a country where it's customary to spend the first several minutes of each workday air-kissing the cheeks of your colleagues, it's a miracle this virus hasn't KO'd even more people. One reason it hasn't could be a long-festering lack of trust in the French government to manage any situation, which has led to increased self-reliance.
According to a poll taken here last year by the newspaper La Tribune, 88 percent of the French admitted they don't trust political parties, and 76 percent expressed a lack of confidence in their elected federal representatives.
There have been Yellow Vest protests in France nearly every weekend since October 2018, with average taxpaying citizens putting their foot down on yet another blatant government cash grab -- in this case, a carbon tax on auto fuel. The government's response? Violence.
French police have occasionally fired rubber bullets at Yellow Vest protesters. The prestigious medical journal The Lancet documented 22 open-globe eye injuries and 18 cases of ocular bruising in France caused by so-called "less lethal weapons" in 2018 and 2019, including two cases of brain damage. The Lancelet concluded that the "increase in severe, blinding, traumatic eye injury in France in the past 10 months could be related to use of guns for crowd control."
We're not talking about Iran or China here, but France -- a country that baked human rights into its constitution. No one at the U.S. State Department has criticized the French government's use of rubber bullets and sting ball grenades against anti-taxation protesters, some of whom have been disfigured.
While the rest of the world has mostly ignored the agitation in the French streets, these protests were quietly chiseling a new notion into the minds of French citizens, chipping away at the idea that government will protect them. Not only that, it might also kick your ass (or damage your eyes).
Enter the coronavirus.
The French government has requisitioned all of the protective face masks for frontline personnel. Meanwhile, everyone else is left to get by with useless but annoyingly repetitive coronavirus announcements in the subway system (in case you've just emerged from under a rock and stepped straight onto a subway train). The government has also plastered posters on public property explaining what to do if you experience coronavirus symptoms. It's reminiscent of the posters that went up in the wake of major terror attacks on French soil a few years ago, illustrating the proper response. The posters suggested hiding, and if that didn't work, then fleeing.
The French aren't waiting around for the government to do the thinking for them this time. Many citizens no longer trust the government to place their interests above globalist ideology. For example, many French have long figured that the border with neighboring Italy (which has seen 9,172 coronavirus cases and 463 related deaths) would never be closed, no matter how much the virus spread, because it would suggest that there are actual borders within the European Union.
It's a contrast to the response in Russia, whose leadership is often criticized in the West for politically unpopular positions that go against "progressive" ideology. Russia didn't hesitate to throw up barriers, closing its border with coronavirus hotbed China in late January, banning high-risk flights, maintaining strict screening at border checkpoints and placing Russian expats evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan in quarantine for three weeks -- in Siberia. The result: 17 reported coronavirus cases as of March 10 despite a reported total of 51,000 administered tests.
Which governments would you most trust to competently manage this epidemic -- those that don't care about how they're perceived politically, or those for whom perception counts above all else?
At the moment, there's no more panic (or emptiness) in the streets of Paris than there is when there's a rare snow or ice storm -- events for which the French government is always unprepared. A few gym patrons and public transit riders are donning latex gloves these days. The French have dialed back on the cheek-kiss greetings, much to the delight of this native North American.
Madonna concerts and the annual Paris half-marathon have been canceled. Other events of more than 5,000 people have been called off or postponed, and schools have been closed in some areas. The French government has said that it may take more social distancing measures if the virus continues to spread, if only to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed. But no one here seems to be waiting around for the state to save them. The French are saving themselves.
Of course not, regardless of who is in the White House.
My thought exactly. Most people are still addicted to Mommy Govt when the chips are down.
Have many smashes in the face with a 2X4 does it take to understand the limitations of government?
It has no magic powers. It can do limited things and many things are beyond its powers.
Life isn’t a movie where Govt (or some imaginary James Bond called Q) sweeps in and saves everyone like Superman.
Life includes good and bad. Then you die. Make the best of it.
Coronavirus Proves that You Can’t Rely on Government
Townhall.com ^ | March 11, 2020 | Rachel Marsden Thanks for posting this excellent article.
The article below gives us excellent hints for what to do as Americans.:
Open Letter to the world from an infectious disease specialist about Covid-19
https://www.facebook.com/abdu.sharkawy?__tn__=%2CdCH-R-R&eid=ARDIStwGP8KCBe-SzZ8wj1mdvQ2JWwKV6WYIJ3Z | 03-05 | Abdu Sharkawy
Posted on 3/10/2020, 6:01:51 PM by MNJohnnie
I’m a doctor and an Infectious Diseases Specialist. I’ve been at this for more than 20 years seeing sick patients on a daily basis. I have worked in inner city hospitals and in the poorest slums of Africa. HIV-AIDS, Hepatitis,TB, SARS, Measles, Shingles, Whooping cough, Diphtheria...there is little I haven’t been exposed to in my profession. And with notable exception of SARS, very little has left me feeling vulnerable, overwhelmed or downright scared.
I am not scared of Covid-19. I am concerned about the implications of a novel infectious agent that has spread the world over and continues to find new footholds in different soil. I am rightly concerned for the welfare of those who are elderly, in frail health or disenfranchised who stand to suffer mostly, and disproportionately, at the hands of this new scourge. But I am not scared of Covid-19.
What I am scared about is the loss of reason and wave of fear that has induced the masses of society into a spellbinding spiral of panic, stockpiling obscene quantities of anything that could fill a bomb shelter adequately in a post-apocalyptic world. I am scared of the N95 masks that are stolen from hospitals and urgent care clinics where they are actually needed for front line healthcare providers and instead are being donned in airports, malls, and coffee lounges, perpetuating even more fear and suspicion of others.
I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they “ probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know...” and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.
I am scared that travel restrictions will become so far reaching that weddings will be canceled, graduations missed and family reunions will not materialize. And well, even that big party called the Olympic Games...that could be kyboshed too. Can you even imagine?
I’m scared those same epidemic fears will limit trade, harm partnerships in multiple sectors, business and otherwise and ultimately culminate in a global recession.
But mostly, I’m scared about what message we are telling our kids when faced with a threat. Instead of reason, rationality, openmindedness and altruism, we are telling them to panic, be fearful, suspicious, reactionary and self-interested.
Covid-19 is nowhere near over. It will be coming to a city, a hospital, a friend, even a family member near you at some point. Expect it. Stop waiting to be surprised further. The fact is the virus itself will not likely do much harm when it arrives. But our own behaviors and “fight for yourself above all else” attitude could prove disastrous.
I implore you all. Temper fear with reason, panic with patience and uncertainty with education. We have an opportunity to learn a great deal about health hygiene and limiting the spread of innumerable transmissible diseases in our society. Let’s meet this challenge together in the best spirit of compassion for others, patience, and above all, an unfailing effort to seek truth, facts and knowledge as opposed to conjecture, speculation and catastrophizing.
Facts not fear. Clean hands. Open hearts. Our children will thank us for it.
#washurhands #geturflushot #respect #patiencenotpanic
The decision to fly back the infected a couple weeks ago was made by some lower State Department official. Trump was pissed about it.
Thanks.
I will be using your closing remarks a lot.
Life includes good and bad. Then you die. Make the best of it.
If Hillary was POTUS the Corona-virus crisis would have been contained within a week. Look how good she was with the Benghazi crisis.
BTW : Dems want Trump to stop campaigning and end his candidacy so he can concentrate on Corona.
I read the whole article twice and I didn’t see any measures the French people are taking to save themselves.
The premise that they don’t trust their Government is well explored and substantiated (welcome to the club French people) but there is no support for the premise that the French people are taking steps. It seems to be an opinion without even anecdotal support.
air-kissing the cheeks of your colleagues
************
That air-kissing will get you every time. Be careful
“I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they “ probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know...”
I suppose folks can walk into an emergency room if they want but that sure doesn’t guarantee they will either be admitted or tested for the virus.
Why would anyone rely of the den of liars, crooks and con artists know as the government. That goes double for such places as New York, New Jersey and California.
Unless you’re over 70 years old or suffering from a known pulmonary medical condition, you have little to worry about from SARS-CoV-2. I’d recommend that older people be extremely careful about going out, though.
No merdé?Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
So far the false positive rate is 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
If a quarantine saves just one child's life, it's worth it.
France supposedly has the best healthcare system in the world.
Governments are not omniscient cure-alls. We do have fend for ourselves in real life.
“ I am scared that our hospitals will be overwhelmed with anyone who thinks they “ probably don’t have it but may as well get checked out no matter what because you just never know...” and those with heart failure, emphysema, pneumonia and strokes will pay the price for overfilled ER waiting rooms with only so many doctors and nurses to assess.”
I have argued repeatedly that we need more doctors and more hospitals and that this government run healthcare system we have is designed to suppress the number of doctors and investment in medical capital. I have also argued that if anything we need more doctors than other nations for many reasons yet we have fewer. Our system should take into account that there may be emergencies like this one that justify a bit of excess capacity. The guys in Washington are useless.
Hard lesson to learn. And this is also another reminder of why the U.S. Constitution was written. The founders of our own government, did not trust government . Our first Founding Father wrote this:
"A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington
Just my 2 cents.
We need to suck it up. We are at the mercy of this virus and unfortunately at the mercy or lack thereof by government. If the DNC could create a political bio weapon,this would be it. Just think of the Suburban Moms and inner city Blacks who will be fed lies and emotionally/irrationally vote for stupid Joe.
It’s all about COG.
US has one of the lowest per capita hospital bed rates in world. US has highest per capita incarceration rate in the world.
That pretty much sums it up. Prison death camp or die at home.
Thank God for 2A.
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