COVID-19 -- Wake up! Stay alert!! Be conscious
If you count yourself among the ordinary people – the non-elites, or the middle- and lower-income groups – of this world, and find yourself locked down indoors and with plenty of time to kill, then realize you have a choice: EITHER you can kill time OR you can breathe life into your future by utilizing the time well.
Perhaps at no point in time in the past did you receive an opportunity to take a break from the hectic rat race of your life and understand the ecosystem of which you are a part.
It might shock you to know that it is the same rat race and the selfsame ecosystem of institutions, ideologies, systems of governance and so forth that are responsible for bringing us all to this cliff edge – a perfect storm, if you will – that the COVID-19 pandemic truly is.
There is a tsunami of information, news, views, data, propaganda, fake news, outright lies, conspiracy theories, rumors, conjectures, pseudo-science, questionable science, research of doubtful quality, you name it . . . it is all out there, out to get you, drown you, confuse you, confound you, scare you, browbeat you into submission.
But you can choose not to drown in all that darkness of the information overload. All you need to do is switch on your inner light of consciousness – your intellect – and laser-focus that spotlight on the content, including what follows below.
Here are questions that ordinary people – the majority non-elites (middle- and lower-income groups) everywhere across the world – should ask of themselves.
By looking for answers to questions like these, you will likely know what might actually be the truth about the 2020 pandemic, and what might be missing in the sea of information, in spite of the so-called cutting-edge technologies like big data, artificial intelligence, data analytics, automated algorithms, ultrafast telecommunications, cloud computing, internet of things, robotics, etc.
You will also understand the true state of our so-called modern societies. You will come face to face with the underbelly of our perceived great civilization, and the dark secrets of the ideologies that govern our systems.
You will begin to wonder if we are all flying in a fantasy aircraft that is not airworthy and whose cockpit is manned by ‘pilots’ who know nothing about piloting a plane, nor are they there for that purpose.
What’s worse, we may have taken off somehow, but now know not our destination, nor where and how to land. That’s not all. We may be running out of fuel, and heading straight into the eye of the perfect storm. Beware!
What brought us to this current impasse?
Some unrecognized presumptions that we all made, and continue to make, without realizing it:
1) The pilots (governments, institutions, agencies, leaders, corporations, industries) are dedicated to their job, which is to make our lives safe, better, secure.
2) The pilots are skilled and capable of performing that "job".
3) The pilots will invariably sacrifice themselves if necessary in order to discharge their duties and responsibilities of their job
4) The larger system is fool-proof and efficient, and if some pilots are found wanting, we the passengers can continuously replace them with better pilots, and there is no grave risk to our survival itself, even if the flawed system and incapable pilots are in place for long periods of time.
Now, COVID-19 has exposed everything. Consider these points:
1) The missing data points
We are in the age of big data, artificial intelligence, supercomputers, cloud computing, surveillance, contact-tracing, early detection, random testing, livestreaming. Therefore, no amount of data should be so "big" that it can't be stored on servers, and shared in real time with the world. Then, how come no one seems to have these data? Surely, privacy concerns can't be the reason, given the nature of the problem?
i) Age, image and other demographics of people who contracted the virus so far
ii) Symptoms in each and every case
iii) How were the symptoms first detected by the patient?
iv) How long did it take each patient to seek medical help?
v) How far away was the medical facility from the patient's home?
vi) What's the grade/level/quality/state of that medical facility?
vii) How did doctors confirm that it was coronavirus infection?
viii) Which testing kit was used in diagnostics?
ix) How does that testing kit detect the virus and give "positive" result?
x) How can a common citizen make sense of the scientific jargon?
xi) Is the same kind of testing kid used as a standard across the world?
xii) How come we know certain things about this novel virus, but not other aspects which are really key to life over death?
xiii) How come the manifest symptoms of the virus seem to evolve with each passing day, from lungs, headache, shortness of breath, headache, muscle ache, confusion, depression, dry cough, diarrhoea, fever, chest congestion, sore throat to central nervous system, to smell and taste, to gastro-intestinal tract, to COVID toes, to bloodstream, loss of speech, loss of movement, rash ????
2) Situation/conditions inside hospital wards
3) Medicines prescribed, used and why
4) Cost of medicines prescribed/used
5) Identity of medicine manufacturers
6) Impact of medicines used on patients
7) Duration of illness in each case/infection
8) Progression or course of illness during its duration in each case
9) Number of medicines, medical supplies, accessories, etc, required
10) Number of medicines available, kept ready in preparedness for a pandemic-like situation that was always on the cards, especially in the last 20 years
11) Is there uniformity and consistency in the needs expressed by authorities the world over? Why are some underlining ventilators, others focusing on masks/respirators, while some are stressing test kits, others data-sharing, others hand-washing, head shields, hazmat suits, and traditional medicinal remedies, so on? Are we not a globalized world with big data, AI, 5G and other modern tech that should have been applied to health and educational sectors in the first place?
12) Is this how a modern, civilized, 21st-century society should prepare for a pandemic (which has been part and parcel of our history), and has been warned and predicted by so many experts for years now?
13) How soon was all this data shared and acted upon?
14) Can we use big data, AI, etc, to keep track of every single dollar/rupee/pound/euro/etc that is being injected into financial systems by central banks, finance ministries, the World Bank, the IMF, the development banks such as the ADB, everywhere?
15) Can we hold the governments and other authorities concerned accountable and responsible for the way they will spend public money, especially in terms of bailouts extended and the terms and conditions of bailouts?
16) Why exactly were/are governments across the globalized world acting in weird, under-prepared, idiosyncratic ways when a universal standard operating procedure (SOP) for pandemics should have been in place, ideally designed by the WHO, and implemented in a coordinated reflex by each government as soon as there were enough indications that a pandemic outbreak was on the cards?
17) When humanity's future itself is at stake, when we are all at cliff edge with no guarantee of a future, why is the global mainstream media not giving free and unrestricted access globally to all pandemic-related content?
18) Why are news, information and research content websites not giving free and unrestricted access to "premium" content even during this critical period of a global lockdown, and instead insisting on registrations and sharing of other personal data like name, telephone number, email ID, etc?
19) What was the prevention of pandemics never the top priority of all governments and corporations and institutions all these years/decades, in spite of our history and numerous warnings, even by people such as Bill Gates?
20. Why can’t we dismantle the current system of ascribing values in a flawed, unjust and unfair way that does not value health professionals such as doctors, nurses, paramedics in the same away as CEOs of banks and financial and investment institutions, or star sportspersons, or entertainers like film stars.
21. How come we billions of people timidly accept a system that does not prioritize real (not skill-oriented) education and health, but trillions of dollars are routinely invested in useless or optional technologies, wasteful, planet-degrading fuels, profligate manufacturing and the war industry?
22. How come billions are instantly donated by the wealthy to restore Notre Dame, but the richest individuals and companies become tight-fisted when it comes to donating or sharing their wealth to strengthen relief efforts or to offer succor to the struggling billions of people during the COVID-19 pandemic?
23. How come so many startups as well as Big Pharma constituents have been working for years on vaccines against potential pandemic-causing pathogens, but no one still has developed vaccines, in spite of billions of dollars spent so far?
24. Why is it that the majority non-elites still tolerate politicians who treat the pandemic as a merely political issue that can be exploited for no more than political capital, or a gimmick to hoodwink unsuspecting citizens?
25. Why is there no consistency, consensus or uniformity in the statements of scientists and medical community, pharma and biotech companies, drug developers, researchers, university professors, et al? (So, should we wear mask or not? Should we drink hot water or not? Why doesn’t the virus enter the body through the ear or other entry-exit points in the body? And, are traditional medicinal systems and grandma remedies and recipes effective or helpful?)
26 – ∞. To be added.
Please help us expand this list. Email us – VirusWakeUp@gmail.com – all your COVID-19-related questions. We will include them here.
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