Conceit And Contagion

How the virus shocked Europe.

At the time of the Madrid marches and the Smurf convention, I was returning from a long journey in Asia and could not help noticing the contrast. In India, or Singapore, or Vietnam, people were dramatically changing their behaviour to adapt to the coronavirus. They were going out less, avoiding large groups, taking turns on the elevator and, of course, wearing masks everywhere, even if perhaps they looked less elegant in them. The idea that they would organize a Smurf convention to have a little fun is enough to make you laugh.
 
[…]
 In a penetrating piece published just two days ago, the Italian journalist Mattia Ferraresi argued that the fundamental failure in Italy was not a lack of testing or slow political action but a social and collective failure: People just did not take the coronavirus seriously enough to even slightly adapt their habits. It is a brave argument. It would be much easier to criticize the government for errors of action or inaction, rather than risk being accused of blaming the victims. But what Ferraresi saw and could not repress was something else: the radical incapacity on the part of the Italian public to adapt to the possibility of a terrible outcome, an outcome discounted by everyone until it was really too late.

61 Replies to “Conceit And Contagion”

      1. Don’t think so. I think this shows just what that model would look like and I don’t think people look fondly on it.

        1. Joey, they are locking down whole countries with ease , so now they have a model as how to control people, good, bad, or indifferent, does not matter. They have control!!!

          1. “they are locking down whole countries with ease”

            Examples or this is just another of your many lies, NME Garbage Man.

    1. Indeed, western Liberals have always had the most to lose politically with any pandemic, but have been far too mentally ill to understand it.

      Hey Globalists some math…… Pandemics + Urban liberal cesspits = bigger problem for you.

    2. the real problem which may become apparent is the social feeling that the nanny state will cure them. I wait with a dreadful anticipation, to see when it becomes apparent that this government healing is not going to happen, We are closing religious and christian institutions when we should be by modern social standards losing down the government and standing on our own two feet!!!!!

  1. “…the radical incapacity on the part of the Italian public to adapt to the possibility of a terrible outcome, …”

    Jeez. Imagine if Canadians were that stupid, eh?

    1. Actually having driven through Oakville, Burlington and Hamilton today I have seen a lot of responsible behavior. Not always, (ex a medical person in front of hospital smoking while wearing latex gloves …) but it seems that the further you go from downtown Moronto the greater the level of sanity. Either people understand that they need to help to stop the spread or they seem to be scared that our health care system will fold like in Italy and Spain. So self preservation encourages responsible behavior.

      Of course planes full of infected spring break cretins will be landing in a couple of days.

        1. Less detected cases in Mexico. That in all likelihood is simply a function of poor detection rates. Outside of 5 star resorts Mexico is a shithole and Mexicans have a deeply ingrained culture of incompetence and notgiveafuckism.

          1. “That in all likelihood is simply a function of poor detection rates.”

            Yes. The Drug Cartels control up to 80% of the country, mostly the cities, and no reasonable expectation of the Drug Cartels checking to see who does or does not have the Wuhan Flu.
            Seriously, if you’re going to slaughter people and be filling mass graves on a daily/weekly basis do you give a rat’s rosey red root if there’s a new flu from China killing a few people extra here and there?

  2. Trudeau said that closing the borders would do nothing to avoid or help stop the spread of COVID-19 – over a MONTH ago!

    Trudeau and his mentally ill unqualified government lackeys need to stand trial when this is over.

    1. Because Turdo didn’t want to upset Xi any more than he already did. Such as not getting his chipped tooth fixed before that UN conference. That’s the reason Xi glared at him.

    2. Yeah, aboot that, … Lookup “sovereign immunity”.

      A legal doctrine whereby a sovereign or state cannot conmit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution.

      1. That didn’t stop Romanians from dispensing civil justice to Nick and Elena.

        1. Exactly, B A Deplorable Rupertslander. The reason for courts is to prevent Blood in the Streets.
          If people cannot get redress in the courts, there will be Blood in the Streets. Count on it.

          You want civil unrest? You want civil war?
          Act tyrannically or irresponsibly and deny the people legal redress in the courts to right your wrongs, that’s how you get it.

  3. “I and many other Italians just did not see the need to change our routines for a threat we could not see.”

    And many no doubt figure it won’t make them sick and almost 100% are right.
    The odds that it will affect someone they know is a bit higher.
    By the end of April will everyone know someone who has been affected directly or indirectly?

  4. Inviting savages from the uncivilized world without any public health controls was the greatest mistake, allowing hordes of them to work, tour, or live in their countries without any concern for the health of their real citizens is a mistake of political leadership – if those political leaders are looking out for their own citizens, they could be sell-outs to China, like our Liberal Party, in which case they don’t care about citizens interests.

    Our federal Liberal Party’s attack on the Canadian people could still backfire on them if enough people think for themselves, it could be the end of Canada.

    1. if enough people think for themselves

      In Canada? Hahahahahahaha!

  5. Gee, I thought the Smurf convention was that thing in Madrid that Greta Thunberg sailed across the ocean (sic) to attend.

    Huh! No mention of the deeply entangled relationship between Italian manufacturing (largely centered in the North) and China, or the number of temporary Chinese workers shuttling back and forth between Northern Italy and China at any given moment.

    1. Western bureaucracies and governments, meanwhile, did less than nothing to stop Chinese patient zeroes from travelling to the west.

      We’ll find out one day whether it was plain criminal negligence or active participation in a plot to frame President Trump for causing a pandemic.

      The moral is “Pleasing your enemies does not make them friends.”

  6. The picture in the article kinda reminds me of mother Teresa’s missions.

    I really don’t want to cough my last on a crappy army cot.

    1. Chiefio March 14

      Drugs that help? An idea…

      A few drugs that act to let zink into the cell, where it can block the virus replication, include Chloroquine, an old anti-malarial.
      Chloroquine is a medication used to prevent and to treat malaria in areas where malaria is known to be sensitive to its effects. Certain types of malaria, resistant strains, and complicated cases typically require different or additional medication. It is also occasionally used for amebiasis that is occurring outside the intestines, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus erythematosus. It is taken by mouth.

      https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2020/03/14/14-march-2020-covid-19-usa-state-of-emergency-italy-over-1000-dead/

  7. Yeah, read the article. No, sorry, not buying it. Italians are to blame for the bad planning and execution in Italy the same as Canadians are to blame for FULL AIRLINE SERVICE from Wuhan and Tehran to Toronto, with -zero- screening or quarantine, continuing until yesterday.

    The entire reason I’m sitting at home with the drawbridge up today is because the federal government of Canada did not take this thing seriously until Monday. Even then the Shiny Pony showed up 45 minutes late for the fricking LIVE television address.

    Maybe if enough Torontonians and Montrealers are terrified and huddling in their apartments with nothing but a bag of rice for two weeks they’ll think about that a little bit the next time election season comes around. I mean, its a faint hope, but it could happen.

    I do agree with one thing in the article though. A lot of people never even think about the light not coming on when they flick the switch, and they never think about the store running out of potato chips. I do think about it, but I was caught short just like the rest of them. The difference was I moved before they did, so there was still soup and coffee on the shelf when I was having my freak-out at the store.

    They’re going to be so shocked when they show up at the hospital with double pneumonia, and there’s a cot set up in the parking garage for them.

    1. Agreed. When they announced the lockdown of Wuhan in early Feb, I figured then that this was serious, and in no way isolated. I planned based on the idea of a month long camping trip with no store access during the entire time. I started stocking up then with TP, (3 months worth); bottled water, in case we lose utilities; canned soups, meats and fruits; pastas; .22 & 9mm; kerosene and propane. I think I’m ready for the worst.

      1. Wuhan and three other nearby cities were locked down Jan 23, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve. It grew from there and was too slow by a month, due to the coverup.

    2. You’re optimistic.

      Kate, with her three months of supplies, is optimistic.

      Even president Trump, warning that this could drag into the summer, is optimistic.

      Beijing have the vaccine already. The Politburo have gotten it. Their proxies abroad—including Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg—have got it.

      Only if and when President Trump is defeated in November will they release the formula to any but the cream of the global elite.

      Till then…

      Assume you can only count on adequate treatment for COVID-19 if you’re very wealthy and able to ask doctors to name their price to come running to your pile in the Annex, Rockcliffe Park or Westmount.

      Anybody daft enough to show up at a hospital will eventually get nothing but a vial containing a massive overdose of narcotics and instructions to your still-healthy loved one to “administer as necessary.”

      That’s the real reason new reported cases have collapsed in Wuhan. Families are keeping parents home to die in peace there. If mother and father go to a hospital, they will be put down, cremated and dumped in a mass grave that very day.

    3. I quit watching TV in 2001 and have had a Global War Starts Tomorrow supply of EVERYTHING since 2007. The signs were all there.

  8. Joe Rogan Experience #1439 – Michael Osterholm

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3URhJx0NSw
    ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
    L- Joe Rogan’s interviewee hits it out of the park, again. After what they predict/warn against occurs, those with long term public health expertise get some attention.
    Corvid-19 (SARS/MERS- foreshadowing) immediate steps, medium, long term, later on Rogan asks this expert(who is a hunter, too) about Chronic Wasting Disease/Brain Worm Moose/Lyme Disease.

  9. I feel certain there is something fishy about this, but difficult to say whether it’s over-hyped or engineered. Doubt that it’s any random accident, given when and where it started. The when has to do with Trump’s re-election. The where is fairly self-evident. At some point, states gain complete control over the lives of 99.9% of their citizens who may have some reserves but will run out of those — everyone who figured a month of supplies would be good will soon be wondering if that’s really three months, or six months … and at some point the supply chain could break down completely.

    Somehow there needs to be a political process where people regain control and where governments responsible to the people and not to globalist elites can start making more realistic decisions. I think this episode is our punishment for allowing populism to compete with the globalist model of expert control of all things (hence giving a class of people unlimited power and incomes just for being experts, not for producing anything of actual value).

    The climate change hoax was to have been the method of taking complete control, but it wasn’t working fast enough to satisfy all the globalists who are approaching retirement age and want to see their dreams fulfilled in their lifetimes. And as to what they think of you and me, well HRC blurted that out, but she’s hardly the only one who thinks that way.

    Am I saying there is no dangerous virus? No. In fact there may be a very dangerous virus, or, there may be a somwhat dangerous virus like there often has been every winter flu season. Either way, the question is not the level of risk but how and why this started. Somehow we need to regain control of the political systems, or we will not have a future other than that decided for us behind closed doors.

    In other words, the Chinese model. That is the real virus.

    1. Well Said Peter, The System has always been Corrupt…The China connection is not a planned pandemic that will destroys them… The Globalist will grab anything that will save them from the ash bin of History…

      The USA response reveals fraud in disaster planning… The resources do not exist.. The carboard is empty,.. Thieves have emptied the supplies by stealing and lying .. We are subject to the rationing of Paper products and powdered Milk…..The Government has been caught with fake data of available recourses.. Yes they must ration until the predicted supply is met , that is why government over plan & in reality delivers nothing.. When the Virus is defeated they will be have warehouses full of worthless supplies

      Getting rid of the Communist style top down government may be worth the pain ….. The virus is defeatable, but the existing corrupt system is not…

      The worst States are ALL Democrat open border .. crazy communists… Doom is predicted and the National Guard should be deployed to stop the Bastards from importing every virus in the world

  10. And we have just passed 4% mortality for detected cases.
    Still believing it is better than a flu? Just sniffles right?
    3.4% was an overestimate?

    1. Colon, the key to yer post”DETECTED CASES” which are probably less than 1/2 of all cases!
      and 7000 deaths in a population of 7,600,000,000 is a pretty damn low ratio

      now quit fear mongering

        1. yep, I am in the at risk age group, and also at risk health group, and still live a reasonably normal life,through this, because NO I don’t let irrational fear control me! and 7000 divided by 7.6 billion gives a damn small number for probability. The colon is math challenged, and shitting his strides. He keeps coming in here and over stating the impact of this flue!

          1. “and still live a reasonably normal life”

            A headcase like yourself has no idea what a normal life is. Not even a scintilla of understanding, nope.
            You’re a psychopath. Just a look at your nic (NME666) and normal people have the measure of your madness.

          2. “The colon is math challenged, and shitting his strides. He keeps coming in here and over stating the impact of this flue!1”

            You really are piece of excrement, a liar and a demagogue. You consciously undermine all rational arguments about corona. You repeatedly lie about and defame those whose arguments you can’t defeat.

            I have never panicked about corona, you on the other hand are in constant panic mode. And your only refuge is screaming ever louder “nothing to see here move along”… take deep breaths between those screams, deep deep breaths, and don’t worry about that mist, it is nothing, just someone having a little cough.

          3. “shitting his strides”
            Now that’s some funny shit
            Settle down ladies.
            A Steve

      1. And the undetected cases matter only as carriers and spreaders. 4% of detected cases is still proving perfectly capable of overloading Italian and Spanish health care systems. 4% of detected cases is what counts when they are making decisions who to keep alive and who to let die. And in a week or two they will be making the same decisions here.

        1. and without context your post is also meaningless. Now quit shitting yer pants, you are stinking a lot. And is reflective of you boo hooing “I’m upset because Max started his own, real conservative party”, you come across as a 5 foot tall geek, who wears glasses and always votes liberal!

  11. Bruno Maçães writes:
    “It felt like a great historical reversal, one full of irony. Suddenly Europeans were being kept away, they who for so long fortified their borders against all the dangers—real or imagined—arriving from the developing world.”

    A fine example of omission, fake and lie.
    The author omitted by design that those that wanted to crowd Africa and Asia were in fact Africans and Asians that live in Europe.

    Of course I have no way of knowing why pale Europeans would want to go to Africa and Asia by the planeloads.

    And that’s only one example before reading on.

  12. The Lying Liberals F this up!
    Not the people—–We returned from out of country on March12 and 13 . In Vancouver airport twice—-Saskatoon once absolutely NO screening!
    The same night we got home , we saw David Lametti and Melanie Joly saying there was intense screening in all Airports!
    If this incompetence was in Italy the people were not to blame!
    Today 4 plane loads from China —-no screening! BULL SH I!!!

  13. I posted this link on FB and got it taken down because apparently it “violated FB community standards”

  14. If the measure of success is the total prevention of premature deaths among elderly in care homes and hospitals, then we can be sure that there won’t be success. That is far beyond the capability of any emergency health measures. At this point, we need an organizing principle for a sane response, otherwise governments will do far more harm than good chasing this virus. Even the more sensible political leaders appear to have caved in to the hysterical over-reaction of the left, afraid for their political lives more than for the lives of their constituents.

    I think a sane response would be limited to stringent measures at care facilities, otherwise, leave the economy alone. Let people make their own decisions as they have every winter when the flu season hits. It is sobering to read the statistics on deaths related to the “ordinary” 2018 winter flu. As many as 70,000 deaths were attributed to that in the U.S. alone. But many of those were probably situations where elderly people in poor health died a year or two ahead of the otherwise most likely time. It may sound callous (and I am seventy myself) but we don’t expect to live forever.

    I am also quite alarmed by the potential for inter-generational conflict as young and healthy people (quite naturally in my estimation) begin to resent the over-emphasis on health of the elderly at all costs, including their own economic survival.

    For me, there is a disturbing undertone of eagerness to exert control over everyday life that is more expected in a communist dictatorship than in a free society. And if you don’t think this won’t be used as a model for future episodes, you don’t understand the thought processes of left-wing politicians.

    1. “Even the more sensible political leaders appear to have caved in to the hysterical over-reaction of the left”
      The only path going forward seems to consist of how to blow the world’s economy to hell and all that remains to be decided is the level of explosives to use for the job.

  15. I know a lot of Italians, from every part and every economic class. They all share one character trait. They thrive on subverting the rules. The clever person is lauded for outsmarting the establishment. That’s probably why the Chinese targeted them as the entry to Europe.

    1. Look at a map. Shortest distance from Tunisia/Libya to Europe is Italy. This has been the embarkation funnel of migrants for 5+ years.
      Germany’s Merkle has forced Italy to take migrants for the last 5+ years. THAT is why Italy is hooped with the Wuhan Flu. Illegals.

  16. I’ve quit listening to any and all of it.

    What do talking heads know about medicine? They are in the entertainment industry. It’s about ratings and selling you products. Advertising.

    The same is true of politicians. They don’t know shit either and are only worried about protecting their sinecure.

    The medical community is struggling with this. They are flying by the seat of their pants giving you their best guess.

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