"Most people would rather die than think; in fact, many do." --- Bertrand Russell
In the face of this pandemic, America's chaotic society is now in the midst of succumbing to our penchant for idiocy and preference for diversions over substance. The "thinning of the herd," as I like to call it, may well reduce our population by anywhere from 15 to 30 million before a sufficiently-strong and reliable vaccine is available.
Imagine a loss of 30 million Americans. From the rest of the world's perspective, it would be considered a form of societal suicide.
The view of the "Ugly American" (defined in Germany as freeloaders who are late and don't follow rules; in France, as conservatives who espouse racist views and don't understand culture; in Italy, much the same as in France, and with the malevolent disparagement of history; in Spain, people who cannot or will not value the importance of human relationships and their dominance over materialism; etc.) throughout Europe has led America to being viewed as a laughingstock, on the one hand, and as a pitiable example of how a leaderless people devolves into a national wreck.
I have read and heard many comments from those in Europe, Asia and Africa expressing great sadness for the American people and our nation. Well, their sorrow is understandable, but I also recall that we had ample opportunities to prevent Trump taking office in the first place: reversing the Citizens United ruling by appropriate legistlation; by elimination of gerrymandering; by reversing the Dept. of Defense and Dept. of Education budgets; by supporting robust free press work and eliminating the advertising-dominated public media (e.g., Faux News and its ilk); and many other steps that could and should have been taken. We didn't take those steps, and now our illiterate country cousins have come into power in the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court.
The result is a country that continues to shoot itself in the foot, and will do so, until we learn enough from our self-inflicted pain to STOP IT.
Period.
