{"id":159435,"date":"2020-05-04T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=159435"},"modified":"2020-04-28T09:30:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T08:30:17","slug":"oppression-is-bad-for-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/oppression-is-bad-for-your-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Oppression Is Bad for Your Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
    \n
  1. Censoring the News<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Health, Like Peace, Has Many Contributing Components <\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Orders, Orders, Everywhere! Macho Leaders Are Clueless About Holistic Pathways to Good Health and Peace<\/em><\/li>\n
  4. The Dangers of High Concentrations of Power and the Lack of Empathy Towards Those Who Disagree<\/em><\/li>\n
  5. Oppression Kills: The Hypocrisy of Not Wanting to Overwhelm Hospitals While Accepting Years of Overwhelmed Health and Mental Health Systems<\/em><\/li>\n
  6. The Hypocrisy and Inequality of Valuing Some Lives and Not Others, Accepting Some Deaths but Not Others<\/em><\/li>\n
  7. Media: The More You Watch, the Less You Know<\/em><\/li>\n
  8. An Ideal Approach<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So much for Patrick Henry\u2019s famous proclamation:\u00a0 \u201cGive me liberty, or give me death!\u201d\u00a0 Worldwide, people are being forced by their governments to obey oppressive measures, giving up their freedoms to socialize, play, work, move, and voice dissent in order to allegedly save lives.<\/p>\n

    In New York State, it was shocking as first the grocery stores began appearing with empty shelves and then Governor Andrew Cuomo shifted into alarm gear in mid-March and began mandating increasingly oppressive measures as he closed down schools, ordered 100% of the \u201cnon-essential\u201d workforce to stay home, banned public gatherings of any size for any reason, thus violating the 1st<\/sup> Amendment right to peaceably assemble, forbade parents from bringing children to play with other children, mandated social distancing, forbade pick-up games of basketball in the park, and mandated wearing face masks when in public if within six feet of another person.<\/p>\n

    It has been downright creepy.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it is such an illogical reaction to a virus that kills – not 50%, not 25%, but an estimated 1 \u2013 3% of those who contract it.\u00a0 When I checked online in mid-March, I found that, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 80% of patients who contracted the coronavirus COVID-19 had only mild symptoms.<\/p>\n

    Based on a study of 44,000 COVID-19 patients in China, the death rates by age bracket were as follows:<\/p>\n

    80-89 yrs.\u00a0\u00a0 – 14.8%<\/p>\n

    70-79 yrs. \u00a0 – 8%<\/p>\n

    60-69 yrs. \u00a0 – 3.6%<\/p>\n

    50-59 yrs. \u00a0 – 1.3%<\/p>\n

    40-49 yrs. \u00a0 – 0.4%<\/p>\n

    30-39 yrs. \u00a0 – 0.2%<\/p>\n

    20-29 yrs. \u00a0 – 0.2%<\/p>\n

    10-19 yrs. \u00a0 – 0.2%[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

    Of those who contract COVID-19 and die, most have an underlying health condition or are elderly \u2013 usually both.<\/p>\n

    In New York State, 80% of those who die from the virus have been 65 years or older.[2]<\/a> \u00a0Most have an underlying health disorder.\u00a0 In the NYC areas, nearly all patients hospitalized had an underlying health condition, and 88% had two such conditions.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

    According to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 90% of adult patients hospitalized for COVID-19 had at least one underlying health condition:\u00a0 49.7% had hypertension, 48.3% had obesity, 34.6% had chronic lung disease, 28.3% had diabetes, and 27.8% had cardiovascular disease.<\/p>\n

    Of course, in some of these cases, if these conditions are common in the population, such as obesity which exists in 42.4% of the American population, and hypertension, which exists in nearly 50% of the American population, then having this condition is not necessarily an indicator that it makes you more likely to have a problem.\u00a0 However, the percentage of Americans with underlying health conditions who were not merely hospitalized but actually died from COVID-19 is even higher than 90%, suggesting that their underlying conditions contributed to weakened immune systems and deaths.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

    According to the American Diabetes Association, those who have well-managed diabetes with more stable blood sugar levels are less likely to have complications from COVID-19.\u00a0 However, only 25% of Americans have their diabetes under control.[5]<\/a> \u00a0Also, the fewer the pre-existing health problems, the less likely one is to have complications or fatal outcomes even with diabetes.\u00a0 I was not able to determine, but it would be useful to know a different set of statistics such as what percentage of those who have diabetes, hypertension, or obesity and who contract the virus die, what percentage of those who have well-managed or poorly-managed diabetes and contract the virus die, and what percentage of those who are 65 and older with and without an underlying health disorder and contract the virus die.<\/p>\n

    The facts we have \u2013 and already had from other nations when the virus hit the US \u2013 give us clear markers of who needs the most preventative and protective help.\u00a0 Why not focus society\u2019s actions on protecting those people rather than taking down the entire economy and jeopardizing the mental health of everyone else?\u00a0 Even if the entire population were to contract the virus, it doesn\u2019t make sense to have 97 \u2013 99% of the people suffer mentally and financially \u2013 sometimes quite severely and fatally <\/em>– for the 1 \u2013 3%, especially if some of the lockdown measures are not even necessary to protect the others or have little or no effect.<\/p>\n

    So the point is not to ditch these people and throw them to the wolves, but why not concentrate our efforts on protecting those most likely to die in ways that do not harm everyone else?\u00a0 <\/em>And one of the best ways to do that is to educate people about the virus and to give individuals and families much, much more freedom to make decisions themselves so that they can be sure that no actions they take to slow the spread of the virus to the vulnerable will have a significantly harmful or lethal effect on themselves.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Censoring the News<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      As creepy and illogical as Cuomo\u2019s March mandates were, it wasn\u2019t until my letter to the editor was censored that alarm bells went off in my own mind, and I experienced a sickening feeling of having my rights as an American violated.\u00a0 It was a chilling sense of suddenly being in a country that I no longer recognized.\u00a0 I was already unfortunately used to the mainstream media\u2019s one-sided shallow news with logic full of holes, the stream of propaganda with which it bombards the audience, the way it makes readers and viewers feel their own opinion is truly their own and not manufactured by the media.\u00a0 I was already used to the endless, illogical, cruel wars and military actions in which the US government has engaged nearly every year of its existence.\u00a0 These features, shabby as they are, I recognized as the US.\u00a0 But I had never before experienced the media explicitly and shamelessly acknowledging that it was rejecting my letter precisely because it did not conform with government policy.<\/p>\n

      I had sent the following letter to the Albany Times Union <\/em>on March 20, 2020.<\/p>\n

      What is wrong with getting the coronavirus and developing immunity?\u00a0 Why the scare?\u00a0 Why so little individual freedom to decide how best to protect ourselves and others?<\/em><\/p>\n

      If this virus were killing people left and right, I would applaud these efforts to shut down so much, but more than 80% of people experience it mildly.\u00a0 This statistic might be even higher if all those infected with the virus knew they had it.<\/em><\/p>\n

      We should seriously protect the vulnerable parts of the population \u2013 the elderly and those with underlying respiratory or other health problems, but can\u2019t that be done more directly without shutting down so much of daily life?<\/em><\/p>\n

      When society overreacts \u2013 even playgrounds are off limits \u2013 it blinds itself to the negative economic, psychological, and physical consequences of its overreaction.\u00a0 How will fear, reduced wages, shortages, inactivity, and inconvenience fight disease?<\/em><\/p>\n

      US overreaction to the Cold War caused millions of fatalities.\u00a0 The US reaction to 3,000 killed on 9\/11 has caused the killing of over 300,000 Mid-Eastern civilians and over 250,000 Mid-Eastern opposition forces in post-9\/11 US war zones.\u00a0 It is not only overreaction, it is reaction in the wrong way.<\/em><\/p>\n

      How ironic that a generally mild virus causes such fear of death when the US War on Terror has killed and displaced millions, when the relentless destruction of Earth\u2019s habitats devastates all species.\u00a0 Instead of self-centered worry, we should remedy our underreaction to the harms we commit, including the suffering of Iranians facing coronavirus yet hamstrung by US sanctions.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      The letter was accepted, enormous pressure was released from my mind, and I was told it would appear in three to five days.\u00a0 But then, several days later, I received an e-mail that others had looked at the letter and decided \u201cit would be irresponsible of us to publish.\u00a0 What you advocate isn\u2019t in keeping with public health guidelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

      It was a shock.\u00a0 I sent back two angry letters pertaining to freedom of speech.\u00a0 What if my ideas on maintaining optimal health are different from the governor\u2019s?\u00a0 What if I and others in the mental health and health fields think his response is, in fact, dangerous to health?\u00a0 I\u2019m not allowed to express these ideas?<\/p>\n

      What if I think this concern for life is hypocritical given the callous attitude towards millions of other deaths, both foreign and American?\u00a0 This is parallel to the silencing of anti-war individuals in the past:\u00a0 Their views were considered too dangerous because they might \u201chinder the war effort\u201d and put ideas into people\u2019s heads that make them less compliant with government.<\/p>\n

      Friends I told about the fate of my letter were alarmed and responded by e-mail:<\/p>\n

      \u201cGod forbid someone have an opinion that isn\u2019t 100% aligned with General Cuomo\u2019s \u2018stay inside forever\u2019 edict\u2026.You do have a valid point \u2013 and even more importantly, it\u2019s a valid point that people need to hear because they\u2019re not hearing any other opinions than the One Voice and Authority that says \u2018We know what\u2019s best \u2013 there will be no discussion!\u2019\u2026.are reasonable ideas now so dangerous we can\u2019t even see them in print?\u00a0 Do they not trust their readers to make up their own minds?\u00a0 Or worst of all, have they decided their paper is just going to be a mouthpiece for the governor\u2019s war on the virus, and no dissent should be heard?\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201c\u2026any deviation from the corona dogma leads to shaming\u2026while I understand the seriousness, obviously these are people\u2019s lives.\u00a0 But there is so much still unknown that I think diverse opinions shouldn\u2019t be squelched or it will narrow our thinking and investigation.\u00a0 Any restriction of voice is dangerous for sure and no situation warrants censorship, which is what it is\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

      And these comments in phone conversation, paraphrased:<\/p>\n

      \u201cIt reminds me of Bush\u2019s \u201cYou\u2019re with us or against us\u201d attitude.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not for Cuomo\u2019s reaction, they think you\u2019re an enemy of public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201cI\u2019m in shock.\u00a0 I can\u2019t believe they wouldn\u2019t print your letter.\u00a0 I\u2019m just so shocked.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      It is not as though my letter was encouraging people to breath all over each other or break out in riots, but apparently my letter was considered something that was not for the eyes of the general public.<\/p>\n

      So let\u2019s modify the wording of the 1st<\/sup> Amendment to make reality clear:<\/p>\n

      \u201cWe have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom to assemble <\/em>unless the government decides it\u2019s too dangerous.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      But what good is an amendment like that?\u00a0 It puts all the power back with the government!\u00a0 We can pretend we\u2019re free, but we\u2019re really not, because what the COVID\u201419 experience has exposed is that government \u2013 particularly the executive branch – can trample democracy, declare law by decree, and take away our freedom \u2013 more than any terrorist has ever done or ever wanted to do \u2013 our freedom to play, socialize, work, move, and express dissent.\u00a0 The COVID-19 virus experience has also revealed that legislatures and the people will obey and accept government violations of the Constitution and seizures of power, whether because they\u2019ve been trained by school and bureaucratic society to docilely follow directions, or they\u2019ve been groomed by the media to believe their leader\u2019s oppression is necessary and optimal for our security and health, or they fear the government\u2019s potential use of force against us.<\/p>\n

      It\u2019s frightening, because Germans accepted Hitler\u2019s seizure of increasing amounts of power, and one major action that could have helped prevent this is if the media had served more of an investigative, impartial role where it did not serve as Hitler\u2019s mouthpiece but instead vigorously sought to gain a full history and a range of perspectives on relevant issues in order to fully inform the public.\u00a0 But US mainstream media is behaving in the same compliant, non-curious way.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure the German media felt the same as the US media today:\u00a0 \u201cOur leader wants to protect us and we have to support him.\u00a0 Plus, we might get in trouble if we don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

      The point is not that any US governor or national leader is akin to Hitler.\u00a0 But the point is that the media has a crucial role to play no matter who the leader is<\/em>, no matter her or his virtues or vices:\u00a0 The media must serve an investigative, impartial role to go beyond government statements and search for the full length, width, and depth of truth.\u00a0 Without this, a major safety net has vanished from our democracy.\u00a0 And it already has vanished.\u00a0 It vanished decades ago.<\/p>\n

      So who\u2019s to stop the government from using force against us?\u00a0 No American or foreigner has managed to stop the US government from attacking foreign nations.\u00a0 No American or foreigner has managed to stop the US government from possessing 4,000 nuclear weapons.\u00a0 And no American has been capable of stopping Cuomo and other state leaders from violating the US Constitution, oppressing us with mandates, and threatening us with enforcing them if we disobey.\u00a0 We were taught in school to rest assured that the system of checks and balances and the separation of powers prevent any one branch or person from gaining too much power.\u00a0 But what COVID-19 has made all too clear is that there is no system<\/em> \u2013 no means – in this charade of a democracy to prevent the arbitrary seizure and use of power by national or state governments and their power-hungry executives.\u00a0 And they can do it all so easily by uttering the magic words, \u201cstate of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Health, Like Peace, Has Many Contributing Components<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        The COVID-19 experience raises issues not only of freedom but of health.\u00a0 As usual, those persons attracted to positions of power are all thumbs when it comes to human relations, international relations, human health, and planetary health.<\/p>\n

        As many Americans know but are unable to observe because of government mandates, optimal health typically requires a balanced life and a balanced mind, including plenty of sleep, nutrition, exercise, cleanliness, love, time with people and animals, time in nature, a sense of belonging, friends, family, affection, positive touch, laughter, joy, play, and often a sense of purpose.\u00a0 Fear can cut away at optimal health.\u00a0 So can isolation.<\/p>\n

        Staying away from germs, an aspect of good hygiene, is important.\u00a0 In fact, my family does that more than most.\u00a0 I began bringing baby wipes to clean off my grocery cart twenty years ago – years before grocery stores ever had them installed.\u00a0 Sometimes in public, I\u2019ll use my elbow or a sleeve to open or close a door.\u00a0 We all wash our hands for 30 seconds after coming home.\u00a0 We stay away from people who are coughing or sneezing.\u00a0 We stay away from people if we are sick, which is rare.\u00a0 We even have separate items in the house \u2013 towels, glasses, and toothpastes.\u00a0 We also have pet reptiles and have to be very careful to not get salmonella or to infect one reptile with another reptile\u2019s germs.\u00a0 My point in saying this is to explain that I utterly value trying to avoid germs, but, while it takes thought and the development of good habits, it doesn\u2019t take much to avoid getting sick.\u00a0 But, I would add, it\u2019s especially <\/em>easy if you observe these practices and <\/em>you\u2019re not in a crowded school.<\/p>\n

        Frankly, I was always shocked how others would bring their little kids to playgroups or send them to school when they had runny noses.\u00a0 I was shocked when employers expected you back to work the day after a fever, even if you had a cough and runny nose or felt dizzy and nauseas.\u00a0 But that\u2019s the way American society is in its power relationships and humans-as-worker-ants ethos:\u00a0 Crack the whip and get back to work!\u00a0 Make up all the work you\u2019ve missed!\u00a0 I know people who go to work even when completely sick because it\u2019s harder to stay home and then have to make up all the work later.\u00a0 Crack that whip!\u00a0 The need to rest, both physically and mentally, the need to avoid crowds and the stuffy atmosphere of school or work, the need to peacefully rest the mind – all that is overlooked in the overworked American society where children and adults are forced to labor excessively as cogs or future cogs in the workforce, living life on a hamster wheel, finishing work just in time to start it all over the next day.<\/p>\n

        But now the tables have turned and society, led by governments, has gone in the other direction to an excessive degree.\u00a0 It\u2019s still power relationships, but now the power is forcing us to not <\/em>go to school or work.\u00a0 Not only that, we can\u2019t even enjoy ourselves in many of the ways we used to.\u00a0 We\u2019re not allowed to get together, play together, play basketball together, or go for a swim.\u00a0 Hiking is allowed, but only \u201csolitary\u201d hiking \u2013 despite all the advice to mountaineers never to hike alone.\u00a0 And now I hear that the people of Keene don\u2019t want us to hike the High Peaks, just in case we get them sick.\u00a0 Whose mountains are they, anyway?\u00a0 What the hell are people supposed to do?<\/p>\n

        Is it perhaps from not having practiced good hygiene previously that people don\u2019t know that it\u2019s not that hard to avoid germs and stay healthy?\u00a0 And why take such extreme measures, which could have severe or fatal effects, when it is not clear that all of these measures truly benefit the vulnerable much at all?\u00a0 For example, if people are capable of social distancing in the \u201cessential\u201d businesses, then why aren\u2019t the so-called \u201cnon-essential\u201d businesses allowed to stay open?\u00a0 Does it really help the vulnerable to have them be closed?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t the vulnerable stay away from the \u201cnon-essential\u201d businesses instead of closing them down?\u00a0 Those employees of such a business who are more vulnerable, if any, could receive payment from the government and take off some weeks of work until the virus passes through.\u00a0 But is there really a significant marginal benefit to the vulnerable of a 100% shutdown that is worth such risks as starvation and suicides from job loss?<\/p>\n

        And why the mandated public masks for all of New York State?\u00a0 Do they have evidence that the virus travels through the air even when one is symptomless and not exuding droplets from sneezing, coughing, yawning, or heavy breathing?\u00a0 Cuomo said that the \u201cpublic mask if within six feet\u201d mandate is meant to apply to places such as crowded bus and subway terminals, so why are stores in upstate New York posting signs that you can\u2019t go in there without a mask on, even if there\u2019s hardly a soul in the store and you can keep your distance from people?\u00a0 Do they even have a legal right to do this?\u00a0 Why the panic?\u00a0 It\u2019s as if everyone watched Outbreak, <\/em>starring Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo, in which the death rate from contracting the virus appeared to be 100%, not the estimated 1-3% of COVID-19.<\/p>\n

        Yes, staying away from germs is one factor to good health, but it is only one<\/em> factor amongst the many<\/em> factors that lead to optimal health.\u00a0 In fact, we are surrounded by germs all the time, inside and outside our bodies, but we have something called \u201cThe Immune System\u201d to fight germs.\u00a0 Is it perhaps from a reliance on pills, vaccines, and technology that people aren\u2019t aware of how to physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually develop the strength of the immune system and powers of healing?\u00a0 Or are most people aware of this and it is only governments that are ignorant?<\/p>\n

        In their oppressive paranoia about catching COVID-19, governments are so focused on preventing people from coming into contact with The Virus that they are ignoring and trampling upon all the other elements of good health, including all the elements that strengthen our immune system.<\/p>\n

        Picture a bell curve on a graph.\u00a0 If you start on the lefthand side and move right, the curve rises up the bell.\u00a0 As you keep moving right, the curve plummets back down the declining slope of the bell.\u00a0 This is what is happening with the government\u2019s exclusive focus on health as a function solely of distance from the COVID-19 virus.\u00a0 By going too far to the right of the bell and pushing more and more orders at us, by creating not merely recommendations but oppressive mandates that are shutting down lives, health will plunge down that bell curve, because people are now suffering from government-induced oppression, anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and actions, financial stress, lack of friends, lack of purpose, lack of recreation, and lack of joy.<\/p>\n

        What the leaders don\u2019t understand is that their orders not only oppress us, they create rage, fear, and a feeling of being trapped.\u00a0 It is quite dangerous to do this to us.\u00a0 When a leader gives an order, since he\u2019s <\/em>giving the order, he doesn\u2019t feel rage, fear, or a sense of being trapped.\u00a0 Plus, he probably has access to a personal doctor, hairdresser, cook, personal shopper, and veterinarian for his pets.\u00a0 The elements of life that government has cut off from us can be fatal \u2013 <\/em>but leaders just don\u2019t get it!\u00a0 How can Cuomo understand the pain of job loss?\u00a0 How can he understand that for some people, as some of us know all to well, job loss provokes suicide?\u00a0 I see he\u2019s still got his job.<\/p>\n

        Perhaps Cuomo and others dismiss suffering from the lockdown as a sign of weakness.\u00a0 But the weak ones, let me remind you, are the ones succumbing to the virus, and the governor wants us to bend over backwards to help them, so why not equal bending over backward to protect the rest of us from issues that are lethal to us?\u00a0 Or isn\u2019t each life equal in value?\u00a0 Leaders must <\/em>put themselves in our shoes or they will forever see resistance to their orders as nothing but impatience, obstinance, selfishness, and ignorance.<\/p>\n

        One of the major elements of good health that is being trampled in this world of social isolation is the importance of positive touch.\u00a0 In his 1978 book Touching:\u00a0 The Human Significance of the Skin, <\/em>anthropologist Ashley Montagu describes how in the early 1900s in New York City, babies in orphanages were dying at alarming rates from \u201cmarasmus,\u201d the inexplicable numerous deaths of babies at foundling institutions.\u00a0 In the early 1900s at some institutions throughout the US, the death rate for infants under one year of age was nearly 100 percent.\u00a0 The highest mortality rates were often found to occur at the \u201cbest\u201d institutions.\u00a0 The \u201cbest\u201d orphanages with the latest in technology had some of the worst mortality rates.<\/p>\n

        Then it was discovered that those babies who were held more often did not die.\u00a0 Mortality rates began to fall when some modern institutions began adopting the \u201cmothering\u201d practices of the old-fashioned homes.\u00a0 It then became a requirement to pick up each baby every day, carry it around, and \u201cmother\u201d it.[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

        Yet despite this power of love in health, the value of love is completely ignored in the current health pandemic, as it is with international human relations where a similar emphasis on the technology of drones, satellites, nuclear weapons, conventional weapons, and space weapons is felt necessary to save us and where military technology is felt to be the supreme tool to achieve peace on Earth.<\/p>\n

        What does the lack of touch, the lack of eye contact, the lack of a friendly pat on the back, the inability to see a smile behind a mask \u2013 do to our health?\u00a0 Children are encouraged not to visit their grandparents \u2013 just visit them online.\u00a0 But how does this harm <\/em>health?\u00a0 Surely there are ways to visit one\u2019s grandparents \u2013 or even pat them on the back or rub their shoulders – while being careful to wash hands and to not spread germs.<\/p>\n

        Perhaps the elderly are now less likely to come into contact \u2013 at least in the short term \u2013 with the virus.\u00a0 (Actually, I take that back with the news I heard about NYS government\u2019s order to nursing homes of March 25, described further below.)\u00a0 But how is the health faring of those elderly shut away in nursing homes or in their own homes who are told that, for the sake of their \u201chealth,\u201d they cannot visit anyone because of the virus?\u00a0 How is their health plummeting even now from the social isolation?\u00a0 How many hearts are dying and brains are declining?<\/p>\n

        Does the governor know what is best for all without asking anyone but his \u201chealth experts,\u201d experts trained in materialist Western medicine which routinely devalues the role of love, touch, mind, heart, and spirit in its obsession over physical facts and quantifiable results?\u00a0 Ask any woman who\u2019s had a baby at a hospital.\u00a0 Is the hospital focused on love and positive touch or measurements, tests, and drugs to keep everything under the doctor\u2019s control?<\/p>\n

        As early as the 1920s, the importance of touch was demonstrated in scientific experiments by Frederick Hammett.\u00a0 At that time, an experiment was conducted in which thyroid and parathyroid glands were removed from rats.\u00a0 For those who care for rats, this was an unkind operation.\u00a0 However, a useful point was accidentally made in the process:\u00a0 to Hammett\u2019s surprise, some of the rats did not die.<\/p>\n

        Upon looking into the situation more, it was discovered that the rats were drawn from two different groups.\u00a0 One came from a colony that had been customarily petted and gentled for five generations.\u00a0 \u201cThe laboratory attendant had raised them under conditions in which they were frequently handled, stroked, and had kindly sounds uttered to them, and they responded with fearlessness, friendliness, and a complete lack of neuromuscular tension or irritability.\u201d\u00a0 When handled, they were relaxed, yielding, and not easily frightened.\u00a0 They could easily handle disturbing circumstances that would make ungentled rats highly nervous and jumpy.<\/p>\n

        The second group of rats came from an ungentled colony that had received only the minimal human contact required by feeding and cage-cleaning.\u00a0 \u201cThese animals were frightened and bewildered, anxious and tense in the presence of people.\u201d<\/p>\n

        Within two days of the operation, 79 percent of the ungentled, irritable rats had died, while only 13 percent of the gentled rats died.\u00a0 Later observation with subsequent experiments continued to show that the more petting rats receive, the better they do in the laboratory situation.\u00a0 Of course, it could be possible to interpret these results as signifying that gentling produced rats better able to trust humans and thus feel calmer in laboratory situations, but Hammett concluded that the gentling and petting produced a more stable nervous system with a marked resistance to the surgical removal of the glands.[7]<\/a> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

        Many investigators have confirmed that rats and other animals who are gentled in their early days have \u201csignificantly greater increases in weight, more activity, less fearfulness, greater ability to withstand stress, and greater resistance to physiological damage.\u201d\u00a0 These advantages may also be responsible for strengthened immune systems.[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

        Is the importance of touch being considered when those who are suffering from the virus are isolated in hospitals?\u00a0 Would death rates be lower if there were more positive touch and social connections?\u00a0 Would anxiety also be lower?\u00a0 Naturally, some people will deliberately misinterpret what I am writing and suggest that I am implying that love and touch is all it takes to stop COVID-19.\u00a0 That is not what I am saying.\u00a0 Keeping one\u2019s distance and refraining from getting too close can also be important in certain situations.\u00a0 The critical point I am emphasizing is that there are multiple elements of health, and our national leaders are solely homing in on one – keeping distant from germs \u2013 at the expense of other elements.<\/p>\n

        How many of those who require social contact to stay happy and peaceful will commit suicide like the young man in the UK, Daniel Furniss, who, because he had diabetes, was forced to live in isolation, where he could not even see his family and friends?\u00a0 He killed himself.\u00a0 He killed himself because the government took away his right and the right of his family to decide<\/em> for themselves<\/em> how best to protect his health.<\/p>\n

        Daniel Furniss was a 34-year old extrovert diagnosed with bipolar disorder who thrived on social contact and loved to play games in the park.\u00a0 He was forced to adhere to the strictest self-isolation guidelines.\u00a0 He knew he would have difficulty getting through the lockdown and told this to others.[9]<\/a> \u00a0Yet this knowledge was not allowed to have any impact on his abilities to socialize during the lockdown.\u00a0 The government\u2019s blanket mandate overrode the significance of his individual knowledge about what he needed to stay alive.\u00a0 The government\u2019s assumption that cell phones, social media, and mental health phone calls will fill in for personal contact is dead wrong.<\/p>\n

        The predicament into which Daniel Furniss was placed by government is absolutely infuriating.\u00a0 You may as well call his suicide murder.\u00a0 It was murder by an arrogant and ignorant government.<\/p>\n

        No government has the right to do this.\u00a0 No government has the right to interfere with an individual\u2019s or a family\u2019s own decisions about how to reduce lethal anxiety and how to achieve optimal health, whether it is by socializing, going to work, going to school, not <\/em>going to school, refusing to be registered or conscripted for the military, smoking marijuana, skateboarding in a park, or swimming at the beach.<\/p>\n

        How many are staying sane \u2013 and alive \u2013 precisely because they are violating<\/em> ignorant government mandates, visiting friends, sitting closer than six feet without a mask, or finding some secret place outside to play with others?\u00a0 And how many of these people \u2013 even as they visit \u2013 are being careful and taking precautions if someone feels sick?\u00a0 How many people are judging for themselves what is best for the circumstances?<\/p>\n

        In San Clemente, California, skateboarders in tune with what their minds, hearts, bodies, and spirits need to stay alive and vital were still skateboarding \u2013 despite mandates against it \u2013 in the local skateboard park.\u00a0 In response, taking their cue from the Burgermeister who forbids children to have toys in the Christmas special, \u201cSanta Claus Is Coming to Town,\u201d city officials filled in the park with 37 tons of sand.\u00a0 One skateboardist, Steve Haring, commented that \u201ccity officials have taken the one thing we love to do away.\u00a0 This is our home and this is where we exercise.\u00a0 We\u2019re able to social distance while also seeing friends.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

        Evidently, the government didn\u2019t trust the skateboardists\u2019 abilities to protect their health.\u00a0 It probably never occurred to city officials to talk with skateboardists to learn their views.\u00a0 And apparently, the joy, love, exercise, friends, and social setting were not deemed by the city government to be factors that could promote good health and a strong immune system.<\/p>\n

        Equally alarming is the possibility that even if some city officials disagreed with state mandates and felt skateboarding might be beneficial to health, Americans are so trained to follow orders in this massive bureaucracy, that, like Dr. Seuss\u2019 Yertle the Turtle,<\/em> one mind on top is capable of controlling millions of people below and easily convincing them to repress their own instincts and ideas and to not even evaluate orders.\u00a0 This is what American democracy, freedom, and rugged individualism have come to \u2013 or perhaps have been for a long time.<\/p>\n

        Montagu writes of some friendly rabbits that were all given highly fatty diets in order to study atherosclerosis.\u00a0 As I recall from his book, some of these rabbits were petted, held and cooed over, while others were not.\u00a0 Those rabbits who were frequently held and cuddled did not develop atherosclerosis. \u00a0The affection and positive touch were more powerful factors than the diet.\u00a0 Whether or not this experiment has been repeated in research, I do not know.\u00a0 But it should at least serve the purpose of raising an eyebrow at the Western materialist, quantitative view of health as a matter primarily of germs, numbers, tests, and measurements.<\/p>\n

        Can we apply this to a study of people with hypertension and diabetes?\u00a0 What is the effect of positive touch on these health problems?\u00a0 What is the effect of social isolation, masks, inactivity, and life-jarring mandates?\u00a0 Is it possible these mandates are making bodies less <\/em>able to successfully fight off the virus?\u00a0 How many are developing hypertension or worsening diabetes because<\/em> of the oppression and accompanying anxiety?<\/p>\n

        Anxiety, depression, and stress are known to be major contributors to poor health.\u00a0 Even back in the 1980s, doctors already were blaming fear, depression, anxiety, and other chronic negative emotions for causing or aggravating 60 – 75% of common American illnesses.[11]<\/a> \u00a0Yet despite the powerful effect of emotions on health, they are being entirely overlooked in efforts to prevent death from COVID-19.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Orders, Orders, Everywhere! Macho Leaders Are Clueless About Holistic Pathways to Good Health and Peace<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          The breed in power appears uncomfortable with the power of love and caring and is all thumbs when it comes to bedside manner and the elements of health.\u00a0 That\u2019s why leaders are so narrow-minded and short-sighted about reacting to the virus.\u00a0 For Cuomo and others, promoting good health must be done in a macho way:\u00a0 This is war!\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re going to kick ass!\u201d\u00a0 Do as I say or else!\u00a0 Don\u2019t follow your own instincts!\u00a0 And don\u2019t do anything affectionate, loving, joyful, or social.\u00a0 That is off limits!\u00a0 If you disobey, we\u2019ll fine you, and, in some nations, imprison you or shoot you.\u00a0 That\u2019s how we\u2019ll protect life, by golly.\u00a0 Just like we\u2019re protecting American life by shooting down Afghans, Iraqis, and Somalis.<\/p>\n

          How many around the world are furious with macho leaders who claim to be better parents than you are and who deprive parents and individuals of the freedom to make decisions about health?<\/p>\n

          Cuomo\u2019s tone has been commanding and condescending.\u00a0 He clearly assumes we are incapable of figuring out for ourselves how to protect our health but need marching orders.\u00a0 With the bedside manner of someone who could make a healthy person sick, he has reminded us that these measures are not friendly suggestions but mandates that will be enforced.\u00a0 Stress, threats, and the uncertainty surrounding the apparent lack of limits to this new oppression from on high are the ingredients to concoct exactly the wrong recipe to help people acquire a healthy, peaceful state of mind to fight off a virus.<\/p>\n

          Creepier still has been the emphasis on staying indoors.\u00a0 <\/em>Sometimes it is mentioned that we can go out \u2013 but only for essential errands \u2013 or for a run.\u00a0 But the emphasis is always on staying indoors.\u00a0 <\/em>Why?\u00a0 Are they preparing us for nuclear or chemical war? For life on Mars?\u00a0 Why indoors?\u00a0 Why in some nations, such as Russia, are you not allowed to walk beyond 100 meters of your home?\u00a0 Where is the logic?\u00a0 Are they afraid you\u2019re going to sneeze on a sidewalk that someone else touches who then licks his hand?<\/p>\n

          When Cuomo banned gatherings of any size for any reason, it left you feeling creepy again:\u00a0 Would the police be scanning neighborhoods, parks, homes, and cars to see how many had assembled?\u00a0 Are you allowed to be within six feet of a family member on the sofa or at the dining room table?\u00a0 Or did his edict refer only to gatherings between families?\u00a0 Could cousins be within six feet?\u00a0 Or only siblings?\u00a0 Could a mother bring her child to the store?\u00a0 Were cars allowed to have only one person in them?\u00a0 Could you not sit on a bench with a friend?<\/p>\n

          Cuomo specifically forbade pick-up games of basketball.\u00a0 So would you be arrested if you shot hoops with others?\u00a0 Was tennis banned, too?\u00a0 Why couldn\u2019t children play on the playground if they didn\u2019t get too close to one another?\u00a0 Many playgrounds are nearly vacant.\u00a0 Not even one family is allowed to play on the playground?\u00a0 Why can\u2019t children wash their hands afterwards like you do at a petting zoo?\u00a0 How can you do this to children?<\/p>\n

          Of course, if we were allowed to use our own judgment and our own sense of logic \u2013 a scary thing for Cuomo \u2013 we could make these decisions ourselves.\u00a0 But, ordered around like chickens running this way and that, with no convincing logic guiding policy, it has all been highly unclear what we can and can\u2019t do and what will happen to us if we disobey, even while being careful.\u00a0 It has been highly unclear and nerve-wracking.<\/p>\n

          Cuomo, ironically, has considered himself quite clear and sensible and even blasted his perennial enemy, NYC Mayor De Blasio, for allegedly being unclear and potentially putting New Yorkers into a panic with his use of the term \u201cshelter in-place,\u201d a term and a condition which Cuomo considered inappropriate.\u00a0 Cuomo also threatened to press charges against the national government if the Trump administration implemented a tri-state lockdown, which Cuomo believed would be illegal.\u00a0 Despite his showy defense of New Yorkers against what he portrayed as threats and illegal proposals from De Blasio and Trump, what Cuomo has done is hardly different from their suggestions and possible ideas. \u00a0\u00a0However, since he\u2019s the one making the commands, we\u2019re not supposed to consider his ideas to be threatening, illegal, or unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

          It has been nerve-wracking not to be able to behave as we individually determine to be optimal and appropriate, and it has been nerve-wracking experiencing the shock of living in a dictatorship and the uncertainty of not knowing if or when these dictatorial powers will ever decline.\u00a0 Making it worse is Cuomo\u2019s remark, \u201cYou\u2019re free!\u201d\u00a0 So is this the new freedom in doublespeak?\u00a0 He calls this freedom?<\/p>\n

          It is not clear how Cuomo or any other similarly-mandating leader decided he could violate the 1st<\/sup> Amendment.\u00a0 But guess what!\u00a0 He was right!\u00a0 No one has stopped him!\u00a0 The US and state governments have no constitutional power to restrict people\u2019s freedom of movement or their freedoms to attend school or not, to play or not, to work or not, and to wear masks or not.\u00a0 But no one has stopped leaders over these matters either!\u00a0 When Trump suggested that certain state governors, such as Cuomo, have been too harsh and oppressive, Trump and his concern about freedom have been put down as not in the best interests of health.\u00a0 Where is it written in the Constitution that health concerns eclipse basic freedoms?\u00a0 And where is the proof that the lockdown does not harm health?\u00a0 For every life that might be saved by this lockdown, how many are crippled or even destroyed?<\/p>\n

          Of course, the democracy that supposedly exists in the US is a charade, as has been demonstrated by every single war the US government has fought, always without consulting the people, without informing the people fully and truthfully, and without allowing the people of either side of the conflict to present alternative non-violent problem-solving measures.\u00a0 We have seen the executive branch of the national government thumb its nose at the Constitution and international law and get the media to be its cheerleader, but now our state governor and other governors are doing this as well \u2013 and no one is stopping them.<\/p>\n

          There\u2019s nothing holistic or motherly about Cuomo\u2019s approach to health.\u00a0 And Cuomo\u2019s not the only one.\u00a0 If you read about how other national governments are handling this, such as South Africa, Israel, Russia, India, Pakistan, and the Philippines, there are even more horrifying, illogical restrictions on freedom of movement, and in some nations, the military, with its winning bedside manner, is being used to enforce the mandates.\u00a0 In South Africa, police fired rubber bullets at civilians going to supermarkets.\u00a0 They were supposed to starve to death, but not die from the virus!\u00a0 In Uganda, motorbikers defying the lockdown were shot by police and hospitalized.\u00a0 In India, civilians may also be shot if they do not comply.\u00a0 Israel is also using its army to enforce the lockdown.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n

          Odd that they\u2019re so very scared of a virus that has mild or no symptoms in 80% of the population.\u00a0 A virus that kills only 1 \u2013 3% of those who contract it, and less than 0.4% if you\u2019re under 50.\u00a0 Why so jumpy?\u00a0 Why so tense?\u00a0 Perhaps they\u2019re from the ungentled rat colony.<\/p>\n

          Even at PetSmart, I walked in without a mask, fully intending to keep six feet apart from others, and I was informed that there is a sign on the door (which I did not see) saying that everyone in the store has to wear a mask.\u00a0 I was also told that the governor had signed an executive order basically stating that it is required to wear masks in public.\u00a0 I clarified that the order stated the masks are required in public only if one is within six feet of others.\u00a0 I was informed – in this store that was almost completely bare of people – that it is practically impossible to walk in that store without coming closer than six feet from others.\u00a0 Funny, to me it seemed quite simple.<\/p>\n

          I was then told that they have to protect their associates, most of whom, I noticed, are in their twenties or thirties, the age bracket with the 0.2% likelihood of dying if the virus were contracted.\u00a0 I replied that I was observing the six foot distance.\u00a0 I wondered to myself, why the fear so disproportionate from reality?\u00a0 Did their associates have hypertension or diabetes?\u00a0 Were they afraid of spreading it to a more elderly family members or friend?\u00a0 Did they not wash their hands before leaving work or upon arriving home?\u00a0 Were they afraid I would come closer and breathe on them?\u00a0 I told them I would not be coming back.\u00a0 They\u2019re astronomically over-priced anyway.<\/p>\n

          I was furious.\u00a0 Note that we not only have a governor seizing power, but we now have stores re-interpreting his orders and placing even tighter restrictions on customers.<\/p>\n

          The order requiring face masks and the stores\u2019 interpretation of that order are both deplorable.\u00a0 They deprive individuals of the freedom to decide what is best for their own situation.\u00a0 They create a very scary image of a society in the midst of a plague as in Outbreak, <\/em>which is simply not the case.<\/p>\n

          But what is most sinister is that these incremental mandates train the public, step by step, into compliantly accepting more and more orders that deprive them of more and more freedoms.\u00a0 It almost seems orchestrated: \u00a0\u201cIf we can get them to do this, then we can get them to do this.\u201d\u00a0 What will be the next freedom to fall?<\/p>\n

          Of course, the fact that our leaders are clueless about the elements of optimal health is not surprising, given the lack of government concern over human tendencies to light-heartedly overpopulate and pollute the globe, and given the society we have with its lengthy hours of compulsory sedentary schooling and lengthy hours of work \u2013 all requiring the bulk of the hours of one\u2019s day, leaving very little time for joy, love, friendship-making, recreation, freedom, proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep, and rendering the Western world a society with a high level of mental illness and hypertension.<\/p>\n

          While it\u2019s so easy to be angry with these leaders, they are actually at the mercy of their own brains.\u00a0 Let\u2019s face it:\u00a0 people have strengths and weaknesses.\u00a0 The breed that is attracted to power and that has the wealth and connections to succeed at winning power, while it may have some remarkable talents, is usually not <\/em>comprised of the type of person who has any greater-than-average levels of psychological insight and mental and emotional perceptiveness.\u00a0 Hence, the topics of health, human relations, love, peace, joy, and the environment are out of their league.<\/p>\n

          Cuomo may genuinely want to be saving lives.\u00a0 His statements indicate that he believes that by maintaining the lockdown, he is defending the elderly against business leaders who think only about profits.\u00a0 Yet his statement could be only for show, for he has proposed billions in cuts to Medicaid next year rather than raising taxes on billionaires who are said to have contributed greatly to his campaign.[13]<\/a> \u00a0Moreover, the state in which he has left hospitals for years shows no concern whatsoever for the elderly.\u00a0 Whatever his motivation, Cuomo\u2019s mandates are hurting a lot of people both physically and mentally.\u00a0 Some cannot afford to buy food.\u00a0 How can he paint opposition to the lockdown as corporate greed?\u00a0 Or is that a ploy to make it a case of good Cuomo vs. evil opponents?<\/p>\n

          If he really cares, he\u2019s got to open his ears and care about all of us.\u00a0 Plus, if he had focused on helping the vulnerable from the start, instead of making us all suffer, he could have used the resources of his personnel, the Health Department, energy, and finances to home in helping the vulnerable.\u00a0 Instead of giving relief funding to failing businesses and unemployed Americans, that money could have gone towards funding for hospitals and nursing homes, hiring more doctors, nurses, and other staff, training, beds, and equipment.\u00a0 Perhaps funding could have been allotted also to personal shoppers and home health aides who\u2019ve washed well, are dressed in sterile clothing, and who have already acquired natural immunity to COVID-19 and who could personally help the vulnerable.<\/p>\n

          Instead, with so many orders going out left and right, telling businesses, schools, veterinarians, hospitals, nursing homes, etc. what they can and can\u2019t do, his administration makes faulty policies.\u00a0 As a friend recently pointed out to me, a March 25, 2020 order to nursing homes required them to expedite the admission and readmission of patients from hospitals in order to make room in the hospitals for COVID-19 patients.\u00a0 Funny thing is, the order prohibited nursing homes from requiring that these patients be tested for COVID-19.\u00a0 Therefore, COVID-19 had an easy entry to the nursing homes, where more than 3,000 have died from COVID-19 across the state.[14]<\/a> [15]<\/a> \u00a0In short, the elderly in nursing homes have not been allowed to have visitors, but patients with COVID-19 could be admitted.<\/p>\n

          The problem is that the type of people attracted to power end up using their power-way of looking at things to try to solve problems.\u00a0 Hence, the US government tries to bring peace by waging war while oblivious to the gamut of psychological, biological, environmental, societal, political, and economic effects of war.\u00a0 Now in their effort to bring health, nations and states are mandating lockdowns, while oblivious to the psychological, physical, and financial effects of a lockdown.\u00a0 They pass measures to have a suicide hotline and think that will take care of any psychological suffering.<\/p>\n

          For many of us, it is easy to see how current mandates could lead someone into anxiety, depression, and\/or suicide, especially someone who is already geared in that direction, and especially someone who depends upon working or socializing in person \u2013 not merely by using current technology – in order to feel that life is worth living or to afford food and bills.\u00a0 But for macho leaders who believe that missiles create peace and social distancing and lockdowns create health, they just don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n

          Have you noticed the immune system isn\u2019t even talked about by the governments who are supposedly trying to protect us?\u00a0 It\u2019s quite odd.\u00a0 In those health alert phone calls from the county and those messages from the governor, we\u2019re not encouraged to get plenty of rest, eat well, have lots of Vitamin C, read a book to a loved one who is sick, and do fun things to keep our spirits and immune system strong.\u00a0 No, no.\u00a0 First of all, we\u2019re not supposed to be together.\u00a0 If someone in our family gets sick, we\u2019re also supposed to isolate.\u00a0 Shun them!\u00a0 I suppose that\u2019s why nurses are underpaid and hospitals in the Albany Capital District are short-staffed with nurses:\u00a0 the leaders on top don\u2019t see the value in the bedside manner and love.\u00a0 (Of course, some nurses don\u2019t recognize this either and are more bent on bossing patients around than transmitting love, warmth, and kindness.)<\/p>\n

          Another way to strengthen the immune system is to actually contract the virus.\u00a0 Presumably, this would make us stronger for the next version of this coronavirus that comes around which could always be worse.\u00a0 But the idea of our developing immunity to this virus and others like it by contracting the virus is nothing that is encouraged.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 Why do governments not want us to develop natural immunity?\u00a0 Are they hoping to stop the spread so that we don\u2019t acquire natural immunity?<\/p>\n

          They seem to hope to someday artificially vaccinate us so that human technology \u2013 not our natural immune systems \u2013 overcome the virus.\u00a0 Plus, some will make money off the vaccine, something which would not be possible if we acquired natural immunity.\u00a0 Some even want to give us digital identities within our bodies.\u00a0 That will keep us under control!\u00a0 Then they\u2019ll really <\/em>be able to make sure we\u2019re behaving in ways that keep us safe, healthy, and free.<\/p>\n

          With the lockdown, the virus is not able to pass through the community.\u00a0 The lockdown has slowed its spread but also slowed its departure.\u00a0 Do Cuomo and other state and national leaders expect to completely eradicate the virus from their jurisdictions forever?\u00a0 Don\u2019t they think it could circle back in and strike those who didn\u2019t get it the first time around?\u00a0 Have they considered the pros and cons of letting it pass through a little more quickly while protecting the vulnerable so we can all come out from hiding sooner?\u00a0 I do not know the answer, but it seems a shame not to consider this question.<\/p>\n

          And addressing hypertension, diabetes, and obesity to make people less vulnerable to death?\u00a0 Is that on the agenda?\u00a0 In the macho government\u2019s mind that is focused on war, that idea is just ridiculous, it\u2019s almost as bad as an admission that something is wrong on our side that we need to fix.\u00a0 It would be like saying that US foreign policy might have had something <\/em>to do with 9\/11.<\/p>\n

          When government is led by people who believe peace requires war and health requires oppression, we\u2019re on a very bad road to peace and health.\u00a0 We\u2019ll never make it.\u00a0 Of course, there is always the possibility that war has not been waged for peace and this lockdown is not really about health.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. The Dangers of High Concentrations of Power and the Lack of Empathy Towards Those Who Disagree<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            So much power in the hands of a few is frightening and dangerous.\u00a0 No government <\/em>should ever have the power to create a lockdown or violate their nation\u2019s constitution and the International Declaration of Human Rights.\u00a0\u00a0 No government <\/em>should have the right to force children to go to school or to force them not go to school.\u00a0 And no government <\/em>should ever have the power to bomb another nation or city to smithereens, to create or use nuclear weapons, to kill thousands, and to displace millions.<\/p>\n

            So much power in the hands of a few is not only dangerous:\u00a0 it\u2019s ineffective.\u00a0 The problem with heavily centralized power \u2013 whether in government or business, large or small – is that it ignores the intelligence and value of each individual and family and thus leads to blanket decisions for them all that are uninformed, sloppy, ineffective, callous, and sometimes cruel.\u00a0 The centralized economic power of Communism has been ineffective because one government cannot know the individual economic needs and business interests and skills of each household.\u00a0 Cuomo\u2019s bag ban is ineffective because it ignores the fact that many households reuse these bags to line waste baskets, to line leaky boots, and to pick up pet poop.\u00a0 Those households will now have to purchase plastic bags.<\/p>\n

            And Cuomo\u2019s mandates are ineffective because they are endangering the health and mental health of New Yorkers whose minds and lives he cannot fathom.\u00a0 He thinks everyone can adjust and be \u201ctough\u201d for an unknown period of time, when he does not have a clue as to how others\u2019 minds and lives operate.\u00a0 When your government is not truly representative, when you have one breed in power, when you don\u2019t even seek the opinions of those you wield power over, you\u2019re going to make some serious mistakes that harm the populace.<\/p>\n

            Look at the CDC\u2019s recommendations for the elderly.\u00a0 They suggest that the elderly stock up on at least thirty days of groceries so they can stay home for twenty-nine days straight.[16]<\/a> \u00a0First of all, getting out is often extremely healthful for the body and mind.\u00a0 But secondly, it\u2019s clear that CDC members do not do their own grocery shopping or cooking.\u00a0 Show me some fresh strawberries, bananas, mushrooms, green peppers, eggplant, and potatoes that can last thirty days without getting moldy or sprouting eyes.<\/p>\n

            And are they expected to freeze all their raw meat?\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t last thirty days without freezing it.\u00a0 How do they deal with expiration dates on dairy products?\u00a0 Or aren\u2019t we supposed to worry about death from bad food and death from lack of fresh fruit, only death from COVID-19?\u00a0 Are they supposed to be eating from cans and boxes for thirty days?\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine my parents being as healthy as they are now if they hadn\u2019t been leading an active lifestyle, getting outside, washing their hands whenever they come home, and eating lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and homemade cooking.\u00a0 But the CDC wants them to sit quietly on the sofa for twenty-nine days, eating canned or moldy food?<\/p>\n

            Are CDC members going to help Grandma and Grandpa with the finances and transportation to buy a second frig to store thirty days of food?\u00a0 Are they going to buy them a trailer and hitch it up to bring home the thirty days of food?\u00a0 And the bags!\u00a0 What type of bags will they be allowed to use on this <\/em>grocery trip, for those rules keep changing, too.\u00a0 And is this one grueling day of shopping intended to exhaust Grandma and Grandpa so they\u2019ll want to sleep for the next twenty-nine days?\u00a0 Will stores require them to wear masks, too?\u00a0 Even if it interferes with breathing?\u00a0 What if it confuses any of the elderly who have dementia?\u00a0 What if it makes anyone faint?\u00a0 What if it brings on feelings of claustrophobia or confusion?<\/p>\n

            At least the CDC made recommendations rather than orders.\u00a0 But their recommendations illustrate that people shouldn\u2019t be making orders \u2013 and perhaps not even recommendations – for other people whose lives they don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n

            When you have a government, such as Cuomo\u2019s New York State government, that mandates a lockdown of 100% of the workforce, shuts down all schools, mandates social distancing, and now mandates facial masks, you take away freedom from individuals and from families who likely have individual information about their own lives that is critical to their making optimal decisions for their health.<\/p>\n

            This family might know:\u00a0 \u201cOur son has to hang out with his friends or he\u2019ll kill himself.\u201d\u00a0 This individual might know:\u00a0 \u201cI have to keep working or we won\u2019t have money for food and to pay our heating, phone, water, and insurance bills.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cMy grandmother needs to see me or she\u2019ll become despondent and listless.\u201d\u00a0 Suicide is the most severe outcome, but other negative outcomes include a rise in depression, anxiety, insanity, domestic violence, violence, poverty, malnutrition, and ill health.<\/p>\n

            Blanket lockdowns and mandates dismiss the diversity of needs and personalities within the population.\u00a0 For some people, their job is the bane of their existence.\u00a0 For others, it is their life.\u00a0 For some, living in solitude is a blessing. For others, it is a trigger for suicide or violence.\u00a0 Why, with a virus that is by and large mild, when acquiring immunity could be beneficial, when it is known which people we should especially protect, should those who may commit suicide or suffer significant harm from a lack of job or lack of socializing be required to trade their lives for the sake of possibly<\/em> reducing the chance of spreading COVID-19 to others which could possibly<\/em> save lives?<\/p>\n

            As one friend wrote, \u201cThis lock down has turned crazy!\u00a0 I keep hearing people say the cure is worse than the affliction\u2026. Amazing how easily liberties can be stripped away.\u00a0 Shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

            Macho leaders are not listening to these voices.\u00a0 They are not giving respect to individuals and families to make these decisions themselves.\u00a0 They are not trusting those they govern.\u00a0 They lack empathy and understanding for those they govern.\u00a0 They don\u2019t understand the rage and despair driving their protests.\u00a0 Just as US leaders perceive Afghan and Iraqi resisters as malicious and ignorant of the blessings of liberty, just as US leaders refuse to consider Mid-Eastern resisters\u2019 rage over injustice and despair over killing, US state and national leaders now erroneously perceive resistance to their COVID-19 orders as nothing more than recalcitrance, disobedience, selfishness, ignorance, and a challenge to their authority.\u00a0 When will leaders grow enough to listen to those who resist their orders?\u00a0 Better yet, when will leaders listen before they issue orders?<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. Oppression Kills: The Hypocrisy of Not Wanting to Overwhelm Hospitals While Accepting Years of Overwhelmed Health and Mental Health Systems<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              The hypocrisy of this sudden caring for life is maddening.\u00a0 We are supposed to be \u201cstrong\u201d during the lockdown to prevent the deaths of 1 \u2013 3% of those who contract the virus, those who have health weaknesses such as hypertension, diabetes, and obesity.\u00a0 Yet this lockdown preys upon the weaknesses of other people:\u00a0 those who already suffer from depression and anxiety, those who depend upon their jobs to give them a sense of purpose, identity, and a reason to live, those who need to see their friends and socialize in order to find joy and a reason to live.<\/p>\n

              We are being pitted against each other \u2013 life against life.\u00a0 Job loss \u2013 the last I heard was 22 million Americans had lost their jobs[17]<\/a> \u2013 can be a strong factor provoking poverty, starvation, and\/or suicide because of the loss of income and the loss of purpose and identity.\u00a0 If the governor and other state and national leaders were to listen, they would hear some Americans saying, \u201cI feel useless without my job.\u00a0 I hate feeling useless.\u00a0 I miss going to work.\u00a0 I miss the social part of work.\u00a0 I miss having my own paycheck.\u00a0 If I don\u2019t have a job, I\u2019ll be in a dangerous state of mind.\u201d\u00a0 Our leaders think the suicide hotline will solve that problem, but, while it\u2019s better than nothing, it won\u2019t solve the problem.\u00a0 People considering suicide because of job loss need their jobs, not just a phone call.\u00a0 Our leaders care about preventing deaths from COVID-19, but they don\u2019t give a damn about preventing deaths from the lockdown.<\/p>\n

              Supposedly, Cuomo is taking these drastic actions to slow the spread of the virus in order to not overwhelm the hospital system.\u00a0 \u201cThe hospitals will be overwhelmed!\u201d\u00a0 Heaven forbid!\u00a0 But in New York State, hospitals have been overwhelmed for years.\u00a0 As historian and peace activist Larry Wittner writes, insufficient hiring of adequate numbers of nurses have left nurses overworked \u2013 often not wanting to go home at the end of their shifts because they know patients need help.\u00a0 According to Albany Medical\u2019s management, there is a shortage of about 200 nurses.\u00a0 This is, writes Wittner, despite the fact that Albany Medical Center is a wealthy institution and its CEO makes millions.[18]<\/a><\/p>\n

              NYS hospitals are so under-staffed they are said to be \u201ccut to the bone,\u201d with some patients left lying in their waste for hours, waiting for a nurse who is overworked and can\u2019t get to everybody when they need help.[19]<\/a> \u00a0These are the hospitals in the state of the governor who currently claims to be defending the elderly against businessmen who care only about profit.\u00a0 When it comes time to be discharged, patients have to wait for hours, which can be highly stressful for some, for there are not enough doctors to get through the rounds in a timely manner.\u00a0 And if you have a mental health crisis, don\u2019t bother going to Albany Medical Center on the weekends.\u00a0 They have funding for psychiatrists only on weekdays.\u00a0 Plus, there is that mysterious, scandalous death that occurred in their emergency room in 2018 of a man whom they medicated and restrained because he was acting belligerently.[20]<\/a><\/p>\n

              Why was our heroic, commanding governor not concerned with these problems?<\/p>\n

              Emergency rooms and urgent care centers have also been overwhelmed for years. \u00a0The lack of doctors and beds means you have to wait a long time to be admitted, often more than an hour, and then you must hastily depart so that they can have doctors and beds for others.\u00a0 Frankly, it feels like we\u2019re living in a Third World country, not the \u201cmighty\u201d USA, touted as \u201cthe greatest nation in the world\u201d by various US presidents.\u00a0 Of course, what would they know about the daily life of the general population?\u00a0 Presidents and governors probably have their own personal doctors who see them within fifteen minutes.<\/p>\n

              One of the most angering aspects of the hypocrisy of Governor Cuomo and other leaders who say \u201cone life lost from COVID-19 is too many,\u201d is the horrendous state of mental health care in New York State, and, from what I have heard, across the country.\u00a0 We must lose our jobs so as not to overwhelm hospitals, because people may suffer and die.\u00a0 Yet the mental health system has been overwhelmed<\/em> for years \u2013 within NYS and across the country.\u00a0 In NYS, you have to be on a waiting list for months behind hundreds <\/em>of other New Yorkers to see a nurse practitioner or psychiatrist.<\/p>\n

              There\u2019s a nationwide shortage of psychiatrists, and bureaucratic rules hamper access to nurse practitioners.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost impossible to get a prescription.\u00a0 For those with high levels of anxiety that is unresponsive to talk therapy, nature, spirituality, music, art, and exercise, marijuana on the black market can be a saving grace if it\u2019s not laced, but then you take your chances with being arrested for such a bad thing as trying to relieve your anxiety.\u00a0 So, in this society that\u2019s quick to punish and slow to care, you\u2019re compelled to turn to the unhealthy alternatives of alcohol and cigarettes, which the alcohol and cigarette companies certainly appreciate.<\/p>\n

              Once again, it feels like this is a Third World country.\u00a0 The inaccessibility of prescription providers is the same feeling of going to a supermarket and finding all the shelves bare.\u00a0 Mental health care is not at all what it\u2019s made out to be \u2013 as if help for depression is just a phone call away.\u00a0 This is a cruel, glitzy hoax.\u00a0 It\u2019s largely unavailable for months.\u00a0 Your insurance \u2013 especially if it\u2019s Medicaid – may not cover many providers.\u00a0 Many providers are inept or unkind even when you do manage to get an appointment.\u00a0 Some places never return repeated phone calls.\u00a0 Often you\u2019re put in circles.<\/p>\n

              Lastly, one of the greatest reliefs of anxiety, depression, and certain other conditions for many people is marijuana, but, thanks again to rulers on top who make laws for people they don\u2019t understand, this is illegal.\u00a0 The alcoholic President Nixon was one leader firmly against marijuana.\u00a0 Even if legal in some states recreationally or as medical marijuana, it is not covered by insurance because of the federal ban and is very expensive.<\/p>\n

              Nor is there is truly any effective safety net to prevent suicide.\u00a0 Sure, there is a suicide hotline, which is a positive step.\u00a0 But how can that take the place of the lack of caring friends, the lack of joy, love, adventure, and purpose, and the lack of a suitable prescription?\u00a0 How can a phone call take away the anxiety and depression from school and work?\u00a0 Most suicides involve a person with a personality disorder, and the most common personality disorder found in evaluations of those who have committed suicide is borderline personality disorder.\u00a0 But suicide prevention and hospital stays have not been found to be effective in preventing suicide in BPD.\u00a0 In fact, hospital stays can be counterproductive.[21]<\/a> \u00a0Nor has medication proven effective, thanks to the scarcity of research funding.\u00a0 What helps is a specific type of highly compassionate therapy related to Buddhism that was developed for BPD, but there is a nationwide shortage of experts talented in those therapies and in that attitude.[22]<\/a><\/p>\n

              Even if a mental health patient does manage to acquire a prescription, it doesn\u2019t necessarily help, thanks to the paucity of funding for research and a reliance on shallow, profit-driven research of pharmaceutical companies.\u00a0 So where is the federal funding for mental health research?\u00a0 Perhaps the fact that $700 billion goes to the military in one year alone has something to do with the lack of funding for other aspects of life that are left to crumble.\u00a0 In 1986, it was reported that more than 60% of the federal budget for research and development is allotted to the military.[23]<\/a> \u00a0The National Institutes of Health are slated to receive about $40 billion in 2020.\u00a0 Why should the military receive 20 times that amount?\u00a0 Are we 20 times more likely to die from foreigners as we are from poor health and poor mental health?\u00a0 If the military gave the NIH half its budget – $350 billion \u2013 would more Americans live or die?<\/p>\n

              America\u2019s top scientists are compelled to devote extraordinary amounts of time and brain power \u2013 not on their research \u2013 but on applying for health research grant money in a highly biased, competitive system where scientists\u2019 applications are evaluated by none other than their own competitors \u2013 the ones who\u2019d like to win grant money themselves.\u00a0 I bet your talented science students never knew they\u2019d be channeling their brilliance into grant applications.\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t the military have to submit a grant application for each battle?\u00a0 Why doesn\u2019t the CIA have to submit a grant application for each time it wants to fork over yet another suitcase filled with millions of dollars to a Mid-East or African warlord?<\/p>\n

              But what does any of this and the resulting lack of mental health research and care matter to our governor?\u00a0 There are no alarm bells tears for the millions of Americans whose anxiety, depression, and suicidal tendencies are not treated.\u00a0 Those deaths are evidently inconsequential.\u00a0 These people were evidently deemed second class citizens even before the lockdown, and now they\u2019re third class citizens \u2013 with less access to help and a loss of some of the few aspects of society that kept them going, including socializing, recreation, and work.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve been trying to keep a loved one safe from suicide for years and have found no real help from the mental health professional community, it comes as a slap in the face to have Cuomo insisting that one death from COVID-19 is one death too many!\u00a0 We must shut down schools and businesses to save lives!<\/p>\n

              And if your child has been suffering from sleep deprivation, excessive schoolwork and homework, and cold alienation at school that has been plunging her life into misery and her thoughts to suicide, it comes as a slap in the face when schools are all shut down \u2013 not for the sake of your daughter \u2013 but for potential COVID-19 patients.\u00a0 Why weren\u2019t schools reformed for the sake of children made miserable within them?\u00a0 Why no easing of hours, work, and crowded conditions?\u00a0 Why no emphasis on time for friendship-building and the reduction of alienation?\u00a0 Why not a much greater emphasis on the goals of inner peace, love, and joy?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that what we\u2019re suffering from most?\u00a0 Or are we suffering from the inability to divide 4560 by 3?<\/p>\n

              It is only death from COVID-19 that matters.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Perhaps because this has become a personal fight of Cuomo and other leaders who have staked their status on \u201cwinning\u201d this \u201cwar\u201d against a virus or out-rivaling another leader in their strong-arm, weak-brained handling of the pandemic.\u00a0 But in that case, they are not trying to save lives for the sake of saving lives.\u00a0 If they wanted that, they could have started long ago.\u00a0 They are saving lives for the sake of their own reputation and rivalries.<\/p>\n

              COVID-19 is estimated to kill between 1 \u2013 3% of those<\/em> who contract the virus.\u00a0 Compare this to borderline personality disorder (BPD), which is often misdiagnosed as another condition, such as bipolar disorder. \u00a0Dr. Blaise Aguirre, Medical Director at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital reports that BPD affects 2 \u2013 6% of the American population \u2013 that\u2019s an estimated 6.6 \u2013 19.7 million Americans out of a population of 328.2 million.<\/p>\n

              90% of those with BPD will attempt suicide.\u00a0 10% of those with BPD will succeed.[24]<\/a> \u00a0People with BPD have an average of three lifetime suicide attempts.[25]<\/a> \u00a0Where\u2019s the nationwide shutdown to save these 6.6 \u2013 19.7 million people from misery and to save the lives of 660,000 \u2013 1,970,000 Americans?\u00a0 Which of those government leaders so firmly committed to saving lives has lifted even one finger to help those with suicidal BPD?<\/p>\n

              BPD expert Marcia Linehan of the University of Washington describes BPD as resulting from the combination of an emotionally vulnerable person experiencing an invalidating atmosphere.\u00a0 This sensitivity is biologically based.\u00a0 Elaine Aron, an expert on highly sensitive people, explains that these individuals are neurologically wired to perceive much more of everything \u2013 light, sounds, smells, touch, and emotions, as well as the complexity and nuances of thoughts.[26]<\/a> \u00a0Unlike macho leaders who are callous, obtuse, and proud of their blanket mandates, those with BPD, being often emotionally \u201cporous,\u201d are wired to perceive \u2013 not only their own feelings \u2013 but often the feelings and energies of those around them.<\/p>\n

              These highly perceptive individuals are an important part of our species.\u00a0 Yet upon being plunged into an atmosphere that dismisses, ridicules, ignores, or represses their emotional needs and perceptions, as in a harsh or negligent household, compulsory, standardized schooling, and the current highly insensitive lockdown, BPD can make its appearance.<\/p>\n

              Frequently, the invalidating atmosphere involves trauma, such as the death of a parent, but it is not unlikely that an atmosphere such as school and many work places where one serves as an unappreciated, powerless cog in the labor force could also prove to be an invalidating atmosphere.\u00a0 After all, if a child hates going to school, isn\u2019t it emotionally invalidating to force him to go?\u00a0 If a skateboardist knows he needs to skateboard to feel life is worth living, isn\u2019t it emotionally invalidating to fill in his park with sand?<\/p>\n

              Persons with BPD experience severe emotional pain, a confused and unstable sense of identity, feelings of emptiness, self-hatred, depression, anxiety, and doom, emotional dysregulation, an alienating fear of abandonment by friends and family, self-injury and chemical addictions to alleviate intense emotional pain, and other self-defeating behaviors, including social self-sabotaging and suicide.\u00a0 They may be cutting themselves, traumatized by addictions, and torn by agonizing emotional pain and social trauma throughout their twenties, but they\u2019re not in the clear at 30.\u00a0 The mean age for suicide is 30 according to one study, and 37 according to another.[27]<\/a> \u00a0So those in their 30s who have BPD have a 0.04% chance of dying from COVID-19, a 90% chance of attempting suicide, and a 10% chance of killing themselves.<\/p>\n

              When borderline symptoms flair, typically in times of social stress and alienation, those with BPD especially suffer.\u00a0 I suppose the government will pat itself on the back that it has round-the-clock people on the phone <\/em>to help those contemplating suicide in this time of mandated social isolation.\u00a0 As if Dan Furniss in the UK really would have been saved by a phone call from a stranger.\u00a0 Now that hospitals are largely shut down for those who do not have COVID-19, it is even harder for anyone with mental health difficulties to receive hospital care in times of crisis or near-crisis \u2013 if it could even help more than hurt.\u00a0 Units are shut down because of COVID-19.\u00a0 Counseling is allowed only online or by phone.\u00a0 Only deaths from COVID-19 matter!<\/p>\n

              There is a nationwide shortage, not only of psychiatrists, but of mental health professionals highly skilled in understanding and treating BPD.\u00a0 There is a shameful lack of funding for BPD research, despite its higher frequency of occurrence in the population relative to other mental health conditions that nonetheless receive more funding.\u00a0 This illogic also pertains to the lack of funding compared to other threats to life that are less likely to endanger Americans.\u00a0 As Dr. Aguirre points out, BPD gets about $6 million of funding in a year.\u00a0 Yet COVID-19 is slated to receive $2 trillion with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.\u00a0 And again, our military now receives more than $700 billion in one year to allegedly save our lives.<\/p>\n

              Think!\u00a0 Why is there no perspective here on the potential likelihood of death from each source of threat? \u00a0Americans are much more likely to die from poor health and mental health than from terrorism or WMD \u2013 real or imaginary \u2013 in the Middle East.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that the US has to completely let down its guard, but why not do away with elements of the US defense that make things more dangerous rather than safer, such as the trillions allotted under the Obama administration to the revitalization of the nuclear arsenal or the maintenance of 800 military bases worldwide?\u00a0 Is the US government so shaky about the reliability of its conventional arsenal that it requires nukes?<\/p>\n

              Or are deaths due to foreign enemies just a lot more fun to prevent because we get to use guns?\u00a0 Are deaths from COVID-19 more rewarding to prevent because of all the media attention that can give leaders more status?\u00a0 Perhaps deaths from mental illness, hypertension, and diabetes are something we are supposed to simply accept as inevitable, for preventing those deaths bring neither guns nor glory to our political leaders.\u00a0 Why is no one making the effort to create a budget that proportionately reflects the severity of different threats to American life?\u00a0 Why are people lying in their waste in NYS hospitals while millions are handed over in suitcases to warlords in Somalia?\u00a0 Why is a BPD patient who\u2019s more likely to die from suicide required to forfeit his life for COVID-19 patients?<\/p>\n

              It appears that those who have mental health disorders are considered inferior by Cuomo and other leaders, and we are supposed to accept their deaths as regrettable but inevitable \u2013 or maybe as their own fault.\u00a0 And after all, we always have the prison system waiting for them!\u00a0 An estimated 17% of the prison population suffers from BPD, which, incidentally, is considered a relative of PTSD.\u00a0 Surely, the prison system is just what highly sensitive individuals need to feel better.[28]<\/a> \u00a0But those who die from COVID-19 \u2013 well, that\u2019s just not supposed to happen, even if they did have weaknesses in their immune systems or underlying health conditions, these people are supposed to be alive!<\/p>\n

              As society worldwide has become increasing emotionally invalidating with its industrialization, urbanization, standardization, bureaucratization, fast-pace work ethic, compulsory schooling, impersonal methods of socializing, and judgmental tendencies to hate and condemn rather than help and understand, it is likely that the percentage of the population with BPD will increase.\u00a0 While research on helpful medication for BPD is essential but shamefully underfunded, conceivably, a reversal of these societal trends would also be an enormous benefit to those with BPD or with a predisposition towards BPD.\u00a0 Such a societal reversal would likely help the entire species and the planet.\u00a0 So, as stressful as the current oppressive lockdown is, if and when this lockdown is ever over, it would be life-saving if care could be taken to not put things back together again exactly in the same stressful way they were prior to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. The Hypocrisy and Inequality of Valuing Some Lives and Not Others, Accepting Some Deaths but Not Others<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                For a tough, trigger-happy, killing nation, the US has a surprisingly enormous fear of death \u2013 or is that what makes it kill so much?\u00a0 Irrational levels of fear, just waiting to be channeled somewhere?<\/p>\n

                If people really want to save life, why not stop waging war?\u00a0 Why not stop the so-called War on Terror?\u00a0 Or is the US thirst to kill not satiated after killing 300,000 Mid-Eastern civilians and 250,000 Mid-Eastern resistance fighters since 9\/11?\u00a0 The numbers indirectly killed from the war\u2019s resulting disease, contaminated water, starvation, and blown-up infrastructure probably is in the millions.\u00a0 In a US shedding tears for coronavirus victims, why such alacrity to send troops to kill, to be killed, or to survive only to live in the hell of PTSD?<\/p>\n

                The Washington Post <\/em>reports that the first Americans in the military to be tested for COVID-19 will be those in the nuclear forces and troops deployed in combat zones.[29]<\/a> \u00a0By all means, US government!\u00a0 Don\u2019t let us keep you from the killing fields!\u00a0 Get back to taking people\u2019s lives away from them!\u00a0 Enough already of this saving lives thing!\u00a0 It was cute, but we know what you\u2019re really after!\u00a0 And so glad you\u2019ll save us from the virus only to plunge the world into nuclear radiation and pollution from your wars!\u00a0 Now if you can just get some of that nuclear material up in space, then we\u2019ll be really prepped for good health and a final generation of deformed babies!<\/p>\n

                For a nation that suddenly values each and every life, the US sure faces with stoic apathy the looming extinction of human beings from human-produced climate change \u2013 which itself can breed more deadly viruses.\u00a0 Why no mandates banning fossil-fuel-run cars?\u00a0 Why no ban on bio-fuel whose production has caused food prices to soar?\u00a0 Why no cars and buses with pedals, where passengers can use pedal power to generate battery power?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that be helpful for preventing obesity, diabetes, and hypertension?\u00a0 Why no massive creation of bikeways?\u00a0 Why no moratorium on cattle farms to cease production of methane, a greenhouse gas?\u00a0 Why no shutdowns of factories to cease emissions?\u00a0 Why no recognition that the US military is the biggest user of fossil fuels in the world?\u00a0 Why no downsizing of the US military and its 800 overseas bases?\u00a0 Why no lockdowns on war, the massive destroyer of life and massive polluter of Earth and now space?<\/p>\n

                And why no value for non-human life?\u00a0 In the lockdown, the ability to care for our pets has plummeted as vets and groomers are no longer offering services such as nail trimming, apparently according to NYS requirements.\u00a0 They won\u2019t even trim your dog\u2019s nails in the parking lot.\u00a0 So if dog owners don\u2019t learn this task fast, their dogs will be suffering from painful walking that could lead to bone and spine misalignment.<\/p>\n

                You can\u2019t even go into the vet\u2019s office with your pet anymore.\u00a0 They want you to wait outside in your car while they take your pet in.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter that the pet is shaking hard with fright and they have to drag it in across the asphalt parking lot, this is what the macho governor wants because he\u2019s <\/em>decided what\u2019s best for everyone.\u00a0 The state gives the veterinarian requirements \u2013 apparently they continually fluctuate \u2013 that limit the number of staff and any other persons in the building and, if I understand correctly, that requires them to conserve certain materials as well.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter that there is a lot of empty space in that building where you could be closer to your pet, you\u2019ve got to stay outside.\u00a0 Undoubtedly, for some pet owners, it\u2019s better to skip the vet appointments and forego examinations and vaccinations altogether.<\/p>\n

                But animals have been deemed inferior all along, haven\u2019t they?\u00a0 Why no alarm over the death of animals?\u00a0 In his series of articles on extinctions, long-time Australian peace activist Robert Burrowes refers to a study by Dr. Kenneth Rosenberg that determined that the total bird population in the US and Canada has declined by 2.9 billion since 1970.[30]<\/a> \u00a0He points to the tragic fact that \u201cfollowing the Industrial Revolution about 270 years ago which enabled the development of killing technologies on a scale unheard of previously, the human assault on life on Earth has accelerated so effectively that 200 species of life are now driven to extinction daily.\u00a0 Whatever other claims they might make about themselves, human beings are truly the masters of death.\u201d[31]<\/a><\/p>\n

                This is not merely 200 individuals<\/em> dying per day.\u00a0 This is 200 species<\/em> dying per day.\u00a0 Why no alarm bells for them?\u00a0 Why no nightly statistics?\u00a0 Why no shutdowns to help ecosystems survive?\u00a0 Is it too much to ask the masters of death to care for any species and any habitat other than their own?\u00a0 To prevent global warming and pollution?\u00a0 Why no shutdowns of mines?\u00a0 Cessation of pesticide usage?\u00a0 Stoppage of excavation and construction?\u00a0 If it was so easy to shut down 100% of the workforce, why no command to stop the destruction of habitat?\u00a0 Where is the willpower?<\/p>\n

                According to World Animal Protection, 70 billion farm animals are slaughtered annually for human consumption.\u00a0 Often, their lives are grotesquely miserable and their slaughter is equivalent to torture since some remain alive through part of the process of being turned into human food.\u00a0 Why the \u201cone human life lost to the coronavirus is one life too many,\u201d but 70 billion farm animals can live in hell and die in pain annually?<\/p>\n

                From where does this callousness originate?\u00a0 Is it the residue of some human-made religion in which humans decided that humans are superior?\u00a0 Or is it this the usual do-anything-for-a-buck mentality?\u00a0 The good-businessman-makes-increasing-profits work ethic?\u00a0 Is it the we-have-to-keep-up-with-the-competition-or-I\u2019ll-lose-my-job-as-the-CEO mentality?\u00a0 Or is it the it\u2019s-not-my-job-to-worry-about-that mentality?<\/p>\n

                The sacred way in which human life is held as compared to the wretched disdain for animal life is hypocritical and revolting.\u00a0 It alone proves the inferiority of the human species, a species whose brain has evolved in a most imbalanced manner.<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. Media: The More You Watch, the Less You Know<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  What\u2019s eerie is that the feeling for the past month has been strangely reminiscent of the time prior to the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.\u00a0 We have the same one-sided propaganda, the small, like-minded panel of experts, the argument filled with holes, the government\u2019s successful pushing of its program despite the holes, the cheerleading media, the crowd that goes along like a flock of sheep, and the few maverick resisters who don\u2019t have a voice anyway in a mainstream media that leaves them out in the cold.\u00a0 It feels the same now as it did then:\u00a0 the feeling in the air, the dynamics.\u00a0 In both cases, it\u2019s highly disturbing to realize that millions of people can so easily be convinced to do something that is harmful to so many, without any questioning of the argument allowed.<\/p>\n

                  In 2002, the US government and its puppet media were not debating, not discussing, but just telling us why Bush Jr. was so right in wanting to invade Iraq.\u00a0 After all, say macho leaders, peace requires war!\u00a0 Peace requires that we bomb that nation to oblivion in order to knock out any possibly dangerous weapons it just might have!\u00a0 We don\u2019t settle injustices and grievances through discussion and policy changes!\u00a0 We don\u2019t improve human relations and alleviate enemy fears!\u00a0 We kill them!\u00a0 We use our technology!\u00a0 That\u2019s how we make peace around here, boy!<\/p>\n

                  It was totally illogical.\u00a0 Whether or not Iraq had nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons, the response of a US invasion did not make sense.\u00a0 If they did have weapons, wouldn\u2019t it be practical to talk with them and learn why they wanted them?\u00a0 After all, many nations have dangerous weapons and we don\u2019t attack them.\u00a0 The US has 4,000 nukes.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it possible that US nukes make other nations insecure?\u00a0 Why not focus on how to make Iraq \u2013 and more importantly the US – feel secure without resorting to such weapons?\u00a0 How would attacking Iraq create peace anyway?\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t the invasion just sow more distrust, anger, hatred, despair, anxiety, depression, tension, poverty, injustice and death \u2013 all elements for creating a violent society?<\/p>\n

                  Yet despite the irrelevance of whether or not Iraq had weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the media churned endlessly around that topic:\u00a0 Did it or did it not have WMD?\u00a0 The solution?\u00a0 Just in case it did have WMD, bomb them to smithereens!\u00a0 That was the macho solution, the solution of those who really have no clue on how to build friendly, caring, and fair human relations as the foundation of peace.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the solution of those who hope to make profit from war and reconstruction.<\/p>\n

                  It was the same after 9\/11. The entire focus of the conforming media was \u201cAttack on America.\u201d\u00a0 The US was portrayed as 100% innocent victim, not only on 9\/11, but for the decades before and after.\u00a0 While 9\/11 was entirely illegitimate and immoral, US media took no time to delve into any possibly legitimate motivations driving the anger and despair of terrorists.\u00a0 The media and government, unwilling to interview alternative perspectives, seemed incapable of separating the illegitimacy of 9\/11 from the existence of legitimate terrorist concerns that should be addressed.\u00a0 It was also incapable of separating al-Qaeda, which primarily recruited Saudis and Yemenis, from Afghanistan, whose government was opposed to the use of its territory for purposes of planning attacks on the US and was largely kept in the dark.[32]<\/a> \u00a0Instead, we got our homogeneous macho response again:\u00a0 Bomb the daylights out of Afghanistan!\u00a0 That\u2019ll create peace!<\/p>\n

                  And prior to and during the Persian Gulf War we got the same monolithic panel of experts repeatedly interviewed for their expert macho opinions.\u00a0 Those Mid-Easterners and Americans with non-violent proposals were effectively silenced.\u00a0 How do we solve the problem of Iraq\u2019s invasion of Kuwait?\u00a0 Threaten Iraqis and bomb them to death!\u00a0 That same macho response.<\/p>\n

                  The Persian Gulf War was also the start of a heightened state of military censorship over the media which created a highly skewed version of the war and its alleged necessity, a skewing that effectively made media coverage false.\u00a0 In fact, a study on media coverage at the University of Massachusetts by Morgan, Lewis, and Jhally demonstrated that the more time that people spent watching TV news about the war, the less <\/em>they knew about it and the more they supported US government\u2019s behavior.\u00a0 Only the military and other war leaders were interviewed, not Iraqis, not American peace activists, and certainly not Mid-Eastern peace activists.\u00a0 The sounds-and-lights show of the war gave the impression that everything was beautiful.\u00a0 No debate, dialogue, or dissension about the war\u2019s purpose was aired on mainstream media.[33]<\/a><\/p>\n

                  Currently, the threat on the horizon is a virus, and the same monolithic media coverage continues with zealous efforts to interview repeatedly a small group of similarly-minded experts to jam one message down our throats:\u00a0 \u201cDo as we say.\u00a0 COVID-19 is dangerous.\u00a0 Do as we say if you want to survive.\u00a0 We alone know how to handle this.\u00a0 Trust us.\u201d<\/p>\n

                  We are faced with a threat much like the threat of al-Qaeda:\u00a0 it hides in shadows, it doesn\u2019t have a home address, it doesn\u2019t wear a uniform, you don\u2019t know if it\u2019s in your presence or not, you don\u2019t know who to trust and when to let down your guard.\u00a0 Also like al-Qaeda, it doesn\u2019t kill a large percentage of people.\u00a0 But these kinds of threats seem to give the executive an excuse to take lots and lots of power away from the legislature and from the people, as if concentrating power into one man will somehow save us any better than if we used our own brains and hearts.<\/p>\n

                  As in 2003, when focus was on whether or not Iraq had WMD, the focus now is on the uncertainty of the virus.\u00a0 In both cases, the conclusion is that we\u2019d better be safe than sorry by taking drastic actions.\u00a0 But once again, the big picture is lost.\u00a0 There were other means to respond to Iraq that could have been more effective, more just, and much less violent.\u00a0 And the same holds true for the reaction to the virus.\u00a0 In both cases, the negative consequences of government behavior are cavalierly dismissed as worth the benefit of the action.<\/p>\n

                  And the threat is always ramped up to keep the population frightened and submissive.\u00a0 Even the fact that this virus is so mild for at least 80% of the people and often doesn\u2019t show symptoms \u2013 in other words, it\u2019s not troubling you in the slightest – is paraded not as a saving grace but as a danger<\/em> of the virus:\u00a0 Since you don\u2019t know if you or your friend are carrying it because it often causes no problems or symptoms, you\u2019ve both got to don those masks!<\/p>\n

                  But doesn\u2019t the fact that you may likely carry it without symptoms suggest that it isn\u2019t worth a massive lockdown?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t the fact that it was floating around NYC since January without being detected, a sign that perhaps it wasn\u2019t that bad?\u00a0 Yes, protect the vulnerable, be especially careful around them, but why a lockdown? \u00a0Is it possible that all the stress from the mandates, oppression, and social isolation has increased the death rates?<\/p>\n

                  There is no coverage of those who have had milder cases of the virus and handled it well.\u00a0 There is rarely mention of the fact that the reason New York State has such a high rate of people who have contracted the virus is because of the extremely high level of testing which is not done elsewhere.\u00a0 We are told, \u201cThere is no vaccine\u201d to the point that Americans are repeating the line, \u201cThere is no vaccine,\u201d all the while forgetting that there is no vaccine for the common cold (another type of coronavirus) and the flu vaccine often doesn\u2019t even work well, all the while forgetting that we do have that special something called \u201cThe Immune System,\u201d which in most cases is working very well to overcome the virus.<\/p>\n

                  The media inflates chronic fear \u2013 which can wear away at the immune system \u2013 with its fatality numbers.\u00a0 Even though there has never been nightly media coverage of the numbers of Afghans, Iraqis, Somalis, Pakistanis, and Yemeni killed by the US, the numbers of animals killed that day, the numbers of people who died from starvation or malnutrition, the number of people who died from a disease for which there is a vaccine, the numbers of Americans killed by the flu that day, or the numbers of Americans who committed suicide, we are given the numbers killed that day by The Virus.\u00a0 And so, people are left with the daunting image, \u201cThe numbers keep going up!\u00a0 Oh, my God!\u00a0\u00a0 Run and hide!\u00a0 Don your mask!\u201d<\/p>\n

                  As of April 23, 2020, there have been 2,665,122 confirmed cases and 185,494 deaths worldwide of COVID-19.\u00a0 In comparison, the World Health Organization reports that the flu annually kills between 290,000 \u2013 650,000 worldwide.<\/p>\n

                  In the US, there have been 867,771 confirmed cases and 48,900 deaths from COVID-19 .\u00a0 For the flu season from October 1, 2019 through April 4, 2020, there were 39,000,000 \u2013 56,000,000 cases and 24,000 \u2013 62,000 deaths in the US from the flu.[34]<\/a> [35]<\/a>[36]<\/a><\/p>\n

                  This is not to say the COVID-19 couldn\u2019t kill more, especially if people weren\u2019t being careful, but the point is, COVID-19 deaths are certainly going to stand out as alarming if those are the only numbers you post each night.\u00a0 If we had lockdowns and closed down school and people got more sleep each year from October through April, we could cut back on flu deaths, too.\u00a0 Till now, no one has thought it was worth doing so.\u00a0 But why not work on those things that will help everyone\u2019s immune system?\u00a0 Like enabling people to get more sleep, go to school in uncrowded conditions, and have more time for joy and friendship?\u00a0 Like not rushing kids and adults back to school and work if they\u2019re still not feeling well from a cold or fever?<\/p>\n

                  Incidentally, people seem to put a lot of faith in these masks as deliverers from death.\u00a0 One man was crossing the street with a mask on, looking down at his phone, never looking for cars.\u00a0 Did he think the mask would protect him from being run over?\u00a0 And then rounding the corner in the dark coming off a bridge, I nearly ran into three people walking abreast \u2013 no lights, no reflective clothing, no light clothing \u2013 but in my headlights I could see they had on their safety masks!\u00a0 The bridge desperately needs a sidewalk, but, as with so many things in this country that do not relate to the military or to COVID-19, there\u2019s no funding for that.<\/p>\n

                  The media paints the picture, as usual, that what our macho leaders are doing is right.<\/p>\n

                  Just as the media has cheerleaded the US government\u2019s every war with one-sided propaganda, the media has now been pumping up Cuomo as a beloved hero.\u00a0 The New York Times <\/em>even force fed us the nauseating news that \u201cAndrew Cuomo Is the Control Freak We Need Right Now.\u201d[37]<\/a><\/p>\n

                  We are told in our newspapers that, despite the alleged American love for freedom, we love Cuomo, we love how he takes command, and we are even told his commanding ways would make him a great president!\u00a0 Americans for Macho Monarchs!\u00a0 We are told his bullying ways are just what we need, and we are told Americans don\u2019t mind his bullying ways because we believe that leaders, in order to be effective, have to be headstrong, uncooperative, and bossy.\u00a0 In that case, why not just light a match to the Constitution?\u00a0 Let\u2019s just turn our backs on any understanding of effective dynamics in democracy!<\/p>\n

                  Clearly, power obsessions, an inability to hold dialogue with those with different opinions, years of neglecting hospitals and their patients, eliminating thousands of hospital beds, ignoring the tragic mental health crisis, and proposing to cut $2.5 billion in Medicaid, including $400 million to NYS hospitals \u2013 a step that would make NYS ineligible to receive $6.7 billion in federal aid for COVID-19,[38]<\/a> have been mistaken as leadership qualities rather than as indicators of ineptness and a lack of caring for others.\u00a0 Though we are not supposed to know this, people who are kind, cooperative, and open-minded, people who care about different points of view and can find the strengths in each one and meld them together \u2013 these people not only can bring results but they can bring much more effective results.<\/p>\n

                  Unfortunately, if anyone disagrees with the adulation for Cuomo or any other macho leader, you can count on it that it\u2019s censored in the mainstream media, just as my letter was censored, just as those with alternative, non-violent solutions were kept out of mainstream media prior to and during nearly every war the US has ever fought.\u00a0 How can the crowd be manipulated if it is allowed to see the full truth and make up its mind given all the information?\u00a0 The masses must be given only a narrow segment of the truth so that their opinion will form from that, and they must be persuaded that every other American feels the same way.<\/p>\n

                  The media performs yet another disservice by not searching for the complete set of motives driving behavior.\u00a0 When we look at past US government behaviors, such as the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion of Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf War, or, jumping back a few centuries, the extermination and forced round-up of the Native Americans, the same elements continually re-surface as factors driving the government\u2019s decisionmaking and the population\u2019s behavior:\u00a0 rational fear, irrational fear, arrogance regarding the government\u2019s ability to know best how to handle the situation, ignorance, suppression of non-violent and non-hostile solutions, conformity and groupthink, and greed.\u00a0 Somewhere in there is greed \u2013 someone\u2019s making money somehow.<\/p>\n

                  I don\u2019t know whether the reaction to COVID-19 is part of a larger plan of oppression, part of a plan to make a lot of money, an experiment in worldwide crowd control for use again at some later date, or just plain stupidity and arrogance of macho leaders who think that health can benefit from oppression, but different people are probably filling different roles.\u00a0 Some are rationally fearful, some irrationally fearful, some are macho, some are focused on opportunistically using the pandemic to acquire greater status and power, some are genuinely trying to do what\u2019s right but are ignorant, some are groupthink conformists, some stifle opinions, and some surely are unethically making money.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. An Ideal Approach<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    I am not suggesting that there should have been no government reaction to the virus.\u00a0 I am not even suggesting the reaction should have been merely mild. \u00a0But the reaction should not have been severe and blanketlike.\u00a0 It should have been moderate with much more freedom for individual decision-making and individual judgment calls that could save lives and sanity and keep people out of starvation.\u00a0 It should not have relied on anxiety and depression-producing, potentially lethal mandates as the centerpiece.\u00a0 Here are a few suggestions:<\/p>\n

                      \n
                    1. comprehensive, detailed education about COVID-19 from a variety of scientific and social perspectives, that includes teaching which types of people are most vulnerable and must be most protected as well as specific details about ways people can voluntarily adopt to avoid spreading the virus and to strengthen their immune systems,<\/li>\n
                    2. cooperative dialogue, especially with those who might be affected by mandates and with those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, to gather a variety of perspectives on potential government, business, school, and individual actions to strengthen natural immunity and to protect the vulnerable.<\/li>\n
                    3. democratic decision-making within government, businesses, and schools, with time limits for actions so that the group process does not cause costly delays,<\/li>\n
                    4. the issue of government recommendations, rather than mandates in most cases, regarding schools, businesses, homes, travel, shopping, and recreation with regard to COVID-19, comprehensive health, and immune system strength,<\/li>\n
                    5. freedom, respect, and flexibility for individuals, families, schools, and businesses to make their own creative decisions and judgment calls to achieve optimal health and minimize risk for all from all types of threats to life,<\/li>\n
                    6. dynamic help to protect, comfort, and nurse the vulnerable, while carefully teaching steps to avoid spreading the virus to the vulnerable,<\/li>\n
                    7. federal funding to support the vulnerable parts of the population at this time, especially those who should stay home from work and cannot earn an income,<\/li>\n
                    8. great attention to improving the health of those with hypertension, diabetes, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and other health conditions that create vulnerability to the virus, with medication, lifestyle changes, and societal changes to help create more balanced minds and balanced lives, a sense of meaning, love, inner peace, and joy within a caring, relaxed community of school, work, and neighborhood,<\/li>\n
                    9. recognition of the importance of acquiring natural immunity and studies of the benefits of natural immunity,<\/li>\n
                    10. use of those who\u2019ve acquired immunity to carefully help the vulnerable,<\/li>\n
                    11. great attention to all the elements that help strengthen our immunity, including love, positive touch, joy, purpose, recreation, exercise, nutrition, hydration, cleanliness, sleep, nature, freedom, and peace of mind,<\/li>\n
                    12. increased federal funding for health and mental health research and improved systems for grants to promote society\u2019s health, justice in awards, and optimal use of researchers\u2019 time,<\/li>\n
                    13. increased funding for the mental health field to alleviate the shortage of talented, compassionate, and intelligent providers and to increase access of all members of the population to such providers, regardless of insurance,<\/li>\n
                    14. increased funding for hospitals, nursing homes, and other medical facilities in ways that place a strong priority on the importance of caring, bedside manner, human relations, compassion, logical thinking, and training, and with care that funding is not used to support luxurious salaries of a few,<\/li>\n
                    15. critical steps to prevent global warming, to prevent war, and to prevent harm to animals and ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                      NOTES:<\/strong><\/p>\n

                      [1]<\/a> Aria Bendix, \u201cCoronavirus patients over age 80 have a death rate of 15%.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the death rate for every age bracket,\u201d February 27, 2020, www.businessinsider.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [2]<\/a> Jessie Hellmann, \u201cCDC:\u00a0 80 percent of US coronavirus deaths are people 65 and older,\u201d March 18, 2020, thehill.com.<\/p>\n

                      [3]<\/a> Roni Caryn Robin, \u201cNearly All Patients Hospitalized with Covid-19 Had Chronic Health Issues, Study Finds,\u201d April 23, 2020, www.nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [4]<\/a> Karina Zaiets and Ramon Padilla, \u201cCoronavirus, diabetes, obesity, and other underlying conditions:\u00a0 Which patents are most at risk?\u201d April 15, 2020, usatoday.com.<\/p>\n

                      [5]<\/a> Zaiets and Padilla, op. cit.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      [6]<\/a> Ashley Montagu, Touching:\u00a0 The Human Significance of the Skin, <\/em>(2nd<\/sup> edition.\u00a0 <\/em>New York, NY:\u00a0 Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc., 1978), p. 61 quote, pp. 77-79.<\/p>\n

                      [7]<\/a> Montagu, op. cit., <\/em>pp. 12-14.<\/p>\n

                      [8]<\/a> Montagu, op. cit.<\/em>, pp. 19-20.<\/p>\n

                      [9]<\/a> Jack Elson and Hayley Richardson, \u201cBipolar man, 34, with diabetes killed himself after begin pushed over the edge due to loneliness when he was forced to self-isolate during coronavirus, family say,\u201d DailyMail.co.uk<\/p>\n

                      [10]<\/a> Kacey McKinnon, Kusi News, <\/em>April 20, 2020, kusi.com.<\/p>\n

                      [11]<\/a> Ann E. Weiss, Biofeedback:\u00a0 Fact or Fad?, <\/em>(New York, NY:\u00a0 Franklin Watts, 1984), p. 42.<\/p>\n

                      [12]<\/a> Karsten Noko, \u201cThe problem with army enforced lockdowns in the time of COVID-19,\u201d April 2, 2020, www.aljazeera.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [13]<\/a> Akash Mehta, \u201cEven in Pandemic, Andrew Cuomo Is Not Your Friend,\u201d jacobinmag.com.<\/p>\n

                      [14]<\/a> Order from Governor Andrew Cuomo and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, March 25, 2020, Coronavirus.health.ny.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2020\/03\/doh_covid19-_nhadmissionsreadmissions_-032520.pdf.<\/p>\n

                      [15]<\/a> Rory Butler, DailyMail.co, April 21, 2020, \u201cCoronavirus patients are being readmitted to nursing homes in New York after testing positive despite risks of spreading infection \u2013 and Governor Cuomo didn\u2019t know,\u201d dailymail.co.uk.<\/p>\n

                      [16]<\/a> Jessie Hellmann, \u201cCDC:\u00a0 80 percent of US coronavirus deaths are people 65 and older,\u201d March 18, 2020, thehill.com.<\/p>\n

                      [17]<\/a> Adrian Croft, \u201cAmerican companies laid off 22 million within the past month.\u00a0 Europe chose a different path,\u201d April 20, 2020, fortune.com.<\/p>\n

                      [18]<\/a> Lawrence Wittner, \u201cA Boss is a Boss:\u00a0 Nurses Battle for Their First Union Contract at Albany Medical Center,\u201d December 10, 2019, www.laprogressive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [19]<\/a> Mehta, op. cit.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      [20]<\/a> Steven Cook, \u201cPolice ID man whose Albany Med ER death prompted investigation,\u201d November 12, 2018, dailygazette.com.<\/p>\n

                      [21]<\/a> Joel Paris, \u201cSuicidality in Borderline Personality Disorder,\u201d Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, McGill University, May 28, 2019, Montreal, Canada.<\/p>\n

                      [22]<\/a> Joel Paris, op. cit.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      [23]<\/a> National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All:\u00a0 Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the US Economy, <\/em>(Washington, DC:\u00a0 National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1986), p. 75.<\/p>\n

                      [24]<\/a> Dr. Blaise Aguirre, Borderline Personality Disorder in Adolescents, 2nd<\/sup> edition, <\/em>(Beverly, Massachusetts:\u00a0 Fair Winds Press, 2014), pp. 15-16.<\/p>\n

                      [25]<\/a> Joel Paris, \u201cSuicidality in Borderline Personality Disorder,\u201d Institute of Community and Family Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada, May 28, 2019.<\/p>\n

                      [26]<\/a> Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Child, <\/em>(New York, NY:\u00a0 Broadway Books, 2002).<\/p>\n

                      [27]<\/a> Joel Paris, op. cit.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      [28]<\/a> Aguirre, op. cit., <\/em>p. 16.<\/p>\n

                      [29]<\/a> Missy Ryan, \u201cMilitary plan to roll out covid-19 testing would prioritize nuclear forces and troops deployed in combat zones,\u201d April 20, 2020, The Washington Post.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      [30]<\/a> Robert Burrowes, \u201cOur Vanishing World:\u00a0 Birds,\u201d TRANSCEND Media Service<\/a>, December 23, 2019<\/p>\n

                      [31]<\/a> Robert Burrowes, \u201cOur Vanishing World:\u00a0 Wildlife,\u201d TRANSCEND Media Service<\/a>, December 2, 2019<\/p>\n

                      [32]<\/a> Fawaz Gerges, The Rise and Fall of al-Qaeda, <\/em>(New York, NY:\u00a0 Oxford University Press, 2011).<\/p>\n

                      [33]<\/a> Hamid Mowlana, George Gerbner, and Herbert I. Schiller, Triumph of the Image:\u00a0 The Media\u2019s War in the Persian Gulf \u2013 A Global Perspective, <\/em>(Boulder, CO:\u00a0 Westview Press, 1992), Michael Morgan, Justin Lewis, and Suh Jhally, \u201cMore Viewing, Less Knowledge,\u201d George Gerbner, \u201cPersian Gulf War, the Movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

                      [34]<\/a> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [35]<\/a> www.health.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [36]<\/a> Wikipedia<\/p>\n

                      [37]<\/a> \u201cAndrew Cuomo is the Control Freak We Need Right Now,\u201d March 16, 2020, The New York Times, <\/em>www.nytimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

                      [38]<\/a> Mehta, op. cit.<\/em><\/p>\n

                      ______________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

                      Kristin Young Christman has degrees in Russian, Slavic languages, and public administration from Dartmouth College, Brown University, and the University at Albany.\u00a0 She is a contributing author to the forthcoming anthology, <\/em>Bending the Arc:\u00a0 Striving for Peace and Justice in an Age of Endless War (SUNY Press, June 2020).<\/em><\/p>\n

                      This commentary was first posted at laprogressive.com on April 26, 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                      It has been downright creepy.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because it is such an illogical reaction to a virus that kills – not 50%, not 25%, but an estimated 1 \u2013 3% of those who contract it.\u00a0 When I checked online in mid-March, I found that, according to the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 80% of patients who contracted the coronavirus COVID-19 had only mild symptoms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":157047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[867,1829,1868,1864,70],"class_list":["post-159435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-anglo-america","tag-anglo-america","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-pandemic","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}