Today, literature touches real life again. My brilliant old friend Chris has just chillingly summed up one particularly horrific aspect of our general nightmare:
CHRIS:
"So it has come to this. Earlier this month, the Lt Gov of Texas declared the country’s elderly—all 46 million citizens over 65–should be willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of “the economy.” A few days ago Fox put on a panel to promote this idea. It included Bill O’Reilly, who said the elderly who have died so far of Covid 19 “were on their last legs anyway.” And now a GOP Indiana congressman just told CNN that the government’s obligation is to choose the “American way of life” over the lives of senior citizens.
Think about this very, very carefully. Before the Nazis arrived at their “Final Solution,” they first had to promote a culture of devaluing human life. They started with the infirm, the mentally ill, and the socially marginalized—the vulnerable and “non-productive” parts of the economy. Eventually, when Jews were herded to the camps, the first thing the SS did was separate the elderly for immediate gassing. They were deemed “useless eaters.”
This is the gate to the horrors of hell. If such notions are not ruthlessly exposed and destroyed now, think about who will be next to die for the good of “the economy.” Immigrants, inmates, the disabled, diabetics who cost “too much” to treat, the homeless, the mentally ill, addicts, and so it goes.
We already have in place the “ethic” that if you lose your job, you lose your health care. Those discarded by “the economy” at this hour become even more vulnerable. And as far as “the economy” is concerned, according to Fox and the GOP, the vulnerable are expendable; they become a net drag on “the economy.” They become useless eaters."
END QUOTE
To which I can only add these helpful suggestion for catchy Republican slogans to match Trump & Co's "Immodest Proposal":
Lower Medicare age to 60? No! Lower the age of Death? Yes!
250 years ago, even Jonathan Swift could not have foreseen a level of casual barbarism like this - and he satirized the calculated oppression of starving Ireland by their British "friends"!
And since my friend Chris wrote the above, and I made the association to Swift's Modest Proposal, real life became even more surreal when I watched this video segment of Dr. Oz on Fox News referring to a very "appetizing opportunity" for reopening the economy that only results in a few percent additional mortality:
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/16/21223892/dr-oz-hannity-coronavirus-schools-reopening
And since my friend Chris wrote the above, and I made the association to Swift's Modest Proposal, real life became even more surreal when I watched this video segment of Dr. Oz on Fox News referring to a very "appetizing opportunity" for reopening the economy that only results in a few percent additional mortality:
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/16/21223892/dr-oz-hannity-coronavirus-schools-reopening
Cheers, ARNIE
No comments:
Post a Comment