I was reading a NY Times article about the recent uptick in homicides and one of the people they interviewed was saying a sense of "There is no tomorrow" was partially responsible. I was struck by how those four words seemed to sum up the zeitgeist of 2020.
Groundhog's Day on infinite loop. Somebody hiding in a room continually asking "What else can go wrong?" A smorgasbord of slow motion trainwrecks. I don't know how things look in your neck of the woods but the view from where I'm sitting it doesn't give rise to much in the way of hope and optimism. The new normal is a formless grey survival, an indeterminate, anxious waiting filled with pretenses of normality and alternating between boredom, stress, and chaos.
There is no tomorrow. While we all could die at any second, with the pandemic it seems like we are much more cognizant of that fact than in times past (hundreds of angry people with guns showing up at the protests just drove that point home even more). Tomorrow is never guaranteed but it damn sure feels a bit more uncertain these days.
I don't know about y'all but as the likelihood of dying increases, my priorities tend to change (also my sense of risk, who gives a damn about a speeding ticket if you could die next week). While traffic was down considerably during the lockdown, traffic deaths were not, judging by that and the increase in homicides we've seen since covid, I'm guessing I'm not the only one who has less damns to give...
We've all made jokes about the "Plot Twists Gone Wild" movie that is the year 2020 but aside from the timing of the pandemic little has happened that wasn't already building, simmering just below the surface. Historically, pandemics have been times of turmoil and disruption, bringing empires to their knees and turning the established order on its head, I suspect this one will be little different. I intend to get into this (and the potential for positive change to come as a result) more in my next post. As something of a cynic and nihilist my default response to "Everything is fucked, we're all gonna die" is "Yeah, and?" but I'm curious how y'all have perceived and coped with the events of this year, so don't be a stranger.
Question...Did that article give a breakdown of who is killing whom? Age, ethnicity, social position etc. Just wondering.
Not really, it was mainly about a Hispanic woman that caught a stray round standing at the window of her third floor apartment and died. It touched on how most crime has decreased here in the states since the pandemic started but homicides are definitely up. Louisville broke our record for yearly homicides with 3 months left in the year...
"Stray" round to third floor window...That says it all really. That sort of thing tends to make national news here, but there...I'd imagine shootings are more commonplace.
I'll be honest, I expect crime to rise as financial pressure increases. It will probably push this on the brink of (petty) criminal activity over the edge, those at the low-end of it to accelerate and so on. People will always take advantage of others when possible - Human history shows that clearly.
Jumping G-dog's fence may be problematic for them though.
There's enough guns in this country to arm every man, woman, and child, and still have some to spare (and that's in civilian hands), so there's definitely a lot more strays flying around. I made it through a few drive by shootings (I'm still not sure if they were aiming at my house or the one next door) in a 3rd floor apartment without having any rounds reach that high. There were definitely bullet holes in the lower floors though, but they may have been from when the guy got gunned down with a Kalashnikov outside the house (he won the fight over a girl but lost the war) a few months before I moved in. Yeah, 'more commonplace' is most likely in the running for understatement of the year. Just saw on the news yesterday that someone had been shot and killed 3 blocks away from there the night before...
Poverty, crime, and drugs all go hand in had from what I have seen in both urban and rural areas here, I suspect you are not wrong. Desperate people will make bad decisions, although in my experience the ones that do that are greatly outnumbered by those that will pitch in and help their neighbor.
"Good fences make good neighbors" is one of my favorite lines but I still prefer to rely on clear fields of fire with range markers...
It sounds like the wild west and I guess in some way it sort of is considering the history and reasons for the 2nd amendment and all. It seems to work in some crazy fashion although has also seemed to spiral out of control at an exponential rate since the 1960's or so. I'm glad I live in Australia.
It's not as bad as it sounds, there's places where you never hear gunfire and others where it's a daily occurrence. We're caught in this nice circle where you need guns because everyone has guns. I grew up in a rural area, everybody handled whatever trouble came up themselves, wasn't anybody else going to in a timely fashion.
Lol, sometimes I think this is more of an armed camp than a country. Pandora's box was opened up way too long ago, I don't think there is much that can/will be done about it now
You're probably right, I think the countries course is set and the only change will be fresh change rather than reverting to times of yore.
I keep hearing 'new normal.' The definition of 'old normal' still eludes me. 🤔 Control and division, that's how I see it. Funny little world we got ain't it? They have centuries (literally) of planning ahead of us and, fact is, you, myself, and anyone else who may be tuned into this knows shit about shit and yet (myself included) we all live like we know everything--funny.
I don't know about you man but whatever, whenever, if ever this world stops spinning, I do not :repeat: do not care to be the last one standing.
I've never been quite sure what normal is, perhaps 'status quo' is more fitting. 'Divide and Rule' I believe the Soviets called it... Speaking of which, that is the root cause of the current fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
I feel ya on that, when this planet blows the fuck up, I intend to be in the mushroom cloud.