"Let Them Die"

As shit gets real with this Outbreak, we're seeing the consequences of decades of diminution of the notion of public service and duty and the triumph of greed and cruelty. The heroes of the moment are the littlest of the little people, those who keep the wheels turning, working the farms, staffing warehouses, the open stores and shops, driving trucks, cooking, serving, cleaning, staffing hospitals, keeping the skeleton of government running, and dying on the front lines while their betters dither and dither and figure out ways to better profit from the crisis.

Given the logarithmic scale of the calamity, "Save yourself and let them die" has become the generally agreed-upon path forward among the High and the Mighty. Pernicious, yes, but not at all surprising. We've been allowed to see the models which offer a best-case scenario of up to 240,000 dead from the Outbreak in the US alone. Best-case. Realistically, the toll will be much higher; ten times as much is possible, and if there are many waves of infection yet to come, the eventual toll in the US could be multiple tens of millions. Too bad so sad, right?

Not to our betters, no. The loss of so many lives would probably fill them with delight -- so long as they themselves survive.

I expect the death toll to stop being reported when it reaches 100,000 or so, simply because reporting more dead will serve no useful purpose anymore. Of course, people will still be dying, but further death beyond the low best-case estimate won't matter much to the overclass -- so long as it's not them dying, of course.

But it will be partly them. And their managers and administrators. Nevertheless, most of the dead will be as ever among the lower orders.

Of which, always, there are too many. "Let them die."

On the other hand, the Queen's message to Britain yesterday climaxed with her startling reference to that WWII anthem, "We'll Meet Again."



Also, and maybe more apropos, the ending theme music to "Dr. Strangelove" :


Another version for those who need a bit more...

This too shall pass...