Coronavirus unknowns:
Back in March, Professor Francois Balloux, chair in computational biology at University College London, said that for an epidemiologist, the two biggest unknowns are the virus’s ability (or not) to adapt to the seasons and the immunity (if any) it gives those who are infected and recover…. We don't know to what extent Covid-19 transmission will be seasonal. And We don’t know if Covid-19 infection induces long-lasting immunity.”Back in May, Business Insider South Africa reported, “What we do know is that the coronavirus apparently emerged in China as early as mid-November and has now reached more than 185 countries….” See the list of Business Insider’s unknowns.
In the same month, Reuters published another set of unknowns ….
Naturally, human beings, being human, fill the gaps between the known knowns and the unknown unknowns with wishful thinking, myths, and conspiracy theories. Medical News recently explored some of the most predominant.
I don’t like,but I accept that the world tends towards anti-female.
A 2010 report prepared by South Africa’s People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) with the AIDS Legal Network (ALN) on behalf of the One in Nine Campaign and the Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL) states:
Americans know domestic violence is spiking under lockdown although the general public doesn’t know the details. Who bears witness to a hidden epidemic?
Background: I grew up in a family that regularly practiced domestic violence. My role, the only girl sandwiched between two brothers and already outspoken, was Intervener-in-chief. I’d (try to) get between my battling parents and (try to) stop the battering.
At twelve years old, I begged my mother to “get a divorce.”
Decades later, I remember her response: “Mind your own business!”
Along with all the other gratuitous violence endemic in my homeland, is it any wonder I skedaddled as soon as skedaddling was an option?
I avoid violence, but I act against it when I encounter it and its perpetrators, from high ranking US military brass to low ranking drunks.
Male-on-female violence, from physical to verbal, is a horrible expression of anti-female sentiment. But anti-female sentiment is not only a male prerogative.
Females readily express anti-female sentiment.
Indeed, my mother is downplaying her long-term employee’s drunken son’s threats – and either not seeing or pretending not to see passive-aggression perpetrated against me by her long-term employee.
It’s both startling and, yes, somehow expected.
Apparently, my role, as a female, is to accept threats against my life, not take them too seriously, and to deny the possibility of danger.
I plan to explore this topic in future posts. Meanwhile, my experience, here and now, is "mind your own business” - all over again.
News blues...
Tick-tock for TikTok?US Vice President Mike Pence has cast his one, lidless eye on to TikTok. The Chinese-owned social media app was included by Pence in the list of companies facing potential bans by the US. Washington was concerned Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and "perhaps even TikTok" present a real threat to privacy and security of Americans. If he banned TikTok, Pence might just have instantly galvanised the Gen-Z vote against his administration this year.Huh. Might this have anything to do with TikTok also being a place where young people (Sarah Cooper, et al.) express and share their disillusionment with Trump’s presidency?
- Sarah Cooper’s latest: How to AIDS vaccine.
- Felipe Neto, a new funny commentator. Who’s the world’s worst leader at handling the pandemic? Easy. Donald Trump. Right?
- Well, as terrible as Mr. Trump is, Brazilian YouTube star, Felipe Neto, argues Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, is worse. (6:25 mins)
- Fauci (1:32 mins)
- Law and Order (1:02 mins)
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
Circumstances – recent threats against my life - have me exploring the opposite of “ignorance is bliss,” that is, misery and disbelief - with a dash of fury.I don’t like,but I accept that the world tends towards anti-female.
A 2010 report prepared by South Africa’s People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA) with the AIDS Legal Network (ALN) on behalf of the One in Nine Campaign and the Coalition for African Lesbians (CAL) states:
In South Africa violence against women has reached epidemic proportions, one of the highest rates in the world of countries collecting such data. It exists in millions of households, in every community, in every institution, in both public and private spaces. VAW cuts across race, class, ethnicity, religion and geographic location.The US is anti-female, but arguably not as profoundly anti-female as South Africa.
Americans know domestic violence is spiking under lockdown although the general public doesn’t know the details. Who bears witness to a hidden epidemic?
Background: I grew up in a family that regularly practiced domestic violence. My role, the only girl sandwiched between two brothers and already outspoken, was Intervener-in-chief. I’d (try to) get between my battling parents and (try to) stop the battering.
At twelve years old, I begged my mother to “get a divorce.”
Decades later, I remember her response: “Mind your own business!”
Along with all the other gratuitous violence endemic in my homeland, is it any wonder I skedaddled as soon as skedaddling was an option?
I avoid violence, but I act against it when I encounter it and its perpetrators, from high ranking US military brass to low ranking drunks.
Male-on-female violence, from physical to verbal, is a horrible expression of anti-female sentiment. But anti-female sentiment is not only a male prerogative.
Females readily express anti-female sentiment.
Indeed, my mother is downplaying her long-term employee’s drunken son’s threats – and either not seeing or pretending not to see passive-aggression perpetrated against me by her long-term employee.
It’s both startling and, yes, somehow expected.
Apparently, my role, as a female, is to accept threats against my life, not take them too seriously, and to deny the possibility of danger.
I plan to explore this topic in future posts. Meanwhile, my experience, here and now, is "mind your own business” - all over again.
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Garden Creatures
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