As Lockdown extends, I’ve noticed a Christian friend tipping more towards evangelical conspiracy theories. Yesterday, she reported experiencing dreams and visions – “very disturbing but exciting as well” - and updated me on how:
“Fauci and Gates want everyone microchipped when given the vaccine. That means we have lost our freedom… according to Revelations it’s the sign of a one world government and the start of a 7-year Tribulation before the coming of Christ….”I Googled “Tribulation” and discovered at least three controversial periods of Tribulation. It’s complicated, certainly more complicated than I can absorb in one sitting. (You try…. )
My friend also directed me to an interview with a guy who explained how “the world’s governments worked together” to create Covid-19 from the two earlier iterations of coronavirus, SARS and MERS.
My friend is a good and decent person so, perhaps ill-advisedly, I responded that I wished the “world’s governments” could successfully work together on anything.
* woo woo: A person readily accepting supernatural, paranormal, occult, or pseudoscientific phenomena, or emotion-based beliefs and explanations.
More whackjobery*
California Pastor John MacArthur …defended his decision to hold in-person services despite the state-mandated closure of churches, saying his congregation is “protesting lies and deception for the sake of the truth.”
[He explained] his church decided to reopen just two weeks after Gov. Gavin Newsom indefinitely closed churches [because] “We are the original protesters. We go back 500 years [and] we are still protesting lies and deception for the sake of the truth.”"99.99" percent may have been true back then, but it is no longer true. LA Times data analysis at the end of June … found that 5.7 percent of coronavirus test results in California over the preceding seven days came back positive, a rate not seen since early May. A week ago, the rate was 4.7%, a rate that had been largely stable for June until just Sunday, when there was a dramatic shift in the numbers.
“…it is a First Amendment right. This is the United States of America and… we stand on that amendment…The second thing that makes this so sensible is that in California … you have a 99.99 percent chance to survive COVID.”
Pastor Greg Locke of Tennessee is willing to go to jail to defend his right not to wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic and has been telling his church members to do the same.
I’m so sick of this mask brigade nonsense. Bunch of Nazis. We don’t require masks at our church…. We probably had 450 people crammed into a tent this weekend. Two people in the whole place had a mask. If they want to wear a mask, that is great, I’m not going to mandate it. As a matter of fact, I discourage it because I think it’s utter nonsense.”Evangelist Franklin Graham – son of Billy - warned of “all-out socialism” if Americans do not vote for leaders who “love this country, defend the Constitution, & support law & order.”
Locke produces viral videos. [A recent] video … triggered after a confrontation with a male staffer at an unidentified store over his [Locke’s] refusal to wear a mask, has already been watched by more than six million people.
“I’m pretty spittin’ mad about a bunch of nonsense. Did you know that there’s nothing in the American culture and nothing in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ that has separated the body more than these stupid things right here? We call them safety precautions. No, what these are, these are gags, ladies and gentlemen … These have become idols … used to divide the Church. They don’t do anything whatsoever. They are the dumbest thing to have ever been created by humanity. They are scientifically proven to do Jack sprat! But I’ll tell you, religiously what they’ve done, they’ve divided the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. These things are so dumb.”
He pointed to the “chaos erupting in cities controlled by liberal, socialist-leaning leadership” as a harbinger of things to come … if “this kind of leadership wins in local, state & national elections… [it] would lead to the demise of our nation as we know it. Socialism is dangerous, and we have a party and many politicians who are flirting with all-out socialism. I would encourage every person who loves this country to pray & to turn out by the millions to vote…. America’s new enemies are “progressives” and “godless secularism.”
*Whackjobery: term promoted by Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project to denote virulent Trump supporters who’ve given up common sense in favor of Trumpism.
News blues…
South Africa passes half a million Covid infections as “the government struggles to retain public trust amid allegations of widespread corruption, arbitrary decisions on restrictions and administrative incompetence.”…“The lockdown succeeded in delaying the spread of the virus by more than two months, preventing a sudden and uncontrolled increase in infections in late March,” the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said….
As restrictions have eased, infections have risen quickly, with some observers questioning decisions to allow the crowded minibuses that provide most public transport to operate and to permit religious services. A ban on smoking and drinking has also been controversial. In recent days, several prominent officials from the ruling African National Congress, including Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, have been suspended or forced to step down temporarily following graft allegations. More than a hundred contracts for procurement of protective equipment and other vital supplies are under investigation in Gauteng province, the economic heart of South Africa, and its worst-hit area.
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| Apple fire in Banning, California. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images Click to enlarge. |
… consumed more than 23sq miles (about 60sq km) of dry brush and timber, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. …The blaze began as two adjacent fires reported Friday evening in Cherry Valley, an unincorporated area near the city of Beaumont about 85 miles (137km) east of downtown Los Angeles.
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Healthy futures anyone?
Focus on Switzerland. According to the 2018 Environmental Performance Index*, Switzerland ranks number one in the world for its achievements in sustainability and environmental conservation with a 2018 overall EPI score of 87.42, environmental health score of 93.57, and ecosystem vitality score is 83.32.
Switzerland protects its natural lakes, forests and mountains and the health of the environment on a global scale. It boasts a secure economy, a high standard of living and an impressive emphasis on education… [and it has preserved its] water quality since the 1960s, especially its wastewater treatment… (97 percent of the Swiss population was connected to a sewage treatment plant [with] approximately 900 wastewater treatment plants across Switzerland0. It leads in waste management with a recycling rate of 53 percent.
*Environmental Performance Index is a ranking system used to compare the world’s countries based on their efforts to preserve and protect the earth’s environment. This index also measures how close countries are to meeting their established environmental policy objectives. The 2018 Environmental Performance Index is the most up to date index and has scored 180 countries on their environmental performance using the latest set of data available, as well as data from the past decade. In addition to receiving an environmental performance index score, countries also receive an environmental health and ecosystem vitality score. The environmental health score is based on the quality of the country’s air and water, while the ecosystem vitality score primarily indicates the condition of a country’s ecosystem and the animal species that live within these ecosystems. Some of the performance indicators used to score these countries are household air quality, air pollution, drinking water quality, wastewater treatment, species protection, marine protected areas and CO2 emissions. The scores achieved by each country are translated into rankings that can be used as an opportunity for countries to engage in friendly competition as they try to improve their rank. The Environmental Performance Index also gives countries a more granular view of the areas in which they need to improve.
Sustainable Development Index (SDI) measures the ecological efficiency of human development, recognizing that development must be achieved within planetary boundaries. It was created to update the Human Development Index (HDI) for the ecological realities of the Anthropocene. The SDI starts with each nation’s human development score (life expectancy, education and income) and divides it by their ecological overshoot: the extent to which consumption-based CO2 emissions and material footprint exceed per-capita shares of planetary boundaries. Countries that achieve relatively high human development while remaining within or near planetary boundaries rise to the top.
Currently, Cuba tops the SDI, followed by Costa Rica (2) and Sri Lanka (3). South Africa’s SDI is 57. USA’ SDI is 160. Total countries on the SDI: 164. See the map and the SDI.
The Lincoln Project: Moms (1:27 mins)
A South African proverb used during the struggle against apartheid:
“You touch a woman, you touch a rock.” Or, "Wathinta abafazi, wathinta imbhokodo."
Updated for 2020: “You touch a mom, you touch a rock.”
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I like marshmallows. I seldom eat them, but when I do I enjoy them under the illusion they were made with egg whites – a saving grace that made them not a total junk food.This winter in South Africa, I’ve indulged in eating more sugary items than at any other time in my life (as an adult!) - including marshmallows.
Today, as I worked on my laptop, I noticed the pink dancing marshmallow illustrated on the empty bag next to me. I read the ingredients list: glucose syrup, sugar, water, gelatine (bovine), dextrose, stabilizer, flavouring, coloring, and “may contain” sulphites.
Sugar and salt; nary a whiff of egg white. And “bovine” gelatine? Cow fat?
Illusion became disillusion.
Sugar and salt; nary a whiff of egg white. And “bovine” gelatine? Cow fat?
Illusion became disillusion.
Last week, a watched film on the use and abuse of children working to grow and process cocoa trees and beans – think chocolate. Ah, the hidden costs and unbearable reality of that delicious treat.
Upside of the pandemic: Like thousands of others, I’ve time on my hands. It’s leading to deeper recognition about the need to take ever more responsibility for the welfare of the planet and its people.
Woo woo conspiracy theories and theorists demand “freedom”?
How about implementing existing freedoms to expanding one’s own small view to include a wide view of the world’s unvarnished realities?
