//Cursor_Activation_Prompt:Run>Old_File./>COVID_Crisis.txt
"Can this this shit end already?"
That very same sentence has probably cropped up somewhere in your thoughts at some point during our prolonged battle with the deadly contagion known as "COVID-19". While experiencing those thoughts, you probably rationalized to yourself that, while your quality of life might've taken a considerable nosedive since the beginning of the pandemic, we're probably on the right track, and in no time, this whole thing is gonna blow over soon. Then, you can get back to enjoying the sweet bliss of normality. After all, various countries and some of the most profitable pharmaceutical companies to ever exist are racing each other to see who can develop the first completely effective vaccine. So, you justify to yourself the idea that you can probably put up with the prospect of a couple more months of experiencing social isolation and depression during the inevitable waves of lockdowns to come if it means you could just go out of your house unbothered again.
Unfortunately for those optimistic souls among you, how this pandemic is playing out gives all of the telltale signs that we probably won't be able to "just get back to brunch" anytime soon because the virus is bound to go nowhere. No, the reason for this is not because of "selfish people" simply refusing to just do what they're told by their elected officials and public health promo's, urging everyone to "Just stay home, stay safe, and listen to the science" despite the fact that no one's really able to access any of the money the government has promised to provide to us so we can even self-isolate in the first place. Nor, is it because the government is secretly using the pandemic as a tool of social control in order to finally get the chance to micro-chip and track the population like they've been dying to do since the first video essays about the illuminati and FEMA camps started hitting YouTube. No, it's none of that unfortunately.
The reason that the editorial position of Black Label Detroit is able to come to this conclusion is the simple realization that a reactive policy that was first invented over one hundred years ago to fight a similar global pandemic isn't an effective alternative to the government actually perusing proactive solutions through public policy and modern technology. Also, the only reason why the pandemic has been handled the way that it has been for the past year is literally just because it makes private companies shitloads of money from government contracts. $30+ billion and counting to be exact.
To appropriately illustrate the issue with using persistent lockdowns and the default response to Covid outbreaks, a recent study has shown that California (a place with strict lockdown requirements) and Florida (a place with some of the loosest lockdown restrictions) have puzzlingly similar rates of daily infections as well as a similar number of cases per one hundred-thousand people. Not only that, supposed Covid "success stories" like New Zealand which were originally praised for it's strict lockdown measures during the beginning of the pandemic, is still experiencing sporadic shut downs as new cases and strain mutations flare up.
For anyone in-the-know around the medical field or, those of you who might just be straight up interested in learning about promising emerging technologies, an obvious example of a possible proactive solution to the Covid crisis is a little-talked-about gene editing process called CRISPR-CAS-9. The technology works something like this: Bacteria often contain small copies of genes from viruses that they encounter out in the world so they can better protect themselves in the future if they come across those same viruses again (yes, bacteria can get sick from viruses, the specific section of DNA where these duplicate copies are contained in is where the name CRISPR comes from). The process enables these genes to link up with a natural protein (CAS-9) when the virus does manage to return, and because of a chemical reaction, the protein actually removes the viral DNA, and kills it.
This quirky bit of tech might sound like some pure science fiction shit straight out of a Philip K. Dick novel, but, to the twin-team researchers, and Nobel prize recipients who created the technology, Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna, the gargantuan implications of CRISPR-CAS-9's technology are all too real to imagine. That's because it's currently being discussed as the possible treatment (or cure) for a countless range of diseases from: cystic fibrosis, to muscular dystrophy, sickle-cell anemia, and, even rare forms of cancer. A revolutionary evolution in biological tech like this SHOULD be on the radar of every single public official around the globe, so.... why have we barely heard anything about using CRISPR as a possible cure for Covid?
Well, as was touched upon before: that's because the capitalists are standing in the way of the government doing that. For example: Pfizer was awarded nearly $2 billion dollars just so the federal government could get their hands on 100 million doses of a vaccine that isn't even effective against all of the variants of Covid-19. And in the UK, the ruling Conservative party also awarded £2 billion to people that just so happened to be donors to the Conservative party or personal friends of the prime minister and his cabinet. Even Michigan's own "beloved" legacy companies like GM and Chrysler were awarded a combined $825 million in contracts to produce masks, respirators, and ventilators.
Suggesting that the government actually get off it's ass and really put in some work when it comes to finally putting an end to the pandemic once and for all would eat into these record profits, and, one could imagine what that these companies and their shareholders wouldn't be too happy if a radical policy change of government-led vaccine production and cure research was put into place. So, instead of doing that, pleasantly compensated CEO's and PR savvy politicians alike would rather bombard the public with completely pandering and utterly asinine war propaganda about how "we're all in this together!" or how supposedly "this is the biggest war of our generation!".. or.. some stupid shit like that.
The powers that be are more interested in letting the issue of a global pandemic be absorbed into the never-ending culture wars, rather than allow themselves to open up to the slightest criticism. That's why the public debate surrounding the pandemic has polarized opinion into two opposing camps: you're either supposed to unquestioningly support lockdowns and obey every single order contained in the latest shutdown restrictions like a loyal lapdog, or, you're expected to turn into some maskless shithead coughing on people in a supermarket as a way of showing those "dumbass liberals" how Covid is totally just a hoax, and the people you just assaulted should totally believe you because you read a very convincing post on facebook saying as much about how the government is totally engineering the "plandemic".
Hopefully, as more and more people with critical thinking skills begin to get fed up with the inconsistent and arbitrary rules imposed on us, and can't stand to see another lucrative contract go to producing secondary tools instead of actually going towards technologies that have the potential to end this, while you're expected to sit at home and somehow manage to come up with increasingly more creative ways of discovering how you're gonna feed yourself or your family everyday, hopefully more of us will start to realize that maybe the real sickness that needs to be purged is our utterly broken system after all.
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Some very important updates have transpired since this report was originally published on February 18th, and these latest developments are crucial in understanding how the establishment's handling of the Covid pandemic is nothing more than a cash grab for pharma companies.
The first bit of information we'll start off with is the fact that, on March 11th, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and representatives from the US, UK, and European governments successfully torpedoed a proposal from 57 nations in the intentionally under-developed world to eliminate intellectual property rights and patents on vaccine production so those governments could accelerate their own efforts to fight Covid. Despite the fact that these countries have a higher population than all those supposedly "first world" countries combined, the United States Chamber of Commerce (which, just so happens to be the US's largest "lobbying" organization), successfully got the WTO's director general to turn the proposal down; with the vice president of the cartel organization saying, verbatim: she "shouldn't distract herself with the proposal because the real work lies in reinforcing supply chains". That quote, essentially, is just corporate legalese for saying that those countries should be focused on buying vaccines from American pharma as opposed to doing what's in the best interests of their citizens. There isn't much of a joke, or commentary to be made about this. It's a straight up malicious and evil move to ensure that medical apartheid between what's known as "the Global North" and "the Global South" continues until those Global South countries eventually give into the demands of our companies. If there's any lesson that could be gleamed from this development, it's this: while formal representations of colonialism were thought to have been eliminated in the late 20th century, there are countless different legal methods on the books in countries around the world that ensure that the practice goes on in all but name. This, for any citizen in the heart of post-colonial countries, should be a major point of reflection.
Bouncing off of the theme of blatant private sector profiteering: Florida's in the news again lately. The reason? Faux concern over the possibility for another outbreak emerging out in the panhandle state as the spring breakers inevitably descend down to the state's sunny beaches in an effort to unwind. The media would like you to believe that any potential outbreak would solely be the responsibility of "irresponsible people" understandably getting sick of staying at home 24/7 for almost a year now, instead, of... you know... the pharmaceutical companies giving out as few vaccines as possible to keep demand, prices, and profit margins as high as possible. It's exactly why you have news stories coming out trying to paint Florida's lawmakers as "irresponsible" for loosening restrictions despite their government widening the age groups who qualify to receive priority vaccinations, which, according to genius newsroom reporters at least, is a problem of too much demand and not enough supply. It really boggles the mind as to how no one in the media s able to understand the dynamics at play with these vaccine rollouts, it's really not rocket science or conspiratorial to suggest that these companies are milking the Covid crisis for all that it's worth, the cynical saying that no one should ever "let a good crisis go to waste" exists for a reason.
To round out our updates for this report, Black Label Detroit has the "privilege" of bringing this final development home to illuminate the fact that, unsurprisingly, local journalists have no fucking idea what they're talking about. Not being able to work up the nerve to suggest such a policy in the more widely available, free articles, man who more than likely thinks that an internship at a Yacht Club makes you "working class", and one of the main editors of the Detroit Free Press, Brian Dickerson, had the unbelievable balls to write a story that not only ran a headline saying that: "If you choose to skip the vaccine, it's fair to restrict your privileges", but also, hid his horrendous, classist, and straight up stupid article inside of the paper's paid content. In the piece, Dickerson, (living up to his name) suggests that anyone who doesn't have a "vaccine passport" should be prevented from accessing public transportation, going to their job, or being able to attend school.
Unfortunately for all of us, this weaponized stupidity had some cosigners in local media, for.. whatever reason. What's usually a decent publication, but, is now turning into more or less just some glorified plagiarism aggregator since they just spend more time and website real estate quoting other people's journalism instead of coming up with their own interesting, or original takes (save for a few of the writers, y'all are cool), Deadline Detroit basically did the journalistic equivalent of quote tweeting an unhinged twitter rant and captioning: "this, but, unironically" ; agreeing with Dickerson's premise that anyone who doesn't receive their vaccine should essentially not have any rights to mobility. But, again, since none of these local "writers" cosplaying as journalists actually have the courage to stand by their own stated principals, no author takes responsibility for writing the piece agreeing with this bullshit. Though, the "article" in question does state the fact that the website's editor agrees with Dickerson's point especially. Which, speaking as someone who's had a conversation with Deadline Detroit's chief editor before, this author finds that prospect to be a very amusing one. After all, the man who Allan Lengell keeps an autographed portrait of near his desk, Donald Trump, kinda has a completely different view on vaccines altogether than he would, but, that's none of my business.... maybe ideological consistency is something better saved for unemployed journalists sitting in the comfort of their own home as opposed to out of touch, dusty blog owners who over-inflate their sense of self worth because they just so happen to have a desk and name tag on some random floor of a musty office building that's damn near about to blow up half the time.
With that being said, there's a bit of disclosure that needs to be gotten out of the way: in my line of former employment, the food service industry, this author has experienced two Covid scares that've required a certified test to be administered before he could go back to work.. thankfully though, both tests came back negative. However, this scenario is a perfect example of how such an idiotic proposal misses the nuances inherent to this pandemic. Not only that, but it'd probably fuel even more erratic vaccine skepticism than it sought to eliminate by following through with the plan in the first place, then, you people would really have no one to blame for the fallout but yourselves.
Y'all "upper crust" and "enlightened" elitists want people like this author to be less skeptical of the vaccine rollout? Abolish the patents so countries all over the world are able to vaccinate their people, funnel research into promising technologies and ensure that all breakthroughs stay within the public domain and accessible to everybody. Let universities utilize their labs to produce variant-resistant vaccines and distribute those doses free of charge. It's literally that simple. If you can't agree to that, then maybe the conversation regarding who's a "selfish individual" needs to be turned on it's head to target those who perpetuate a blatantly broken and unjust system.
Links & Sources:
13. Lawrence, Eric " Our Arsenal of Democracy is now an Arsenal of Determination" Detroit Free Press
16. Karpan, Andrew "WTO Fails To Reach Deal On COVID IP Waiver Proposal, Again" Law360 2021
17. Karpan, Andrew "Chamber Urges WTO Not To Entertain Vaccine IP Waivers" Law360 2021
18. "Freep's Dickerson: Time For Vaccination To Be Tied To Travel Privileges?" Deadline Detroit
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