May 30, 2020
Day 70
First the good news…
The Zeroes say it all on this day. For the first time ever we are one zero away from there being nine out of nine total zeroes on the board. 1 Active case. Zero recovered cases. Ratio of recovered (or otherwise) cases to confirmed and probable cases is 99.93%
Now for the bad news…
So, you tell me. Are we as a species doomed to repeat the same tired, tragic and timeworn tales generation after generation? Is it impossible to stop the cycle of the rise of totalitarian governments and the wars necessary to ensure they do not take over the world with their poisonous ideologies?
If you would like to know what the peoples of the world thought and felt while Hitler and the cancer of Nazism was growing in Europe, look around you as China takes over Hong Kong and destroys a tiny remnant of freedom clinging to the shore of Asia’s mainland. Eighty some years ago it was Czechoslovakia, the Sudetenland, the Anschluss, Norway, Belgium, France, Italy….
Now it’s Tibet, Nepal, the South China Sea and Taiwan. The concentration camps have already been built and the Uighurs, an ethnic minority, are imprisoned there by the millions for the simple crime of being ‘other’. They have no champions and no hope. Those not yet in the camps live under mass surveillance and the threat of imminent arrest. Once inside, the inmates are subject to re-education, torture and possible organ harvesting. Outside, systematic oppression includes the destruction of graveyards and the disappearance of entire communities from the land, maps and eventually, memory. It is happening now and we tolerate it.
Toasters are cheap here because life is cheaper there.
It is not only lives in the balance, but judgement of history as well. Just as Hitler had a plan for South and North America, the Chinese Communist Party has a plan for you. When all is said and done they’ll rewrite the curriculum of all schools, dismantle statues, destroy landmarks and erase history all while rebuilding the world as they imagine it should be. To the victor go the spoils.
Watch Hong Kong in the coming weeks. There is a reason the CCP placed their boot on the neck of the island two weeks before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. When the former Hong Kong is a couple of news cycles in the past, watch Taiwan. Watch Australia, the South China Sea and Africa. Read your history books and learn, because if all you do is watch, there will come a time when you will see your children march off to a war that you let happen because you could not be bothered to stop it.
Bring manufacturing home to your own land or to countries that do not support totalitarian dictators. Stop, by whatever means, the conducting of business with China. Stop listening to their wolf diplomats scolding the west for interfering in their sovereign right to whatever they like. Stop thinking you can do nothing. Do a little bit each day. Open your eyes. Study your enemy. Speak out. Speak up. One battle is over. The next is well underway.
First of all, congrats on New Zealand’s battle against the virus. This shows what one nation can do if everyone pulls together and works toward a common goal. Too bad Americans are inspired or self-motivated to do the same.
Second, I agree with your prophecy on the direction the world is headed. History does indeed repeat itself in awful and ugly ways.
Hi Russell,
Thanks re our Covid numbers and the little country that could. Have to admit I’m glad I live here now, given the target that age and asthma has placed on my back.
As for the world, I am worried. One good thing about getting older is that I might not have to worry much longer about things going south. Bad thing is I have a son and grand-daughter who will.
My regards to Connie and my best to you, my friend. Stay low and safe and I’ll see you on the other side.
Cheers,
Doug
Yes and we’re burning over here right now even thought the burning is as hurtful as the cause that started it. It’s the perfect illustration of “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” In this case, it’s making a riot, not a right, and destroying property and livelihoods of many people. As for Hong Kong, people had to know it wouldn’t end well as soon as China took control, no matter how nice they were at the start.
And on that positive note, have a great weekend!! 🙂
janet
Dear Doug,
So happy to see the numbers.
As traffic and crowds grow back to abnormal here, continuing to isolate doesn’t sound so bad. Also here, in the land of the free and the home of the brave it seems we’re watching the 1960’s all over again.
On the bright side. Beautiful weather today and it’s our 13th anniversary of living in this house.
Love and more love to you and Valerie,
Rochelle