Abnormal + abnormal = absurd

"The saying is “Desperate times require desperate measures.”  I’d like to think that in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic we are still not in desperate times. Clueless, frantic, perhaps even careless but not to be confused with desperate times. In a conversation with a friend, I asked why are members of the Philippine National Police wearing combat fatigue uniforms backed with Armored Personnel Carrier vehicles patrolling city streets and manning checkpoints? My friend replied, “We live in an abnormal situation and therefore we have to apply abnormal measures.” That did not sit well with me and still does not and that is why I came up with the title “Abnormal + Abnormal = Absurd.”

Yes, we live in abnormal times but do we have to act in an abnormal manner knowing that abnormal behavior always elicits alarm, concern, defensive posturing and/or fear? What are our CIVILIAN LAW ENFORCERS trying to communicate as they check on the citizens at the checkpoints and inner streets wearing combat fatigues? If there is only them and us, does that make us the enemy? Are they at war with the citizenry?  The PNP should go back to wearing their regular blues that the public knows and respect and associate with Peace and Order, Security and elicits a calming effect on the public. “Abnormal + Abnormal = Absurd” was exemplified in the evening news last Wednesday when law enforcers whether PNP or AFP patrolled a barangay followed by an armored personnel carrier. The idea is to enforce community quarantine not go door to door as if looking for armed enemy insurgents. The sad part of it all is that the absurd act simply desensitized or got people used to this “war games” or “pretend war” of “wanna-be SEALs” because an hour later people were out on the streets mingling because they simply could not stay in their oven hot houses.

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Another example of “Abnormal + Abnormal = Absurd” is the position of the DOH preventing persons 20 years and below or 60 years and above from leaving their homes when we shift from ECQ to GCQ. It is the classic example of the phrase “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” They want to protect us but may end up killing us. First of all, the premature announcement of the ban on 20 below and 60 above was worse than premature ejaculation. Sorry, but many people have been longing for the eventual lifting of ECQ and assuming that GCQ would relieve them of their oppression and depression. Would it have made a big difference to defer the stupid announcement by two weeks when the DOH would have gathered even more data to back their position and prepare a palatable announcement?

The fact is the DOH does not have enough up-to-date and validated or properly analyzed data to substantiate their position that 20 down and 60 up should be kept under house arrest. The data gathering feels like a multi-point chain of hospitals, statisticians, university analysts, LGU data gatherers and “experts” putting parts on an assembly line and still coming up short on enough information to form credible forecasts and models much less national policy that affects millions of Filipinos.

My wife and I have made efforts to piece and unscramble numbers and data that have been presented in many times and forms by the DOH and the IATF and the fact is the numbers are so low in the Philippines, which is good in terms of showing the success of the government to contain the pandemic. But if you take the numbers apart, the figures and what they represent become even more insignificant that it is absurd to use these numbers and data as a basis of making policies that impact at least 50 million Filipinos in the 20 down and 60 up age bracket.

At the beginning of the pandemic there were many older people getting the virus because they were the ones who travelled abroad, were in the medical frontlines, government officials constantly moving and meeting people in crowds and people travelling on business or leisure or OFW. That’s were it all started and how it began, from abroad. But now the incidence of death has reportedly migrated to the 40 to 50 year olds.  Of the 558 dead approximately 400 are elderly, but, if you go to national statistics from 2017 and 2018 and perhaps even the years before, elderly people are the most susceptible and have the highest mortality in almost all categories of disease because sickness and death comes with aging. It is not an abnormal situation in a population of about “two to six million” seniors, it is a fact of life. What is “absurd” is to play the science card and say that the figures isolate senior citizens as highly susceptible and should therefore be placed under house arrest for however long it takes. If anything, the house arrest will surely trigger or accelerate many dormant medical issues because of the lack of physical and mental activity, thereby killing more of us than saving us. COVID- 19 won’t kill us, “Stupid Science” will.

Elderly people did not reach such ripe and very productive age by being dumb.

The same argument holds for 20 below, while hard-hit Spain has started to let kids go for walks; we want to stunt ours at home. There are many single parents in the 19-to 20-year-old range who need to work and don’t want or can’t get a decent government stipend. Now the DOH wants them under house arrest.

“Stupid is as stupid does – Forrest Gump”

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