Let me start off with the βWhen itβs not about you, itβs not about youβ-disclaimer. This disclaimer applies to all my blog posts, but considering the topic and the tone in which I am discussing it (spoiler: annoyed. Extremely annoyed), I figured it would be good to make it explicit. Here we go:
Seldom in my life have I felt so chronically annoyed at life as in the last couple of months. Every time I said to myself: βThis is it, it is impossible for me to get more annoyed than I am nowβ, I read some news that made me want to chop the nearest object to me down the middle with a huge axe. Even if from 14 March on I had listened to nothing but Africa by Toto on repeat, I would not have been as annoyed as I am now.
Why exactly am I so annoyed, you ask? Wellβ¦
- The way the Covid19 pandemic was completely underestimated at the beginning;
- The, as soon as was established that this Covid thing was An Issue, constant and extremely detailed, panic-y news streams;
- The anti-Covid measures as instated by the Dutch government, some of which SO confusing that people went: βYeah, whatever, never mind those rulesβ;
- The fact that people went: βYeah, whatever, never mind those rulesβ;
- The Dutch government going back and forth on the matter of face masks: βNo face mask!β, βWear a face mask!β, βDonβt wear a face mask!β, βDo wear a face mask!β;
- The fact that the Dutch media think itβs perfectly normal to give a platform to a βdiscussionβ about if we shouldnβt just let people that are fat, chronically ill, handicapped, old or a combination of any of those just die so the βhealthy onesβ can continue their lives as before.
Yes, youβre reading that correctly: a βdiscussionβ, led by some columnist or other who apparently didnβt get enough attention that week, about who can be βculledβ. At a time where people who are more at risk AND WHO GENERALLY SPEAKING ARE WELL AWARE OF THAT FACT are living in terror, some person or other decides that this is the perfect moment to act like a populist amateur eugenicist, and the Dutch press is like βCool topic! Letβs give this person a lot of time and attention!β
Donβt get me wrong: I am 100% in favour of euthanasia, to the point of being of the opinion that if somebody is done with life, they should just be able to get it. I donβt care if itβs because they are out of treatment options, or just because they feel that their life is complete, people should at any point in their life be able to decide about themselves when it comes to life and/or death. However, I have a HUGE problem with people βsuggestingβ that other people, who happen to be fat, chronically ill, handicapped and/or old, but who are just fine living their lives, should just, you know, die already, because βyoung and healthy peopleβ (not getting into that one) donβt feel like adapting their lives a bit for a year or so;
- The fact that this βdiscussionβ isnβt even the most bizarre thing the Dutch media are giving a platform to. Iβm thinking of the βCovid is a conspiracy!β tin foil hat wearing folk;
- The fact that people that I thought were ok, have turned into one of these βCovid is a conspiracy!β tin foil hat wearing folk #disappointing;
- The whining about the wearing of face masks and how impossible it is to wear them, because they are βSo awfully uncomfortableβ. Do you want to know what is actually awfully uncomfortable? Having a fucking breathing tube stuck down your throat in the Intensive Care Unit.
And no, youβre not being βgaggedβ, not literally and unfortunately also not figuratively, because if it was, a lot less of the useless crap above would have gotten into the world.
I honestly did not have a high opinion of humanity in general (and sometimes also in particular), but even I am shocked to see the general lack of logic and critical thinking skills in people. But what shocked me most is the often total lack of empathy and complete lack of willingness to do something for somebody else. I mean, I understand that you might not want to do something to help somebody else if itβs detrimental to you. But refusing to adhere to rules that honestly arenβt even that much of a hassle to adhere to, but could help out others tremendously? Damn. Like I told TBK aka my mom: βAnd I thought that I had a shitty personality!β
I do understand people complaining about their current lives though, because life is kinda shit at the moment. Itβs boring and stressful, days feel like weeks and months feel like days, unemployment and money worries take their toll, relationships are crumbling because people either never see each other or see each other all the time, you could get terribly ill at any moment and even die, and most of all: nobody has any clue of how long this is all going to take. This type of insecurity is killing.
Do you now have an idea how FUCKING SHIT it is to live your life this way for weeks, months, years and sometimes even forever? Because strangely enough, we as a society think itβs completely normal that thereβs large groups of people for whom this is their daily lived reality. I do understand that if youβre healthy, you donβt consider what it can be like to be chronically ill and/or handicapped. That you have no clue whatsoever what the impact of chronic illness and/or a handicap can be on somebodyβs life, and what that impact looks like in daily life.
But I do think that the government has a job here to inform people about these facts, and β more importantly β make sure that laws are instated to make sure that people with chronic illnesses and/or handicaps have a better quality of life when it comes to living, studies and/or jobs.
Because that is what pisses me off the most about this whole Covid-situation: for YEARS chronically ill and/or handicapped people have explained what their daily lived reality is like, what hinders them, what could be done to make life better for them. Nothing was ever possible. To work from home: no, canβt do that. To study remotely: impossible. To have the government start a campaign to get people to stop this toxic βI donβt call in sick unless I have a 40Β°C [104Β° Fahrenheit] feverβ-bullshit, where people donβt take into account all the co-workers, class mates and/or complete strangers β some of whom might be immunocompromised β on public transport that they infect: nope.βOh come on, everybody has a cough once in a while, donβt exaggerate!β Or as my 35-year old (as in: he should have known better) class mate once incredulously smoke-wafted my way: βButβ¦ you canβt die from pneumonia?β This after I told him that, yes, I had been absent, and yes, didnβt look too well, because I had nearly died of pneumonia in the weeks before. I think you got the picture by now.
Then Covid19 happened, and previously healthy people turned out to also be at risk to be struck by the virus. And all of a sudden everything was possible: work from home, study remotely, not coughing each other in the face. Even the very Dutch custom of body slamming into each other to get onto a train first stopped. I thought Iβd never see the day.
And while I am of course happy that these adjustments could be made so quickly, I am also terribly, terribly angry. Because the fact that these adjustments have been made, and have been made so quickly, shows that it was never a case of βWe canβtβ. βWeβ just didnβt want to. The government and others that decide these matters just didnβt feel like it, it wasnβt a priority, it was too much of a hassle, it wasnβt profitable.
This situation clearly shows that as a society, we have a very, very long way to go when it comes to the acceptance, let alone emancipation of chronically ill and/or handicapped people. Thereβs still this sentiment of βWhy should we want to accommodate you, youβre being a hassle, why canβt you be healthy just like anybody else?β, mixed with a bit of βYou should be thankful to this society that we donβt just let you die, you burden on humanity, youβ.
With those sentiments comes the concept of βbeggars canβt be choosersβ, that normalises the idea that as a chronically ill and/or handicapped person, you have less of a right to an enjoyable life. You should content yourself with whatever society is willing to βgiveβ, and you are not supposed to have any ambitions regarding studies and/or (paid) work, let alone expect to be accommodated in the slightest when trying β against all odds β to achieve these ambitions.
Thereβs been a lot of talk about βsolidarityβ these days, but I still havenβt felt it. Sure, weβre all in this together to a certain extend right now. But as soon as the Covid19 pandemic is over, everything will go back to how it used to be. Everybody will immediately forget how awful this period was and return to their jobs and/or studies, and to sniffing and coughing everywhere again, because βItβs not Covid 19, so who cares?β The chronically ill and/or handicapped will see the changes that now benefit them be turned back to βnormalβ, because fuck them, right? I of course hope that Iβm wrong, and that this pandemic will forever change the way we live, but Iβm quite pessimistic about it to be honest. I hope to be proved wrong though.
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