Twenty twenty-two was
a year and a half. Now, thankfully, we have seen its back with that of one of
the existential issues of our times. I speak of Covid-19, of course, which, during
its peak, had confined most of us to barracks. Happily, the majority of us survived
it, and are now returning to something like normalcy. We are still not yet back
to the relaxed ways of pre-pandemic days, though. Whatever satisfaction we may
feel at this point, it is well to remember that the pandemic has taken nearly 7 million lives. These
dead are not just numbers. They left behind deeply scarred families who watched
their loved ones sicken and die. The worst is now over. Probably. We must spare
a thought though, for those among us who avoided Covid’s worst outcome, yet survive
to contend with the debilitating symptoms of “Long Covid”.
The virus’s other
legacy, the economic one, endures too. The pandemic disrupted industrial production
and dislocated supply chains everywhere, contributing to the anxiety that haunts
many of us, especially among those who could not quarantine because they had to
earn a living at-site. By contrast, those who could work off-site and earn from
home, did so with smug satisfaction. Thus arose another divide between the
haves and the have-nots that intensified appetites for false narratives about Covid,
its nature and origins and, indeed, whether it is a real thing, undermining what
governments and their public health experts were trying to do to keep us all safe.
From that place, it was only a short hop for dissenters to jump on to the bandwagon
that was headed for Ottawa, the Canadian capital, where they tried to ransom the
city and the rest of the country. On their way, the agitators collected an assortment
of antivaxxers and anti-maskers, racists and fascists, putschists and would-be
assassins avowing, bizarrely, to kill the Prime Minister, topple the Federal Government
and install an alternative that was more to their taste. Canada was headed for
its January 6 moment.
The government was
prepared. Using special powers, it eventually put an end to what was becoming a
national embarrassment, and which had been seeding similar outbreaks elsewhere
in the country. Social media had, once again, shown its power to spread false
information and stoke up emotions.
The medium remains
massively disruptive with that ability to disseminate false anti-science
narratives about the pandemic (and other matters) that could have resulted in
much worse clinical outcomes while, at the same time during 2022, enabling
dissenters to collect and amass a substantial war chest. It is an irony that,
quite possibly, escaped the convoy organizers and their followers: The weaponizing
of the internet (and diesel-powered trucks) for the war against the very science
that devised them.
Meanwhile, Covid’s
economic fallout continues into the new year, taking the world to the brink amid
forecasts that grow darker by the day.
The year twenty
twenty-two also fuelled a couple of exotica, NFTs and cryptocurrency, to illustrate
how easy it is for a fool and his money to be parted. As if to emphasize the
point, the world’s richest man dropped $44bn lusting after a dysfunctional chat
box.
“Loss and Damage”
was the 2022 mantra that resounded from Sharm El Shaikh to all corners, as activists
call on rich countries to foot the bill for the harm they continue inflict on the
environment that threatens to take lives and destroy livelihoods everywhere,
especially in poor countries. Yes, the survival of the world itself is at
stake, with record high temperatures in many regions including in Europe and North
America. The UK’s Met Office recently announced that 2022 was the hottest on
record. In the Horn of Africa, drought was relentless, creating and sustaining a
famished landscape throughout the region. On the other side, Pakistan and
Nigeria drowned in unprecedented floods that displaced millions and killed
thousands. The think tank, The
Copernicus Climate Change Service, predicts that unless we change our ways,
the world will warm up by 1.5 degrees by 2034, and the end will be nigh.
Unless Putin’s
special operations does us in earlier.
Tell Fren Tru
Twenty twenty-two was
a year and a half. Now, thankfully, we have seen its back with that of one of
the existential issues of our times. I speak of Covid-19, of course, which, during
its peak, had confined most of us to barracks. Happily, the majority of us survived
it, and are now returning to something like normalcy. We are still not yet back
to the relaxed ways of pre-pandemic days, though. Whatever satisfaction we may
feel at this point, it is well to remember that the pandemic has taken nearly 7 million lives. These
dead are not just numbers. They left behind deeply scarred families who watched
their loved ones sicken and die. The worst is now over. Probably. We must spare
a thought though, for those among us who avoided Covid’s worst outcome, yet survive
to contend with the debilitating symptoms of “Long Covid”.