Coronavirus pandemic is shaking up the world; life feels so surreal
This time is a public health emergency that’s shaking up the world. Much of the world is waking up to a strange new reality. In just a matter of weeks, people in many countries have become accustomed to wearing masks, stocking up on essentials, canceling social and business gatherings, scrapping travel plans and working from home. Traces of such habits will endure long after the virus lockdowns ease, acting as a brake on demand.
In April of 2020, daily life is in sharp contrast with the overwhelming sense that our world is dramatically different . Masks are everyday wear. No one wants to touch anything for fear of becoming infected — the strap in a bus, the handle of a door, the hand of a friend. City streets have transformed overnight, Npr mentioned.
A walk down supermarket aisles may make you feel as if you’ve entered into an apocalyptic movie. We can see the anxiety in the eyes of the other shoppers. It’s all because of a virus first identified in December that has now swept the globe.
Every day seems so otherworldly
The study of the surreal has mostly concerned Dali’s paintings and Kafka’s writings. But there are psychological reasons why every day seems so otherworldly. “The surreal part, comes when we’re thrown into a situation that we’ve never been in before. It’s extremely disorienting,” says child psychiatrist Fredrick Matzner, who studied the psychological shock of 9/11, wired reported. “If you’ve ever gone into an art museum, and you walk into a room with a big abstract painting on the wall, and look at it and you can’t tell what it is, you’ll feel anxious. You’ll feel uneasy.”
Right now, many of the patterns we know and love have been obliterated. We can’t go to happy hour, we can’t plan our annual trip. It’s like there’s no future. We can’t plan for the future, because in the age of the coronavirus, we don’t know what we’ll be doing in six months, or even tomorrow. We’re stuck in a new kind of everlasting present. “And so everything seems completely otherworldly,” Matzner says.
The novel coronavirus continues to wreak havoc worldwide — not least in its impact on events from tech, economic, religion and sports to entertainment and politics. As people are advised to stay at home and avoid contact with others, a cascade of cancellations and postponements has wiped major events off the calendar, CNN told.
Pandemics have afflicted civilizations
Pandemics have afflicted civilizations throughout human history, with the earliest known outbreak occurring in 430 BC during the Peloponnesian War. In their 1952 book on the social history of tuberculosis, “The White Plague”, sociologists Rene and Jean Dubos described illnesses as dynamics that divided the epochs of human history.
Many of these pandemics have had significant impacts on human society, from killing large percentages of the global population to causing humans to ponder larger questions about life. Today may go down in history as the day when huge numbers of countries were largely united in a global shut-down to address the pandemic.
A global, novel virus that keeps us contained in our homes—maybe for months—is already reorienting our relationship to government, to the outside world, even to each other. But crisis moments also present opportunity: more sophisticated and flexible use of technology, less polarization, a revived appreciation for the outdoors and life’s other simple pleasures.
The de-militarization of patriotism and love of community
Some countries have long equated patriotism with the armed forces. But you can’t shoot a virus. Those on the front lines against coronavirus are our doctors, nurses, pharmacists, teachers, caregivers, store clerks, utility workers, small-business owners and employees.
When all is said and done, perhaps people will recognize their sacrifice as true patriotism, saluting our doctors and nurses, genuflecting and saying, “Thank you for your service,” as they now do for military veterans. Maybe the de-militarization of patriotism and love of community will be one of the benefits to come out of this whole awful mes.
The extraordinary shock(s) to countries’ system that the coronavirus pandemic is bringing has the potential to break countries out of the pattern of escalating political and cultural polarization they have been trapped in, and help their to change course toward greater national solidarity and functionality. It might sound idealistic, but there are two reasons to think it can happen, according to Politico.
The first is the “common enemy” scenario, in which people begin to look past their differences when faced with a shared external threat. COVID-19 is presenting us with a formidable enemy that will not distinguish between reds and blues. The second reason is the “political shock.
COVID-19 is eroding the reputation of the modern state
There are different ways to read the political impact of the coronavirus. One could say that the virus has eroded globalisation. Yet from another perspective, modern states that have invested billions of dollars in arms have been unable to protect their citizens. The brightest idea that the most modern states in the year 2020 have come up with is to tell their citizens to remain at home.
In other words, COVID-19 is also eroding the reputation of the modern state. The virus outbreak has become one of the biggest threats to the global economy and financial markets, Cnbc reported. The virus has also turned the economic policy outlook on a dime and created new priorities. Central banks are in emergency mode again, while governments are digging ever deeper to find money to prop up struggling sectors. For the oil industry, the impact has been magnified by the failure of the OPEC+ countries to agree on collective production cuts to help balance the market.
The coronavirus has changed the job market almost overnight
The global outbreak has seriously impacted the economy and job security. It will have long-lasting, game-changing ramifications. There will be sectors, companies and workers that may benefit from this near-tragedy. All businesses but pharmacies and food stores have shut their doors. Airlines are canceling flights, and roadblocks prevent people from leaving or entering some towns.
Unfortunately, we will also witness industries that are severely harmed. People in these areas will lose their jobs and have extreme difficulties finding new ones. Large gatherings of people are not permissible. Due to restrictions and fear, people are not traveling, taking airplanes, dining out, staying at hotels or attending concerts and sporting events. These current trends will continue even after we defeat the outbreak.
It’s the same with real estate. There is a reluctance for prospective renters and buyers to enter apartments and homes to look around. The owners are uncomfortable to allow strangers in who may be carriers. Potential buyers and renters will be reluctant to go into the home of a person who may have the disease, Forbes told.
Curtailed travel could temporarily lower emissions. The spreading virus has caused a dip in global greenhouse gas emissions. Reasons include a temporary blow to industrial activities, falling demand for oil and a decline in air travel.
The Virus Is Our Teacher
Christiana Figueres, former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, wrote recently at Time: “In fact, I believe the last few weeks, as terrible as they have been for so many people, have taught us crucial lessons that we needed to learn in order to enter a new era of radical, collaborative action to cut emissions and slow climate change.”
The lessons of these last few weeks, she writes, include: 1. “Global challenges have no national borders.” 2. “As a society, we’re only as safe as our most vulnerable people.” 3. “Global challenges require systemic changes — changes that can only be activated by government or companies. But they also require individual behavioral changes. We need both.” 4. “Prevention is better than cure.” 5. “All our response measures need to be based on science.” The coronavirus pandemic is going to cause immense pain and suffering. But it will force us to reconsider who we are and what we value, and, in the long run, it could help us rediscover the better version of ourselves, Ahvalnews reported.