I really relate to feeling weird about lockdown because my own personal lifestyle was pretty well adapted to what it required. 15 years old, living with my parents, dad became WFH for a major national grocery store chain, primary hobbies included videogames and reading. I was procrastinating really hard on a bunch of major projects in school that evaporated. It took a few months for the Pandemic to really hit me as something that actually made my life worse.
I enjoyed this. Do you remember all of the people prior to the pandemic that would post things like “A plague would be great!” and then they got one and they were freaking out. Stop wishing for the things you don’t want. Life isn’t that bad. Enjoy it. Do meaningful things.
Really great essay, Klaus; I had toyed with writing a short story about the hantavirus cruise ship that would have been an allegory about Covid and how some people yearn for time to freeze. Even though the news cycle has somewhat passed from this event, I think what you did to break the public reaction down was good work. The Covid pandemic is a shadow that still looms over everyone’s minds
Not only brilliantly written but perfectly critical. I graduated mid-pandemic and it feels as if life has significantly stalled ever since. With the exception of finding my way back to school as a stop gap, so much of life has never really regained its joy or simplicity. The yearning for another pandemic or for some great destruction is so very odd when you consider how this is all we have. And perhaps we should not be so quick to ignore the fact that spending two years in a de facto global shut down has done irreparable damage to the way people socialize.
I feel extremely guilty whenever I find myself hoping for a disaster to bring some kind of change to myself or to society, and you examined/worded this much better than I could have. I’m definitely going to think about this piece whenever I hear news about the Hantavirus
I also remember when people during the pandemic kept saying, “Once this is all over, we’ll have our own Roaring 20s with parties all the time!” Obviously, we all know that didn’t happen, as people already moved their social lives to the Internet, which aligns with what you said about people wanting another chance to get it right this time
I remember thinking this at the time, but I don't see it happening now. Covid was/is such a fraught subject that it'll either be treated with kid gloves and used for set dressing (see 'Kimi') or buried under a landslide of ham-fisted commentary (see 'Eddington', or rather, don't see 'Eddington' lol it sucks).
I don't think anyone's managed to find a comfortable ground for Covid itself as a subject. Most movies that got attention for incorporating Covid ('Kimi' 'In the Earth' the romcom '7 Days' and that Zoom horror movie) only took it on by virtue of having been made during lockdown, got praised as novelties and then immediately forgotten.
'Eddington' aside, I think it's telling that there haven't really been any "Covid Movies" since the Pandemic ended (whenever that was). It's just not something people are interested in, and since more and more programming is native to streaming, I don't see that changing. No exec wants to tout a "Covid Movie" or a "Covid Series" as a reason to subscribe to HBO or Apple+ cause nobody will.
The most I can see happening is some kind of Netflix documentary, or maybe a docudrama series a few years down the line, if somebody wants another 'Chernobyl'.
See the thing is, a hantavirus pandemic would be no absolution, no wiping of the slate. Humanity would continue limping along, just with a much poorer and meaner existence, closer to the historical norm. I only partially relate to the mentality you describe. The world is a lot better than it was but it's still so very fucking shitty it would have been better if none of it had ever happened, and the way the trajectory is looking right now it's not gonna flip net positive any time ever without some kind of deus ex machina. That's why I wanna go full steam ahead on AGI, either we get our utopia and all tears are wiped away or it kills every person on earth all at the same time. Either one is fine by me. I am so fucking depressed and I can't fix it because I'm spite of our godlike technology we have solved approximately 0% of neuroscience, case in point.
Interesting but dark. A lot in common here with the instinct to a zombie apocalypse. We want something simplified rather than the hard complexity of a real modern world
This hit home for me since I also came out of the Covid era well ahead of where I was before. And also because doomerism-as-default both annoys and fascinates me, and we need more work parsing how it operates imo
See the thing is, a hantavirus pandemic would be no absolution, no wiping of the slate. Humanity would continue limping along, just with a much poorer and meaner existence, closer to the historical norm. I only partially relate to the mentality you describe. The world is a lot better than it was but it's still so very fucking shitty it would have been better if none of it had ever happened, and the way the trajectory is looking right now it's not gonna flip net positive any time ever without some kind of deus ex machina. That's why I wanna go full steam ahead on AGI, either we get our utopia and all tears are wiped away or it kills every person on earth all at the same time. Either one is fine by me. I am so fucking depressed and I can't fix it because I'm spite of our godlike technology we have solved approximately 0% of neuroscience, case in point.
Well, I learned that somebody named Hickman was messing with the Marvel Universe again, an American actually read Zizek and young folks were still overthinking COVID.
If you were an old alt-right conspiracy theorist like me, this would be easier. Doctor Fauci and the WHO tried to screw with me. I ignored them. The end.
The problems really began when Jack Kirby stopped drawing the Fantastic Four. That gave all the revisionists like Hickman license to play around. Make Spider-Man a girl, make Captain America a Tralfamadorian albino. If these were ever good ideas, Stan Lee would have done it in the '60's.
Anyway, COVID wasn't your fault, and neither was your overreaction to it. Move to Vermont, start a big garden and raise twins.
I really relate to feeling weird about lockdown because my own personal lifestyle was pretty well adapted to what it required. 15 years old, living with my parents, dad became WFH for a major national grocery store chain, primary hobbies included videogames and reading. I was procrastinating really hard on a bunch of major projects in school that evaporated. It took a few months for the Pandemic to really hit me as something that actually made my life worse.
I enjoyed this. Do you remember all of the people prior to the pandemic that would post things like “A plague would be great!” and then they got one and they were freaking out. Stop wishing for the things you don’t want. Life isn’t that bad. Enjoy it. Do meaningful things.
Really great essay, Klaus; I had toyed with writing a short story about the hantavirus cruise ship that would have been an allegory about Covid and how some people yearn for time to freeze. Even though the news cycle has somewhat passed from this event, I think what you did to break the public reaction down was good work. The Covid pandemic is a shadow that still looms over everyone’s minds
Not only brilliantly written but perfectly critical. I graduated mid-pandemic and it feels as if life has significantly stalled ever since. With the exception of finding my way back to school as a stop gap, so much of life has never really regained its joy or simplicity. The yearning for another pandemic or for some great destruction is so very odd when you consider how this is all we have. And perhaps we should not be so quick to ignore the fact that spending two years in a de facto global shut down has done irreparable damage to the way people socialize.
I feel extremely guilty whenever I find myself hoping for a disaster to bring some kind of change to myself or to society, and you examined/worded this much better than I could have. I’m definitely going to think about this piece whenever I hear news about the Hantavirus
I also remember when people during the pandemic kept saying, “Once this is all over, we’ll have our own Roaring 20s with parties all the time!” Obviously, we all know that didn’t happen, as people already moved their social lives to the Internet, which aligns with what you said about people wanting another chance to get it right this time
One day people'll start making movies about covid en masse and it'll be really weird
You already get a little taste of it with so many movies that released in like 2022 having to write around it. TÁR and Challengers, to name a couple.
I remember thinking this at the time, but I don't see it happening now. Covid was/is such a fraught subject that it'll either be treated with kid gloves and used for set dressing (see 'Kimi') or buried under a landslide of ham-fisted commentary (see 'Eddington', or rather, don't see 'Eddington' lol it sucks).
I don't think anyone's managed to find a comfortable ground for Covid itself as a subject. Most movies that got attention for incorporating Covid ('Kimi' 'In the Earth' the romcom '7 Days' and that Zoom horror movie) only took it on by virtue of having been made during lockdown, got praised as novelties and then immediately forgotten.
'Eddington' aside, I think it's telling that there haven't really been any "Covid Movies" since the Pandemic ended (whenever that was). It's just not something people are interested in, and since more and more programming is native to streaming, I don't see that changing. No exec wants to tout a "Covid Movie" or a "Covid Series" as a reason to subscribe to HBO or Apple+ cause nobody will.
The most I can see happening is some kind of Netflix documentary, or maybe a docudrama series a few years down the line, if somebody wants another 'Chernobyl'.
See the thing is, a hantavirus pandemic would be no absolution, no wiping of the slate. Humanity would continue limping along, just with a much poorer and meaner existence, closer to the historical norm. I only partially relate to the mentality you describe. The world is a lot better than it was but it's still so very fucking shitty it would have been better if none of it had ever happened, and the way the trajectory is looking right now it's not gonna flip net positive any time ever without some kind of deus ex machina. That's why I wanna go full steam ahead on AGI, either we get our utopia and all tears are wiped away or it kills every person on earth all at the same time. Either one is fine by me. I am so fucking depressed and I can't fix it because I'm spite of our godlike technology we have solved approximately 0% of neuroscience, case in point.
Banger of an essay, as per usual.
Interesting but dark. A lot in common here with the instinct to a zombie apocalypse. We want something simplified rather than the hard complexity of a real modern world
knew this would be a banger once it opened with an ultimates quote
Johnny Hicks always suckering me onto his wild ride even though I know they'll never let him finish the tracks
Really incredible essay that hits on a lot of things I think many of us get on some level yet rarely talk about
Parts of this read like the ending monologue from "Fear and Loathing...". Good stuff.
Very well done.
This hit home for me since I also came out of the Covid era well ahead of where I was before. And also because doomerism-as-default both annoys and fascinates me, and we need more work parsing how it operates imo
See the thing is, a hantavirus pandemic would be no absolution, no wiping of the slate. Humanity would continue limping along, just with a much poorer and meaner existence, closer to the historical norm. I only partially relate to the mentality you describe. The world is a lot better than it was but it's still so very fucking shitty it would have been better if none of it had ever happened, and the way the trajectory is looking right now it's not gonna flip net positive any time ever without some kind of deus ex machina. That's why I wanna go full steam ahead on AGI, either we get our utopia and all tears are wiped away or it kills every person on earth all at the same time. Either one is fine by me. I am so fucking depressed and I can't fix it because I'm spite of our godlike technology we have solved approximately 0% of neuroscience, case in point.
Well, I learned that somebody named Hickman was messing with the Marvel Universe again, an American actually read Zizek and young folks were still overthinking COVID.
If you were an old alt-right conspiracy theorist like me, this would be easier. Doctor Fauci and the WHO tried to screw with me. I ignored them. The end.
The problems really began when Jack Kirby stopped drawing the Fantastic Four. That gave all the revisionists like Hickman license to play around. Make Spider-Man a girl, make Captain America a Tralfamadorian albino. If these were ever good ideas, Stan Lee would have done it in the '60's.
Anyway, COVID wasn't your fault, and neither was your overreaction to it. Move to Vermont, start a big garden and raise twins.