Feb. 4: “Many people are only now waking up”
8,351 infections, 362 deaths in Wuhan
Fang Fang cites the lessons of the SARS epidemic of 2003, and blames the spread of the new coronavirus on officials intoxicated with political rhetoric who ignored pressing practical issues. “It’s true in life, especially in China, that too many people don’t grasp common sense, and they like to replace it with political formulas,” she said in an interview.
The enemy isn’t just the virus. We’re also our own enemies or accomplices in crime. It’s being said that many people are only now waking up, startled to grasp that it’s meaningless to yell empty slogans day in and day out about how amazing our country is, to grasp the total ineptitude of those officials who spend their days in political study and bloviating, and can’t get a real job done.
This lesson should have counted as profoundly searing. Still, although we experienced 2003, that was quickly forgotten. Now add to that the year 2020. Will we also forget it? The devil is always on our trail, and if we’re not on our guard, he’ll add another date until we wake up in torment. The question is: Do we want to wake up?
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