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The Bigger
Picture is Hiding Behind a Virus
By Jonathan
Cook
April 04, 2020 "Information
Clearing House"
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Things often
look the way they do because someone claiming
authority tells us they look that way. If that
sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect
on what seemed most important to you just a year
ago, or even a few weeks ago.
Then, you may
have been thinking that Russian interference in
western politics was a vitally important issue and
something that we needed to invest much of our
emotional and political energy in countering. Or
maybe a few weeks ago you felt that everything would
be fine if we could just get Donald Trump out of the
White House.
Or maybe you
imagined that Brexit was the panacea to Britain’s
problems – or, conversely, that it would bring about
the UK’s downfall.
Still feel
that way?
After all,
much as we might want to (and doubtless some will
try), we can’t really blame Vladimir Putin, or
Russian troll farms spending a few thousand dollars
on Facebook advertising, for the coronavirus
pandemic.
Much as we
might want to, we can’t really blame Trump for the
catastrophic condition of the privatized American
health care system, totally ill-equipped and
unprepared for a nationwide health emergency.
And as
tempting as it is for some of us, we can’t really
blame Europe’s soft borders and immigrants for the
rising death toll in the UK. It was the global
economy and cheap travel that brought the virus into
Britain, and it was the Brexit-loving prime minister
Boris Johnson who dithered as the epidemic took
hold.
The Bigger
Picture
Is it possible
that only a few weeks ago our priorities were just a
little divorced from a bigger reality? That what
appeared to be the big picture was not actually big
enough? That maybe we should have been thinking
about even more important, pressing matters –
systemic ones like the threat of a pandemic of the
very kind we are currently enduring.
Because while we were
all thinking about Russiagate or Trump or Brexit,
there were lots of experts – even the Pentagon,
it seems – warning of just such a terrible calamity
and urging that preparations be made to avoid it.
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