Crazy Corona!



Ok, it’s a serious subject, but don’t you just love some of the more weird and wonderful stories that have cropped up because of the Corona virus?

  1. A Chinese woman who believed that Garlic was a cure/ preventative ate 1.5kg of raw garlic, but then ended up in hospital because her throat was burned and inflamed as a result.  After eating that much garlic, I’m surprised that the doctors could get near enough to treat her.  I mean, 1.5kg of Garlic!  That must be one hell of a lot of individual cloves.  Surely there must have been a point during what is bound to have been a long eating process where she questioned whether her actions were sound?
     
    There are a few other ridiculous stories on there too about the crazy things that people are doing in their Corona related panics.  Most seem to be spread via social media.  The gullibility of some people never ceases to amaze me.
     
  2. Panic buying:  My local supermarket at the weekend had empty shelves in a number of areas.  Toilet roll, pasta, hand cleaner and frozen foods seem to have been particularly popular with the panic buyers. Some of these things then end up for sale again on sites like Ebay.  For example, you can pick up a half used bottle of hand gel for the bargain price of only £8.00 plus £3.00 post!  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/hand-sanatiser-gel/153860094528?hash=item23d2c6ba40:g:aKMAAOSw8FxeZo-O
     
    Alternatively, how about a new but unbranded 100ml bottle for a mere £2.99 plus £1.99 post?  I mean, God only knows what is in this stuff, and whether it works or is actually harmful?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Anti-Bacterial-Hand-Sanatiser-100ML-Bottle-alcohol-based-selling-fast-20-sold/174216902822?hash=item289022f8a6:g:ln4AAOSwlxNeYVNM.  There is a reason why products are tested extensively before being let loose on the public.  I don’t know about you, but I think that this unknown substance being openly for sale is worrying, and that people really are buying it…..well, it’s their skin they are risking I suppose. 
     
  3.  Conspiracy theories:  It was the Russians, the Chinese, the North Koreans, a biological weapon.  Give me some facts to back up these wild claims, or don’t mention them in the first place.  When I say facts, I mean something that is verifiable, not some other idiots conjecture that has been repeated 100,000 times on Farcebook!  If you want to read a sane discussion of some of these nutty speculations, try this link:  https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/guide-right-wing-media-coronavirus-reactions-and-conspiracy-theories.  There is even a section on that link about claims that 5G weakens the immune system, and has contributed to the spread of this virus.  I mean, do people really take claims like that seriously?
     
  4.  OK, this is linked to the conspiracy theory discussion above, but the usual religious nutters are out there yet again telling us the end of the world is nigh, Armageddon is here, and this is God’s judgement on us all.  Usually this comes with the additional proviso that if you just send them all your cash they will put in a word for you with the Big Man himself.  I’ll add Trump into this section too.  His statements that the virus will just go away, and his advisors stupid claims that the whole epidemic was engineered just to prevent him being re-elected are just as mad as even the most radical evangelical claims out there.
     
All this does make me wonder about the current state of human intelligence.  There is very little of it on show in the examples above.  I suppose that it is all at least entertaining?

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