I'm increasingly struck by how profoundly the pandemic reshaped our lives - politically, culturally, socially, technologically - and how (comparatively) little attention is paid to the results. I'm not sure what - if anything - can be done to reverse the damage; but this piece lucidly and perceptively traces the contours of the new landscape in which we find ourselves, which is an indispensable start.
It occurs to me that, in our personal lives, there are events of such magnitude that it seems futile to do anything apart from “move on” - even though it’s impossible to actually move on, since our lives are defined by the event. The pandemic is almost a collective form of this.
Great piece. I remember reading about the labour camp of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, and how after Stalin died it became a city and they razed the prison buildings and put up housing and many of the convicts stayed and lived next door to their former guards and nobody ever talked about what had happened. Human kind cannot bear very much reality, and all that.
Seriously, that is a brilliant subject for a short film or short story (the Kazakh city). Ideally treated with plenty of dark humour.
Your piece from 2020 has made me feel rather strange. I distinctly remember having the same experiences, seeing the same things, but those memories are not fully accessible somehow, as though they come from a parallel life or a dream.
I wanted to visit when I lived in Almaty but it was rather far away. I make do by following the Karaganda Photographer account on X, in which an elderly gentleman walks about the city taking pictures of unremarkable things.
I tried to keep a pandemic diary so that I could look back on it later, but things became so strange and hallucinatory so quickly that I couldn't keep it up...and it was actually strangely exhausting to write.
Most unfortunately, this swing toward isolation is draining the life out of our culture and society.
For instance, a Zoom meeting is really no more than a shallow simulation of sitting around a table with friends, family or co-workers. Nothing online even begins to replace the cultural commonplace of playing nickel-ante poker (and drinking and smoking and joking) with friends. And I've seen klatches of women in the park, talking about their kids (or whatever), while the kids run around and play, out in the fresh air and the sun. Valuable to all of them, far beyond anything they could find on Mumsnet or its US equivalent.
These little things support a society, like plankton supports all sea life.
Nicely done, Wessie. Though I think "suppressing" might be better than "forgetting." As you go on to discuss, Covid seems to have had profound influence. That we don't talk about it doesn't mean it hasn't left its marks, some of which you and no doubt others remember . . . Keep up the good work!
One of the most awful effects that is slowly being revealed is the total collapse in basic diligence towards children. My mother works in a school in which 18 (perfectly able) children out of 30 are now not toilet trained by the age of 4/5. It was zero prior to Covid - children are arriving at school unable to hold a pencil, having never eaten fruit, never read to…
This is so sad. I wasn’t aware of these details at all. Who is covering this? Maybe I’m not looking in the right place, but I don’t see these costs being discussed very often.
We haven't forgotten in Canada. The govt that froze people's bank accounts and invoked War Measures against protestors after two years of strict lockdowns is still in power here, stalling on calling an election, so it's still very much in our faces
This week, I noticed a cultural fossil of the Coronadays, which you may also have spotted: a person sneezing into her elbow joint. I don't think I saw anyone do that before the 'vid. Some things persist.
I remember staying in San Francisco for a week during covid and being reported on by a neighbor to the Airbnb host for not wearing my FFP2 mask *while outdoors.* I was chastised in the Leave a Review section. This stuff could be pretty obnoxious, but I don't see that the "obedient and passionately conformist" tendencies revealed by covid have anything to do with what's going on over here now: actual authoritarianism that's completely naked and makes little pretense of being for the public good.
There is a wilful amnesia about Covid (at least in the UK). We don’t want to remember possibly because it reminds us of much that was shameful. Sadly the episode revealed the less appealing aspects of the national character; the smallness of officialdom, the silly and random rules (meetings of six?), the urge for lockdowns which became harder to justify over time. In classic fashion, the ensuing enquiry does not cover Covid origins only the response. I wonder if we would act differently in the event of a similar pandemic?
I'm increasingly struck by how profoundly the pandemic reshaped our lives - politically, culturally, socially, technologically - and how (comparatively) little attention is paid to the results. I'm not sure what - if anything - can be done to reverse the damage; but this piece lucidly and perceptively traces the contours of the new landscape in which we find ourselves, which is an indispensable start.
It occurs to me that, in our personal lives, there are events of such magnitude that it seems futile to do anything apart from “move on” - even though it’s impossible to actually move on, since our lives are defined by the event. The pandemic is almost a collective form of this.
Great piece. I remember reading about the labour camp of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, and how after Stalin died it became a city and they razed the prison buildings and put up housing and many of the convicts stayed and lived next door to their former guards and nobody ever talked about what had happened. Human kind cannot bear very much reality, and all that.
Your piece reminded me of a post I sent out at the very start of the descent into collective madness. I unearthed it here: https://danielkalder.substack.com/p/thus-spake-daniel-kalder-end-of-the
Seriously, that is a brilliant subject for a short film or short story (the Kazakh city). Ideally treated with plenty of dark humour.
Your piece from 2020 has made me feel rather strange. I distinctly remember having the same experiences, seeing the same things, but those memories are not fully accessible somehow, as though they come from a parallel life or a dream.
I wanted to visit when I lived in Almaty but it was rather far away. I make do by following the Karaganda Photographer account on X, in which an elderly gentleman walks about the city taking pictures of unremarkable things.
I tried to keep a pandemic diary so that I could look back on it later, but things became so strange and hallucinatory so quickly that I couldn't keep it up...and it was actually strangely exhausting to write.
Most unfortunately, this swing toward isolation is draining the life out of our culture and society.
For instance, a Zoom meeting is really no more than a shallow simulation of sitting around a table with friends, family or co-workers. Nothing online even begins to replace the cultural commonplace of playing nickel-ante poker (and drinking and smoking and joking) with friends. And I've seen klatches of women in the park, talking about their kids (or whatever), while the kids run around and play, out in the fresh air and the sun. Valuable to all of them, far beyond anything they could find on Mumsnet or its US equivalent.
These little things support a society, like plankton supports all sea life.
I couldn't agree more! Conscientious effort is needed to sustain and cherish the world beyond our screens.
Nicely done, Wessie. Though I think "suppressing" might be better than "forgetting." As you go on to discuss, Covid seems to have had profound influence. That we don't talk about it doesn't mean it hasn't left its marks, some of which you and no doubt others remember . . . Keep up the good work!
SARS CoV 2 is permanent in today's highly interconnected world. 100 years from now SARS CoV 2 will still be found in human populations.
One of the most awful effects that is slowly being revealed is the total collapse in basic diligence towards children. My mother works in a school in which 18 (perfectly able) children out of 30 are now not toilet trained by the age of 4/5. It was zero prior to Covid - children are arriving at school unable to hold a pencil, having never eaten fruit, never read to…
This is so sad. I wasn’t aware of these details at all. Who is covering this? Maybe I’m not looking in the right place, but I don’t see these costs being discussed very often.
We haven't forgotten in Canada. The govt that froze people's bank accounts and invoked War Measures against protestors after two years of strict lockdowns is still in power here, stalling on calling an election, so it's still very much in our faces
It’s nice to be reminded that we aren’t the only ones who got totally screwed.
haha a miniscule consolation I guess
This week, I noticed a cultural fossil of the Coronadays, which you may also have spotted: a person sneezing into her elbow joint. I don't think I saw anyone do that before the 'vid. Some things persist.
I don't think I've ever witnessed this manoeuvre. Although I do recall people predicting the end of the handshake (thank God they were wrong).
Good read. Captures the ghostly eeriness of the Covid era. A shame Mark Fisher isn't around isn't around, he'd be a good interlocutor on this.
Thank you. Ghostly is the right word. There is also something dreamlike about it: a reality like our own but with its own peculiar and haunting logic.
I remember staying in San Francisco for a week during covid and being reported on by a neighbor to the Airbnb host for not wearing my FFP2 mask *while outdoors.* I was chastised in the Leave a Review section. This stuff could be pretty obnoxious, but I don't see that the "obedient and passionately conformist" tendencies revealed by covid have anything to do with what's going on over here now: actual authoritarianism that's completely naked and makes little pretense of being for the public good.
There is a wilful amnesia about Covid (at least in the UK). We don’t want to remember possibly because it reminds us of much that was shameful. Sadly the episode revealed the less appealing aspects of the national character; the smallness of officialdom, the silly and random rules (meetings of six?), the urge for lockdowns which became harder to justify over time. In classic fashion, the ensuing enquiry does not cover Covid origins only the response. I wonder if we would act differently in the event of a similar pandemic?