The Smoke Eater For March 19, 2020
Trust fall, a new tech problem, and a dirty job.
A CTA operator escorts passengers off a bus in the middle of the street and ushers them to a station during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Good morning, this is The Smoke Eater for Thursday, March 19, 2020, and we take care of our own!
Quick Hit
* Who do you trust * Local government to the rescue * The Boomer bubble * The Goddamn youths * Finger pointing * Big techs next problem * A dirty job...
NOTE: Sorry for the lack of updates. On Monday we spent an hour cleaning and closing the bar, then I got a crash course in the realities Chicago politics before trying to grab some last minute "social distancing" supplies. Like everyone else, I'm trying to keep my shit together.
I'd also like to extend a big thank you to those who offered their support on Monday. It's been your generosity that keeps me moving, and it's hard to convey how much it means to me! The Smoker Eater is (and always will be) mobile friendly, ad-free and supported by super cool people. If you want to be super cool, tip me on Ko-Fi, or subscribe to my Patreon.
Oceania Had Always Been At War With Eastasia
A new Axios-Ipsos poll of people 18+ suggests Americans no longer trust traditional media sources to deliver accurate information about the coronavirus, and those numbers are even worse for digital media outlets. Of the people surveyed, people seem to only trust information from world health officials and their local governments. As Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns write in the New York Times, it's been governors and mayors who've been leading efforts to combat the spread of the virus by instituting the strict rules for the public and businesses. Kevin Yamaura reports that many states are now anticipating major budget shortfalls while Congress kicks around bailout ideas that won't piss off Senate Republicans, The White House, or the House Tea Party caucus (many of whom bemoaned bailouts in 2010).
Additionally, a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that a majority of conservatives weren't concerned with the virus. Writing in Vox, Zeeshan Aleem theorized the partisan gulf is likely due to Trump and his conservative echo chamber repeatedly dismissing infection warnings as a serious threat. On Saturday, Phillip Bump expanded upon this in citing a recent Quinnipiac poll that found, "Older Republicans are about as blasé about the prospect as are younger Republicans." Aleeem adds that all this messaging has played a role in the administration's initial response to deny the advice of the advice of health officials.
You're Not Helping
All this comes as young people around the world continue dicking around with one another. The C.D.C. reports that of the 2,449 of the 4,226 reported cases, 29 percent are people aged 20 to 44. This dire warning appears lost in translation as young people continue gear up to party down for spring break, confident that the "Boomer Doomer" (as some of my friends have called it) won't really affect them as much as it will older people. Preliminary data out of China shows young people potentially occupy more hospital beds, with the virus possibly having a significant effect on young children.
Confounding efforts by adults to get a handle on the virus is Trump, who remains confident his regular cameo appearances to pat himself on the back and spew xenophobic rhetoric are helping, though this seems to the administration’s 180° high-speed turn. Asawin Suebsaeng writes for The Daily Beast that a gaggle of Trumplandia's biggest mouth pieces were instructed to begin parroting a remix of old dog whistles at the annual CPAC conference last month. Since that meeting, the most dangerous and incendiary disinfo being regurgitated by the right-wing has been tamped down in favor of a blame game with China. Jonathan Chait argues this strategy allows them to ignore their own policy failures.
Earlier this morning NPR reported North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr had warned a group of wealthy constituents from North Carolina on Capitol Hill that the virus could be worse than the 1918 Spainish flu pandemic weeks before the administration began to take serious action. In a secret recording, Burr can be heard telling this small group of constituents they should take the threat seriously, reconsider any travel plans to Europe, and brace for the financial impact.
Bullshit Brigade
Casey Newton writes that after trying to fend off Nazis, Russians, anti-vaxxers, and conservative pearl clutchers, tech companies are now being faced with new conundrums in the age of the coronavirus. Last week Sam Biddle reported in The Intercept about how contracted content mods at Facebook were getting screwed as everyone practices "social distancing" while working from home. With a fire lit under Silicon Valley's collective asses, tech companies began to reevaluate their policies and issue new guidelines.
A lot of the content moderation is being moved towards in-house artificial intelligence in order to protect employees. All that automation has had some the unintended consequence, flagging legit news reports about the virus, like Israel harvesting cellphone location data to track the virus as spam or disinfo.
One More Thing...
Yes, I'm still going out hunting for photos and stories, but let me explain why, and the precautions I'm taking.
Because of the kindness of regular donors and subscribers, I was able to heed early warnings of global health officials. I began securing supplies under the assumption that IF something happened I wouldn't need to hit the grocery store for at least a few weeks. After getting my hands on a decent respirator, nitrile gloves, and some chemicals to create disinfectant, I began rummaging around my old "supply crate" for my riot reporting gear.
As a kid my grandparents often told horror stories from the Holocaust; often stressing, "one day everything changed." Like most military brats post-9/11, my family became preppers. Being a journalist taught me to keep my head on a swivel, and be ready to adapt. These are all lessons that have never been lost to me.
Before I entering my apartment now I take a sponge bath with disinfectant. Anything I might have touched gets dunked in a concentrated sanitizing solution. And I'm currently trying to jury rig a clean room with rubber matting and a shower curtain to make clean up easier and safer. The next step is lubing up my bike so I can move around the city more without taking a risk on the L.
I mention this because hospital workers are now so desperate for P.P.E. that the C.D.C. has relaxed standards and suggested swim goggles and bandanas could be used in a pinch to cover ones eyes and face, though there's no real data to suggest that such measures work.
A few days before an acquaintance said that my behavior over the last few weeks was irrational and freaking people out. On Monday, as my colleague and I sat in the dark on opposite ends of our disturbingly clean bar, drinking our last beers in public, he held up two pinched fingers and joked that I was "this close" to being a prepper. "Sometimes it's a little annoying,” he said, “but it's not a bad thing."
It’s important to document how things change. Some journalists are "socially distancing" by conducting remote interviews, but I can’t. As anyone who's every worked with me can attest, I'm not doing my job unless I'm running around in the muck. If there's protest, I'm laying in the street or climbing the tallest object the best photo. If there's fight, I’ll probably catch a few punches. If the world is changing, I’m going to be there for as long as I can.
It’s a dirty job, and I’m going to do it.
OK, here's something warm and fuzzy: PUPPIES!
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