The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 1: Reputation, Lockdown, and Excuses to Leave
The foggy scene outside my apartment on day one of the Indiana lockdown. (Photo by Nathan Marchand).As I mentioned on my
social media, with my home state of Indiana in lockdown and my university going
to online only classes, I’ve decided to increase my creative output to
entertain (and hopefully enlighten) all of you True Believers while in
quarantine. We could all use some relief, and this is one way I can help with
that.
When I wrote my blog last week,
I hesitated to put in my political commentary. I make no secret of my political
leanings (I’m a conservative), but I don’t make a habit of broadcasting them to
the world because it always invites trouble. That’s the climate we live in now.
But I left it in because it was part of my frustration. Predictably, I was
accused of being flippant, propagating misinformation, and not taking the situation
seriously. I ended up adding a “retraction” of sorts to the blog and posting it
as an addendum. This came after I did some more reading and learned a few
things I didn’t know before about coronavirus.
The criticism ignited an
old fear that has dug deeper roots in recent years: perception is reality when it should be truth. In other words, the
actions and decisions of others have more control over my life than I do. I
could be objectively qualified for, say, a job, but the employer could still
not select me. In the case of my blog, I didn’t mean to spread misinformation
or offend anyone. Given that I’m something of a public figure (and the internet
is vicious), damage to my reputation could cost me big time. I’ve seen the
destruction wrought by gossip. I know firsthand how ungracious people can be.
That’s why I went into “damage control mode” to mitigate the problem. I should’ve
known everyone, including myself, is on edge with everything happening. It’s
only natural to respond defensively. I stay up-to-date with the latest reports
on the crisis, but there’s a lot of unknowns out there. Humans fear the unknown
more than most things. That’s why coronavirus is terrifying but the flu isn’t.
Sadly, I saw the internet
tear someone else apart this week over this. J.D. Lees, the editor of G-Fan magazine and the organizer for G-Fest,
sparked the controversy of the week in the kaiju fan community when he posted
coronavirus stats on the event’s Twitter page. Yes, it was a bad PR move, but I’ve
rarely seen such instant hate in this fandom. People called him a “clown” and a
“villain” and said they would cancel their magazine subscriptions and their
G-Fest tickets. I know J.D., so I know he meant no harm, which is why I did try
to stem the hate. That and my recent experience made me sympathetic to his
plight. At least no one bit my head off for it.
So, now almost everywhere
I would go is closed. School, the dance studio, bookstores. Heck, even my church
had to start livestreaming services. To say I feel isolated would be an understatement.
It makes me glad my brother
Jarod moved in with me or else I would die of loneliness. I’ve distanced
myself from online communities to focus on real-life relationships, and now
they’re all I have for the time being.
At least I was able to do some work for InstaCart, and they seem to be staying in operation. At this point, I’ll take any excuse to go outside.
On my first day of
quarantine, I drove to BioLife to donate plasma like I normally do. The stuff
is desperately needed, and it’s good money. Appropriately, fog as thick as
peanut butter blanketed the city at 9AM. It made me think of the people’s
blindness and how fog would deter travel. Beyond that, I spent the day raiding
my overfilled cupboards, watching UltraSeven with Jarod,
doing schoolwork, catching up on my TV viewing, and gaming online with my
friend Bill.
One of the goals on my whiteboard
is, “Add more adventure to your life.”
That just got more challenging.
What are you doing to pass the time in self-quarantine? Comment below!
The post The Journal of the Plague Fortnight, Day 1: Reputation, Lockdown, and Excuses to Leave appeared first on The Worlds of Nathan Marchand.
