General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe cliche from 2001
Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. in 2001, there was a theme that developed and became a cliche: This changes everything.
And many things did change. The U.S. became a police state with heavily armed and armored military and police patrolling all the places where people congregate, like train stations, airports, bus depots and the like. Security cameras have become ubiquitous. As a society, we've become conditioned to sacrifice our civil liberties for the greater good of "security."
What Trump's incompetence and inaction with regards to the coronavirus have presented is a whole different level of change. Our economy has been destroyed and will continue to tank. Think of the millions of people who work in the service sector who will be unemployed because of the governmental restrictions! The markets have cratered and will continue to do so. Travel, tourism and entertainment are going to be ghost businesses. Meanwhile, there's an oil price war going on between Saudi Arabia and Russia that will severely cripple the U.S. oil industry.
In short, the world is about to enter a period of serious pain: economically, societally, culturally and politically.
The combination of Trump and the coronavirus changes everything.
Aristus
(66,462 posts)PJMcK
(22,048 posts)What I've seen and heard in the past 3 weeks shakes that foundation.
CanonRay
(14,113 posts)I think we'll come out on the other side better
PJMcK
(22,048 posts)Americans learned to work together for a common good.
Perhaps the disastrous effects of the coronavirus outbreak will create another era of commonality.
Nonetheless, we'll have to endure an era of pain in order to reach that plateau of national unity.