Journal of the Plague Year

I turned on Rachel Maddow last night and saw the video of Iran's Minister of Health at a press conference, frowning and mopping his brow as he stood next to some high dignitary who was assuring the nation that the virus was under control, and I felt like I was in a fever dream myself--a feeling that I've had repeatedly since November, 2016. The next day, the minister addressed the nation from the hospital, where he was being treated for COVID-19.Back when I was promoting CULTS and THE NEW HATE, I used to try to explain the difference between conspiracies, which happen all the time, and global conspiracy theories.Suppressing testing to keep the numbers of reported cases low in hopes of fooling the market and protecting Trump's political standing = conspiracy.Sinister interests using the media they control to spread false stories about a deadly epidemic in China, Korea, Iran, and Italy in order to crash the US economy and embarrass President Trump, possibly hiring crisis actors to pretend to be sick and dying = conspiracy theory.Congressman Gaetz's, Collins', and the new Chief of Staff Meadow's self-quarantines? That's just poetic justice.