The mainstream media have been very sad and confused recently.
“What am I supposed to report on now that the world is moving on from COVID?”
All the hits, online audience, revenue, slowly returning back to pre-COVID levels…
OMICRON!!!
Yay! A brand-new variant to milk dry with countless clickbait titles and fear-inducing claims!
Stop.
Personally, there are only two features of a new variant that are worth even beginning to mention to the public:
- Is it more deadly?
- Is it more resistant to current vaccines?
Based on the limited knowledge we have of this new variant, neither of these points can be accurately confirmed. There is currently zero indication that it is more deadly; in fact, quite the contrary. And, even if it is more resistant to current vaccines (which is yet to be officially determined), it’s not important!
Most Australians received their second vaccine dose between September-October. The EARLIEST most people can even think about receiving a booster shot is March – in 3 months!
This new variant is not more deadly, and we currently can’t do anything to protect ourselves further. That leaves us with a plethora of mainstream media companies fuelling fear and uncertainty, compounded by the lack of options to deal with this “new threat” to our post-lockdown society.
To media platforms across Australia and the world, there will be more variants. However, just because one pops up, it doesn’t require a new publishing campaign. I think of when you post articles on breaking news or criminal trials. At the end of one of these posts is often the phrase “more to come”. This phrase is used because you don’t have all the information, and it is still a developing situation. I’ve read over 50 articles on Omicron and haven’t once seen the phrase “more to come”.
Next time a variant appears, try this approach to writing your article:
“New variant (insert name) found in (insert country). More to come”
That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
When you know if it is more deadly, let me know. When you know if my current vaccination state won’t protect me from preventing severe illness, let me know.
Otherwise, stop.
We’re all trying to move forward, and although carrying a 10-kilogram vest doesn’t stop us from moving, it certainly makes it more challenging.
You are weighing us all down and playing on divisions within society that have deepened throughout the pandemic.
This is the last time I’ll speak about a variant unless one of the two criteria are met.
I hope you do the same.
P.S. I acknowledge my hypocrisy in writing an article about the thing I’m asking people to stop doing. I also want to emphasise that I fully supported vaccination, especially for COVID-19, and don’t seek to discourage people from getting vaccinated. I only seek to discourage media platforms from continuing to pursue a fear campaign about new variants that don’t serve any purpose other than increasing their revenue.
Levine Lowdown 
Omicron is not more lethal. Thank goodness. We have had 3 cases detected. Asymptomatic and picked up by PCR test kits. There will be continuous variants but such is an endemic situation. So long as people get vaccinated, get boosters..I suppose we can overcome. I am pretty sure more variants will evolve. Until herd immunity develops and it becomes like the flu. Unsure if this makes sense? Just my thoughts
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Yeah I think you’re spot on! More variants could be a good thing in the long term if they are less deadly. I think we’ve had around 10 where I’m based (Sydney Australia). Where are you based?
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I am in Singapore or I fondly call Lil Red Dot. Before Covid I used to go Perth ir Adelaide for fishing in winter months😃👍
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Oh great, very cool! I’ve never been to Singapore before but I’d love to go!
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Perhaps when Covid becomes lesser of a threat, you will get a chance to visit us and enjoy our glorious hawker food culture. 😉😃
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I’d love to! Definitely keen to travel more come 2022 🙂
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First of all, I LOVE your critique on the media. It falls right into the old liberal playbook. If there is nothing to be upset about, you have to create it. That’s because liberals cannot have things running smoothly. They NEED to have chaos and confusion. If they have those two things, they can tell you what to do! And since the media is right at the head of the liberal line, they are often the ones that want to lead the parade, and COVID has given them that long-running news cycle that seems to be endless. How many times has Fauci come forward to say that we have turned the corner on COVID, and we can enjoy the next (fill in the black) holiday with our families without masks and social distancing? And then the next variant comes out and he’s changing his mind. And the media covers it like a presidential assassination. No, you’re are 100% correct in that the media overplays their hand consistently. It’s about the only thing that they do that is consistent anymore! Great read!!
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Thank you very much for your comment and encouragement! It’s much appreciated!!! I think you raise a really interesting point about the need for chaos and confusion to achieve political goals – very accurate! The media (and politicians) play on the vulnerability of society in hearing about new variants to push their financial goals/agendas.
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Covid panic sells, covid allows governments to impose draconian Big Brother measures on top of the already existing 9/11 paranoia. Recently I made a transatlantic trip and had to dedicate a whole afternoon to deal with all the red tape that surrounded that trip. Last but not least, this is a medical issue that has been recuperated by some political and religious groups to launch all kinds of conspiracy theories. If there is a conspiracy, it’s one that has been created by the hidden agendas of the conspiracy propagators. Meanwhile, the patience of the medical staff at the IC units is running out concerning the anti-vaxxers. Some clinics in the US even started to refuse them. Making anti-vaxxers financially responsible for their choices should be a priority. In order to protect the constitutional rights of the people who right now are refused treatment and die because refuseniks occupy half of the hospital beds. I personally know nobody who died of covid, but I know at least three people who died because they didn’t receive the medical attention they deserved. And I know two others who’re heading the same way. That should be news.
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Thanks for your comment and really interesting thoughts! I think the issue of non-vaxxed people and hospitals is going to become increasingly challenged if infection continues to spread (and serious illness occurs for some individuals). The difficult thing is that it’s not up to the hospitals or health care staff – their role is to always support whatever patient is under their care. It’s left with the government who are too scared to polarise the anti-vaxx individuals any further (especially with an election in Australia most likely occurring in the second quarter of 2022).
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clinics refuse by arguing that anti-vaxxers are endangering medical staff and the lives of other patients
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Yeah I get that, it’s certainly a pretty horrible position that clinics/hospitals are placed in.
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Especially when they’ve worked the last 2 years first-hand witnessing the impacts of covid-19 on patients
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If we think back closer to the start of this terrible disease ,
The media were All “on” the
Trump variant!
So at least
There’s that.
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Haha that is true – the media can be helpful in exposing our politicians (but maybe even during a disaster like a pandemic that isn’t helpful).
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I agree. Variants will be happening every year. Time to move on with living life and just enjoying it. Great post.
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That’s it – unfortunately I can only see this coverage getting worse as infections continue to rise (Especially where I live in Australia)
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Yes. Have you notice how the headlines key alarming words are back from this year’s omicron to that of delta last winter? The news is meant to inform not cause panic and anger.
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Absolutely! It’s almost exactly the same stories that were pushed when delta started (which ended up to not be a big issue in Australia – certainly helped by the fact that we went into an extreme lockdown). The media knows what sells nowadays – put COVID in the title and you are going to get clicks.
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Exactly!
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Now that people are getting more interested about it – it’s just increasing the prevalence of articles unfortunately.
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More readers, more same topics.
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Exactly
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We need to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. In my post on the Omicron variant, I have tried to bring in positivity and hope though correctly speaking, I have been somewhat simplistic in terms of how the whole thing plays out. Let me explain.
We need to keep in mind that the keyword in Darwinism is selection, implying that only organisms that could reproduce better survive.
However recent studies in a field called epigenomics show that there is the cross transfer of genetic material across organisms, which aids in survival, and that living conditions do affect the genetic structure, which is then inherited by offspring. Today, this is being considered to be more of an indicator of successful species survival, rather than it being a matter of mere successful reproduction and spread.
This holds true for bacteria all the way up to humans, where genetic modifications are a more successful reason for the origin of species.
So, the Law of Natural Selection doesn’t really explain the dying out of species like viruses such as smallpox, which survives only in rare and very isolated areas of the earth. Why didn’t evolution by selection work for it?
Indeed, it would be effectively absurd to think that natural selection and the process of successful reproduction could be the sole factor behind either the origin or survival of a species.
However, Darwin’s theory did represent a radical thought process at a time when the origin of life was considered to be religious rather than scientific and therein lay its success.
Indeed, as we try and derive lessons from a century back, the third wave of the Spanish flu pandemic was in a milder form of infection, till the virus actually degenerated upon wider exposure to a more harmless variant. My surmise is that covid too would degenerate to a milder form and eventually become a part of the list of viruses that cause the common cold or flu. That is the nature of flu viruses, to degenerate upon cross-species infections, initially breaking out in a virulent form and then degenerating. The virus can no longer have a virulent effect on the original species because of imbibed immunity.
Flu viruses are RNA protein-based and mutate much faster than DNA based viruses. The variations in mutations vary year to year and are thus used to tailor-make the flu vaccine every year. Other DNA protein-based viruses such as smallpox, polio or rotaviruses mutate at a much slower rate, thus enabling effective vaccines for eradication.
Cheers
Shakti
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Wow! Thank you very much for your incredibly insightful comment! You mentioned at the end there that you believe COVID will degenerate – do you have any thoughts on how long that will take to occur?
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