Look out

If I only listened to one side's information for news on goings-on overseas, I'd see nothing but a trigger-happy president and heavy-handedness in prisons. Good thing I know that martial law isn't enough to keep the peace if people ignore that law to survive, so it's a relief to find that there's a nationwide program providing financial aid, along with community programs providing basic groceries within their neighborhoods. (A relative got rice and sardines, so thanks for that.)

So much is the same there as here, with the only difference being the flavors in the groceries. Well-intentioned they might be, but such programs in a smaller country with the resources it has won't be able to sustain this aid for extended periods of time. The only difference in the situation for a larger one might be the amount of time it's capable of sustaining that sort of aid, but no matter where they are, I won't fault those who want to get out of quarantine and back to normal-plus-extra-precautions. (After all, there's only so much training one can do on a BOB.)

Continuing the note of gratitude, thanks once again for the reminder to look to other sources of information, especially when those within the borders are so eager to focus on one (utterly daft) aspect of a briefing, minimizing or excluding all other topics covered. Outside sources are important at a time when the news nearby starts to sound like this, knowing they've shown a tendency to ally with a nation that does this. (Though I'll allow that this second source has views that sound more like a counterweight than a balance.)

So while I'll also allow that a morale boost is a useful thing in trying times, I won't ignore the sense that tells me tacking funding for the arts onto financial aid packages sounds like focusing on wallpaper when the water heater's busted and the fuse box is on the fritz. (Which is no better than big companies or high-priced veritas profiting off similar initiatives, of course. Good on you lot for giving the money back, and kudos to the group challenging their school's view on... well, schooling.)

Nor will I ignore the sense that tells me that scrapping the news and social media in order to entertain oneself through other means, to lighten one's mood and boost morale, is little more than the exclusion of one source of propaganda in favor of another.