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Thinking 2020

Written by Pablo González and Pedro Nonay trying to understand Covid 19’s consequences.

Entry 10 – covid 19

May 22, 2020

I thought I had finished writing with the previous entry. But I felt the need to continue. Of course, this entry will be very brief. Mostly because I don’t have enough information. Just a sense of smell.

As you may know, today Madrid passes to the famous phase 1. At least I will be able to go to my neighbors’ bar and share good times with them. That seems to me more than enough. But it is still a bit strange that we have to celebrate such a small freedom.

You may also know that the Spanish government has signed a pact with another political party (Bildu). And it has cancelled it two hours after signing it. I didn’t know that I can cancel my contracts after signing them (if they teach us to do that, they give us an example so that commitments lose all their value, which is not good for business, nor for judges).

There is no need to talk about Trump’s attitude, nor that of the UK, Bolsonaro, … Nor about the disorientation of the stock markets, or oil.

There are clear signs that the “existing order” is crumbling.

The prologue is over.

By this title I mean that “relief from confinement” is something that many people see as the nearness of the end, but I see it as the end of the beginning.

For all that is to come (I have already said that it is one of the greatest changes in the social structure of history) it was essential to prepare the psychology of the masses. Without those prepared masses, no change works.

The first stage of this change in mass psychology was to “put fear” into them, to remind them of their vulnerability, something that has been achieved with confinement, and with the invisible threat of the virus.

The second stage was to indoctrinate them (more than usual, which was already a lot). To make them accept the ideas of the “enlightened” in the face of threats that surpass the masses. To this end, it has been very useful to mix the fear of the virus with the fear of its economy. People with fear, and with ignorance, are more prepared to accept whatever the “new leader” says, even if it means big changes in their lifestyle and convictions.

The third stage is to give them hope. With the delivery of a little bit of freedom (you can go to the bar, or invite your family to eat at home, that is incredible that is a delivery that we are granted) they are given the idea that we move forward (thanks to the management of our “beloved leaders”). Therefore, and in the hope of further progress, the leader should not be disturbed while working for our good, … pufff.

Meanwhile, many ideas and companies that were bankrupt before the virus, have the perfect alibi to ask for aid, or to go bankrupt, but without being the cause of mismanagement by their managers. Costs and lawsuits are avoided with the excuse of “who would have imagined this”?

That is why I say that the prologue is over. Now, with the masses indoctrinated in the importance of obedience, and in fear, with the leaders full of powers, and with the “guilty” free of charge, is when the change begins.

The big questions are: What will the change look like; where to; at what speed; will the result be good? 

I would like to know the answers. 

What I do know is that we can do our bit in bringing change somewhere good. I also know that there are possibilities to go forward, instead of backward, but there are also the other possibilities.

I also know that no idea, however good, can work before its time comes. And that time comes depending on mass psychology. That is, whatever idea it is, the time has come. 

The virus has been very effective in preparing the psychology of the masses for change.

The ship is sinking

It is a fact that the order we knew is over (the ship is sinking). 

You have to jump to the new boat (trying to avoid falling into the sea during the jump).

Then work will have to be done on the new ship (while sailing, which is quite difficult) to try to make it a nice place.

The risk is immense, and the adventure exciting.

We need less fear and more enthusiasm for “the conquest of the new world”.  It is like what happened with the pioneers of America (I am not referring to the Siberians, but to the English and Germans of much later).

What we do have to do is to free ourselves, to the extent of our possibilities, from the ties with the sinking ship (investments, contracts, positions in currencies that are going to disappear, …). This is not an easy job and it will take us an indeterminate amount of time to finish it.

After the end of the confinement, there will be street riots, hunger among the disadvantaged, social tensions, the autocracies of our leaders, … In short, fertile ground for messianism and the annulment of many established dogmas.

After the prologue, the novel begins. We are partly the protagonists and partly the authors. Let’s see what we can do.

This is as far as I can go today. But I didn’t want to stop telling it.