U.S. Leaders Have Been Such Clowns That We've Surpassed 'V For Vendetta' Levels Of Death
It's hard to fully grasp the horror of the current state of America now that the US has reached close to 2.5 million cases and over 126 thousand deaths and that the curve has unflattened like a pumped-up tire. What do those numbers even mean anymore? Well, how's about this or some perspective:
In case you hadn't seen the movie, V for Vendetta is the story of an, at the time, a future dystopian society in the year 2020. (Hey, that's this year!) Their government comes to power by releasing a pathogen known as "St. Mary's Virus," which ultimately kills about a hundred thousand people and then using the resulting fear and chaos to install a fascist, "Nordic supremacist" regime.
Again, our current death total is 126,277 deaths, and it is only June. I don't know what life is going to look like by the 5th of November, but don't be shocked if the resulting outcry makes this look like a schoolyard prank:
Seriously, how crazy is it that a fictional government's viral attack which was designed to hurt people had less of a death toll than the virus we now face because of our government's incompetence? Just imagine the meeting between the Wachowski as they were writing this movie. "Is 10,000 people dying enough to make this virus seem serious? That's three 9/11's!" "Yeah, that probably works, but you know what, let's make it 100,000 just to really shock people!" "Good idea, as we are known for pushing boundaries with our filmmaking and 100,000 people dying, is definitely something that would make a lot of people stand up and take notice."
Except no one has done much to stand up and take notice. So well done American government. Not for your handling of coronavirus. That's been awful. But well done desensitizing the populace to the point of 126,000 people dying and none of us doing a thing about it. But I could be wrong. Some groups of renegades might take matters into their own hands. My only hope is that they wear something cooler than a Guy Fawkes mask while they do it. (Ugh...)
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Top Image: Gage Skidmore, Warner Bros.
