April 8, 2022
Day L8: Control Your Soul's Desire for Freedom
Things are getting so crazy and absurd with this lockdown I really don't know what to say. I try to rely heavily on authentic sources and personal experience for this journal, just like it's a cycle tour. At some point it will be, I promise. There are hundreds of real stories and fake rumors all milling and mixing around so it becomes quite a task to vet all the sources. I try my best. A knock-off effect of all this paranoia is that you can never trust anything that people are saying. Is the source real or fake? Let's not forget the lockdown itself was a rumor that later turned out to be true. As a former friend even said, "This thing could go on for over a month" I since blocked and deleted her for spreading rumors, but what do you know? She was in fact a math major and actually got this correct.
Recently my wife had worked out a deal with a food store literally next door to our compound. That store soon got shut down. My guess is that too many other people were also using their illegal services. Maybe it was the guard who tipped the police off for all we know. At any rate, we no longer have that store as an emergency supply line. Thank goodness we had the foresight to stock up as much as possible in advance.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The absurdity of all is that the actual covid virus is irrelevant at this point. What matters more than anything else is getting enough food to eat, that is survival. The supply lines we've used to date are crumbling one by one.
The latest tactic seems to be what are called 'group buys'. The idea is that a group leader sets up a social media chat network in the compound. Those organizing the group order massive supplies in bulk, which is really the only way to manage deliveries. Then there is a group chat to buy, sell, or trade with others in the compound.
Some people are singing the praises of such an arrangement to "bring neighbors together". Maybe that's true bue I'm seeing the corruption potential here. In our compound at least, it also seems that foreigners we are not granted access to this network. This is not the same with other compounds. For whatever reason they really don't like us here. My wife is treated like a foreigner too since she's married to me.
But love them or hate them, the group buys are really the only option to get food. That, or relying on tactics from student science fairs that they surely copied off the internet.
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Now this latest article really takes the cake. To give you some context, there was a protest in a compound where residents organized a loudspeaker blaring messages at officials with some not-so-choice words. In response, the officials organized a revenge broadcast with drones saying this:
Sleep Separately, Don't Kiss or Hug: COVID-hit Shanghai's Officials Warn Residents
Amid a lockdown in China's Shanghai, residents have shared videos on social media, showing health workers making public announcements using megaphones. "From tonight, couples should sleep separately, don't kiss, hug is not allowed and eat separately." Workers were seen as saying. Another video showed a drone announcing, "Control your soul's desire for freedom. Do not open the window or sing."
This video obviously went viral and caught the attention of multiple international news outlets.
One has to wonder what the purpose of this is. Is this the long awaited wet dream of the Chinese officials to keep the population in a permanent state of lockdown? It seems to be natural for the powers that be to want this. After all, we can be sure that they are not subject to the same lockdown measures
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 8 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
2 years ago
2 years ago