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An abstract construct. How the once-real world feels to many, after weeks of social distancing and lockdown.
She knew they were real people on her screen, during the zoom meeting, sorta. The truth was, she saw it as an abstruct, which she hoped no one could tell.
The delusion of stability, an instant before everything goes to hell.
The deal was set, he'd committed to buy, still not sure when his financing would be approved, but hey, if you have one foot on the boat, one on the dock, what can go wrong?
"How are you?" she asked.
"Ok" he replied.
"Good, or just ok?"
"Gokd".
An unquestioning faith in commercially-manufactured, doctor-prescribed and psychologically-addictive medication as the answer to every perceived or imagined problem.
He could not live without his many pills every day. One allowed him to sleep, another quelled his anxiety, a third lifted his depression, others liberated or inhibited his bodily functions, lowered his cholesterol, regulated his heartbeat, soothed his aches, sharpened his vision, slowed his cognitive decline, boosted his testosterone, lowered his blood pressure, increased his immunity, banished unwelcome thoughts, made him feel normal. They interacted to grant him life - so he had been instructed by those selling them, and so he faithfully accepted, a devout disciple of pharmatheology.
Multi-pronged offensive weapons projecting from the cranium of a male who has something to say, and say again, and then expound upon, at length and in detail, with increasing volume, until his adversaries, and even those who might under gentler circumstances have agreed with him, are driven toward quieter pastures.
He came out of the theater sharpening his rantlers, so aggrieved by the multitude of sins - factual, artistic, moral, narrative, historic, cultural, - committed by the new Tarantino film - the sheer misdirection, when there had been so much to be made from the basic elements of the story, the irredeemable irrelevance of every central character and most of the secondary characters, wasted plots twists galore, to no advantage, gratuitously altered realities, that interminable shot in the second act which had no place in the mise-en-scene...
3👍 3👎
Rising in social status by virtue of one's grace and generosity of spirit, inherent qualities having nothing to do with money, fame or possession.
With the re-ordering of social values resulting from the epidemic and the market crash, he increasingly found himself invited to the best parties, asked to speak in a spectrum of venues, and was quietly made aware of his upward nobility.
Massive loss and suffering, resulting from potential failure to develop a vaccine against Covid-19.
As the hopes of the world were focused on Big Pharma, the dates kept getting pushed back - probably October, maybe by the end of the year, sometime in 2022, well, the virus keeps mutating, so... - the number of infections and deaths mounted, and it came to be seen as Pharmageddon.