Day 7: California Under Martial Law Lite (We Are 138)

Humboldt County had a wake-up call yesterday. The number of people who tested positive for coronavirus doubled in one day. It went from five to ten. Not a huge number, but that's only because testing is so very limited at this point. Of course, social media had the usual idiots spewing forth opinions based on . . . well, I'm not sure what they base their opinions on. It sure as hell isn't common sense.

We've got the usual morons who believe this is all a hoax. We have a growing number who say, "Let them all die." (I'm sure when they get it they will demand a hospital bed instead of slowly dying like they want the others to do. These people aren't only hypocrites, they're cowards.) We've got the ones saying Trump is doing everything right. We have people who believe it is the end of the world. We've got ones pushing fake cures that they heard from a friend of a friend who has a friend who is a neighbor to a doctor. I'm sure your area is no different. Stupid isn't native to Humboldt.

Our county also set up a tip line. No, this tip line isn't in place to call in gang activity or anything like that. This is to turn in people and businesses who aren't following the shelter in place order. If this doesn't feel a little slimy, I don't know what does. It's like a terrorism tip line, and I'm sure that was the impetus for it, but it still seems wrong. The odds of it being abused are high, too. I wonder when they'll get their first call that says something like, "I saw a Chinese person at the store! Arrest them!" Someone on social media ironically said, "You people are soft af." I didn't have the heart tell him that using "af" instead of "as fuck" was pretty soft in and of itself. The hypocrisy would have been lost on him anyway. His type never really "get it." Probably because their heads are hard af.

Chinese people! In a group! Call the police!

So now Humboldt is turning into a police state, only the police can't police everyone so they are asking the citizens to do it for them. I get the idea behind it, and I honestly feel like it was implemented just to let the citizens feel like they have some sort of power. I'm sure the police don't want to deal with this when there are other more serious crimes going on. But have it we do, and the citizens will use it. Scratch that, they'll abuse it. Calling in on every foreigner they spot who appears Asian. Someone sneezes behind them in line to get into WinCo and that cell phone will whip out. Karens of the world will have a fucking field day.

This is what we are resorting to one week in. The shelter in place order is supposed to last until April 19, just in time for us to throw all those birthday parties for Hitler the next day. I can't imagine what people will be like by that time. If one week is any indication, it won't be pretty.