[CanisLupusArctos]

"When Will This End?"

Or... "HOW will this end?"

Go to YouTube to look at videos from all different media outlets worldwide. Read the comment threads (skim or speed-read) to gauge the general attitude of the viewers.

Apply knowledge of world history, particularly past crises.

The US isn't the only country full of upset citizens. The Brits are just as divided. Police and soldiers enforcing quarantine in many other countries are doing a better job angering the masses and abusing power than they are at accomplishing the matter at hand. It was to be expected. This situation is every control freak's wildest dreams.

That sort of thing, and other problems like the spike in domestic abuse reported by UK and French news, are sending the world's masses into a mental health tailspin.

A very large number of people have suddenly become economically hopeless. Psychologists believe that has caused a bunch of new domestic abuse in addition to toxic relationships that existed before.

History says that when the world's masses suddenly lose all the things they enjoyed, become angry, opinionated and divided, economically hopeless and abusive, crowds become desperate enough to make instant celebrities out of really dark characters like Hitler, and the whole chaotic world mess turns to warfare.

German news yesterday reported their country blamed the US for "piracy" of a shipment of masks. The headline was, "International Solidarity Breaks Down."

Meanwhile the comment thread on a Sky News Australia video was lengthy and almost entirely negative opinions on the WHO, China, and US ties to both.

Note: I do NOT offer any of this post as an opinion. I do NOT make this post to express a stance. It is important to point out "what is," whether it's dark or light (and unfortunately it looks dark) and then we apply world history to get an idea of where similar situations have led in the past.

The global stress from COVID-19 could very easily lead to war. At the very least it appears headed toward revolution in a handful of places. In the US, there is a high likelihood of court cases regarding Constitutional Rights vs. Disease Prevention. No one's stance on the issue can prevent those cases from happening if there are lawyers out there who want to pursue it. Then it gets news coverage, people polarize, and who knows?

We all know what bitterly divisive issues have caused lately. Two groups, each holding picket signs and shouting, start throwing things at each other and then the riot police move in.... then copycat behavior breaks out in other places. As with a tornado watch, "the ingredients are all there for a violent situation."

Run the tabletop exercise:

"If this domino falls, what is the usual outcome based on history and human nature?" [fill in the blank.]

"What is the most likely consequence of that?" [fill in the blank]

Repeat process.

Your tabletop exercise and mine could easily produce different results, because that happens. All results based on valid steps are worth considering, with preparation priority running from "most likely outcome" to "least likely but possible and worth remembering."

One thing is for sure: This crisis IS producing a lot of psychological effects in a very large number of people that will be long-lasting. Those who get PTSD from unresolved grief or seeing too much sadness may take years to re-achieve their previous level of functioning. NH declared PTSD a "work related injury" last July (it's eligible for benefits) and many other places have done that also. That will be a major expense for some time to come. PTSD doesn't go away overnight, if at all.

The masses will not be the same, mentally, when they come out of hiding. Most peoples' pulse rates have only just returned to normal after 3 weeks of living in a sudden whirlwind apocalypse movie. As an EMT and a storm chaser I've seen horrible stuff before, and I recently suffered horrible unexpected loss (my only sibling, with whom I was close.) That conditioned me to darkness, and it still took me about a week to process the sudden new apocalypse movie around me. For the first 3 days there were times in my waking hours when I actually thought it was a dream, just for a nanosecond.

Now, if that's me and I was pre-conditioned to darkness and horrible sudden loss, I shudder to think about where many others are at, people who aren't acquainted with darkness. Today I spoke with a friend in Boston who IS darkness-acquainted, and he'd heard from people in his life who AREN'T. He said he's been getting continuous calls from them, looking for his shoulder to lean on.

That's not a good sign, if it indicates where the masses are at. From all I've learned about psychology and the effects of rapid change & loss during my journey since 2014, I'm 99% confident most people won't be the same this summer. Some are going to need more time than others, and some are going to discover some new issues by breaking down unexpectedly.

Some people will think they have no issues, they'll get back to what they know (if they can) and in the middle of it they'll have a panic attack without knowing what a panic attack is. They'll end up at the ER thinking it's a heart attack, and they'll come out with a psych referral and some prescriptions they never thought they'd need.

Keep your eyes on human psychology at individual level x population. It's going to be an interesting aftermath.