"BLUE" JIMMY: INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST
"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hell followed with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth." ~ Revelation 6:8
BLIND DOG OZZY: NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA
"BLUE" JIMMY: I am writing now at a crossroads in modern history, our fate yet to be determined. The Coronavirus Pandemic has hit The Planet and our way of life will be changed, possibly in drastic ways. Different countries have have taken various measures to curtail the virus and its effects and the seemingly invincible United States Of America is not immune to either the virus itself or the stern measures other countries are using to stop its spread: travel restrictions; curfews; cancellation of sporting and entertainment events; closure of public places and the dreaded self-quarantine which eventually becomes mandatory.
BLIND DOG OZZY: I've never seen this before in my lifetime!
"BLUE" JIMMY: But those who study history will know that it has all happened before, not in some remote Medieval Age but here in America. The 1918 Pandemic, which lasted roughly from 1918 to 1920, killed about 600,000 people in quick order in the United States and millions more across the globe. What was so frightening about this flu virus was that because of the nature of the disease, it struck not just the weak and elderly but more often, younger people with strong immune systems and sometimes death would come within hours of infection.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Goddamn!
"BLUE" JIMMY: It is considered one of the greatest disasters in human history, even worse than The Black Plague which hit Europe in the 1300's. And like today, severe precautions were taken: schools were closed; movie theaters were shut down; church services were stopped; funeral services were limited to 15 minutes and public gatherings were banned. Parts of Arizona even outlawed handshaking.
BLIND DOG OZZY: What? ... You gonna leave me hanging?
"BLUE" JIMMY: So many people died so quickly in the city of Philadelphia that steam shovels had to dig graves and people were put into mass graves without coffins. And all kinds of questionable cures and treatments were offered from getting fresh air to eating raw onions to eating more porridge and sugary products to smoking tobacco.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Nothing like a good cigarette to improve your health!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Then some doctors suggested that taking high doses of aspirin could cure the disease. This caused a rash of aspirin poisonings across the population that only added to the epidemic.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Nice!
"BLUE" JIMMY: The 1918-19-20 outbreak is sometimes historically referred to as "The Spanish Flu" because many people erroneously believed it originated in Spain. Because the virus ran concurrently with World War I some countries, including the United States, censored news that many soldiers were being infected and spreading this disease in order to keep up morale and not cause panic. Spain, which was neutral during WWI, began reporting their flu casualties uncensored in newspapers and gave The World the impression that the disease was rampant there before anywhere else.
BLIND DOG OZZY: Fake News!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Medical experts still debate whether this strain of flu was especially deadly or whether poor nutrition, bad sanitary practices, the strain of a World War and the lack of medical resources was the cause of so many deaths. Some historians also refer to it as the "forgotten epidemic" due to the fact that all the deaths associated with it were seen as an extension of WWI in some way and not a tragedy on its own. Whatever the case, the outbreak changed the course of history, affecting science, medicine (some countries started to lean toward universal health care) global politics and even religion as preachers in the pulpit had to explain why this Scourge Of God was hitting saints as well as sinners equally.
BLIND DOG OZZY: "... For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: The disease is also credited with bringing about the "Lost Generation" which refers to people who came of age during WWI and rejected the morals and values of their elders, paving the way for the decadence of the Roaring 20's.
BLIND DOG OZZY: "The hangover only lasts a day but the memories last a lifetime!"
"BLUE" JIMMY: So learning from history, what does this mean during our current Coronavirus Epidemic? Mostly that The World and The United States Of America has faced a deadly virus like this before, many people died (in an era when sanitary conditions and medicine were lacking) but many more survived and lived to tell the story ... which I am sharing with you today. America has survived invading British armies,
Anarchists,
Communists,
terrorists
and the threat of nuclear annihilation
and has done it with a certain amount of arrogance which stirs envy in people from other countries. Will it survive this flu bug without panic and self-destruction? We're gonna find out.
BLIND DOG OZZY: If it does, we'll be here to write about it!
"BLUE" JIMMY: Sake's Alive!
BLIND DOG OZZY: Wow! Wow!
bluejames61@hotmail.com
Sources: Historyextra.com
History.com
Encylopedia.com
CNN
Wikipedia.org
Encyclopedia Britannica
"Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu Of 1918 ... How It Changed The World" by Laura Spinney
"The Great Influenza: The Story Of The Deadliest Pandemic In History" by John M. Barry
"Flu: The Story Of The Great Influenza Pandemic Of 1918 And The Search For The Virus That Caused It" by Gina Kolata
Malkovich plays an actual Christian radio evangelist named Gustav Briegleb, who rails against the brutal LAPD regularly on his radio show whom he refers to as a "gun squad" led by Chief James E. Davis who in real life, was known to encourage brutal police tactics.
