Is there any evidence that half-measures like curfews work when the virus is as widespread as it now is in France? As far as I can see, the curfew is doing nothing to hold down the caseload--people are just gathering for boozy brunches, instead.
My strong intuition is that the only thing that will work--both to stop transmission and save the economy--is another total confinement, probably for three weeks. The half-measures will only prolong the agony; they'll save neither lives nor businesses.
I sense that the government is fucking around with half-measures because it can't bring itself to confront reality. Among the things it can't confront is that the French public just can't, for some reason, understand the point of these rules:
People can't understand, or don't want to understand, that the virus spreads when people congregate in groups. They treat the curfew as an irritation to be managed--by gathering in groups during the day, instead--
rather than an expression of the principle, "Sharply reduce and if possible eliminate the hours you spend in groups of other people." Why don't they don't understand this? I don't know.

It is, perhaps, an expression of a pathological relationship to the government--
which is viewed as a capricious parent, one that makes arbitrary and silly rules--rather than a servant of the people. The end result will be maximum death *and* maximum economic destruction.

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More from @ClaireBerlinski

28 Oct
When consumed by anxiety, I tend to clean compulsively. Since this is such a harmless compulsion, I've never tried to control the impulse. What harm does it do, after all?

But at times like this, I do tend to give myself repetitive stress injuries.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, "Reflections on Democracy in America."

(I used La Croix Spray Salle de Bain, and Monoprix nettoyant ménager multi-surfaces--with an H. Koenig Nettoyeur-vapeur NV700 for the accents.) ImageImage
I call this one, "Meditations upon a pandemic--and the fragility of our human condition." I did it with the Bestron aspirateur balai 2en1 600w in rouge--and a dash of Carolin Nettoyant pour parquets vitrifiés et stratifiés: Image
Read 4 tweets
27 Oct
I wept when Obama was elected. I hadn't voted for him. I thought him a dilettante. I didn't vote for McCain, either; for all I admired him, I was appalled that he put Palin on the ticket.

But when Obama was elected, I cried.
We had come so far, I thought. We had finally put the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow behind us. We were now--at long last--a country that lived up to its initial promise, and judged men by the content of their character, not the color or their skin.
I was in Turkey when the results were announced, and my friends saw me weeping. They teased me for being sentimental. But they were moved, too. For the same reasons.

I don't consider Obama's presidency a great success, by the standards we used to use.
Read 8 tweets
27 Oct
Y a-t-il des preuves que les demi-mesures comme les couvre-feux peuvent fonctionner alors que le virus est aussi répandu qu'il l'est actuellement en France? Pour autant que je vois, le couvre-feu ne fait rien pour freiner la charge. #confinement2
Les gens se rassemblent pour des brunchs arrosés, à la place.

Ma forte intuition est que la seule chose qui marchera - à la fois pour arrêter la transmission et pour sauver l'économie - est un autre confinement total, probablement pendant trois semaines.
Les demi-mesures ne feront que prolonger l'agonie; ils ne sauveront ni des vies ni des entreprises.

Je sens que le gouvernement se fout des demi-mesures parce qu'il ne peut pas se résoudre à affronter la réalité.
Read 8 tweets
26 Oct
That's a dystopian desecration of the flag. We're *not* a police state. We used to be quite proud of that.
And to be clear: I like cops more than most people do. I've interviewed them around the world, and I always find their point of view interesting and sympathetic. During the Gilets Jaunes riots here, I brought cookies to the local police station because I felt so bad for the cops:
(They at first thought I was insane. No one in France does that. But when I assured them I was absolutely sincere, they were touched.) We need cops. As long as human nature is what it is--which will be a very long time--we will always need cops.
Read 4 tweets
20 Oct
Yesterday, @BronwenDickey, was a beautiful, melancholy autumn day. I went to the Jardin des Plantes to find your brother's bench. For friends of @csdickey, it's a bit (but not very) hard to find, so let me explain exactly where it is.
I didn't know where the Vivarium was. (I was confused; I thought it must be the hothouse.) In fact, the Vivarium is *inside* the ménagerie, opposite the flamingos.

Also, the benches aren't numbered .... so I spent several hours wandering around the park ... which was lovely--
--as you can see. The garden is gorgeous this time of year. It's gorgeous every time of year, but in October, especially with a bit of help from climate change, they're extraordinarily lovely: a bit like Monet at Argenteuil. Or Renoir's chrysanthemums. Or a Caillebotte painting.
Read 22 tweets
16 Oct
I'm so glad Maki the missing lemur is safe. sfchronicle.com/bayarea/articl…
It was very, very wrong to steal him, but I do understand how tempting it must have been.
When I was young, I broke into a zoo. In Madrid. It was wrong, first, because it's obviously wrong to break into anything. That goes without saying. No matter how badly you want to see the animals.

In the fullness of time, however, it occurred to me that it wasn't just wrong--
Read 5 tweets

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