Think about the others; do not hoard products
I am at my wit's end wondering why people are hoarding everything from the stores. A month ago everything was on the shelves and I assumed most people went out to eat and didn't have time to cook from their kitchens. All of a sudden a virus appears and people are buying everything in sight. Now, my question is when the virus is over, will most of the items people bought be thrown out, wasted because it won't be used? The items weren't needed before, so will they be needed afterwards?
Let's hope Americans have not denigrated themselves to selfish waste and means. We are all in this together and so, let's think about others. Please, do not hoard; shop like you normally would. The store [employees] are overworked and trying to keep up with everyone.
Linda Balistreri
Bella Vista
A desire for a return of a youthful tradition
Now's the time when you wish someone would toilet-paper your house.
Jim Stowe
Fayetteville
Disinformation malicious, empowers ones peddling it
Congratulations to Brenda Blagg for pinning the tail on the Donnie in her recent column about the power of information and disinformation. A point that bears elaboration, though, is the critical difference between "disinformation" and "misinformation." Disinformation is not the innocent corruption of data that occurs when you play the telephone game. Disinformation is the malicious spread of false statements to serve a specific agenda that creates an alternate reality to empower those who are spreading the lies. So while both information and disinformation are empowering, information empowers those who receive it, while disinformation empowers only those who peddle it.
Of course, the masters of disinformation were the intelligence services of the Soviet Union. Today, their heirs in the Kremlin cheerfully perpetuate the grand tradition, spreading lies ranging from Ukrainians shooting down a commercial airliner to coronavirus being a US-developed biological weapon. All that is to be expected, but what is neither expected, nor acceptable, is for a president of the United States to suppress real, science-based information about a dangerous pandemic in order to peddle his own version of events, based on what benefits him most. Here's a brief recap:
"We have it totally under control," (Jan. 22) -- 1st U.S. coronavirus case
"A lot of people think this goes away in April with the heat." (Feb. 13) -- 13 cases
"This is their new hoax...the Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus." (Feb 28) -- 16 cases
"You lose 26,000 to 70,000 from the flu. Here we're talking about a much smaller range" (March 2) -- 53 cases
"Anybody that needs a test gets a test" (March 6) -- 214 cases
"I don't take responsibility at all," (March 13) -- 1,896 cases
"I'd rate it [response to the crisis] a 10. I think we've done a great job." (March 16) -- 4,226 cases
"I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic." (March 17) -- 7,038 cases
"He [Dr. Anthony Fauci, top US epidemiologist and provider of scientific truths] isn't here because we're not discussing what he's best at." (March 23) -- 33,404 cases
"_____" [Fill in latest disinformation here] (March 25 and beyond) -- 55,081 cases and counting.
Alex Mironoff
Fayetteville
Commentary on 03/27/2020