That kind of magic happened today (below) when I juxtaposed stories from the New York Times, National Public Radio and Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation).
The Times reported that during this extended pandemic, there has been a second epidemic of depression among young people due to isolation. The article quotes one person who asks what is the point of enduring such despair? I have plenty of friends, young and old, who feel this way to the point they've discussed suicidal thoughts with me.
Next, NPR reported on the rising levels of addiction among people working from home, and the difficulty mental health professionals are facing trying to combat this trend. I too know plenty of people dealing with addiction issues that seem to be worsening due to this long period of enforced isolation.
Finally, NHK dug into what's going on with an earlier age group (0-1), finding that mask-wearing around babies may be an unwise practice for their development. It is during the first year that infants begin to recognize faces and detect other people's emotions -- the basis of empathy. Babies need to see the eyes, nose and mouth of anyone in their lives to learn how to interpret facial expressions.
Together, these three reports suggest the toll we are suffering collectively by keeping so much distance from one another.
Meanwhile, a trend that puzzles me is that some people continue wearing their masks during Zoom calls. Perhaps this is meant to protect others nearby, but it certainly defeats the purpose of a video conference call.
In fact, it is a direct challenge to the kind of clear communication such calls seek to facilitate. Although adults are much more skilled than babies at communicating with our eyes, I for one rely on the rest of a person's facial expression to achieve what I want to know when interacting with anyone -- friend or stranger alike.
I figure others may be like me, so I am prone to lowering my mask for people much more often than is strictly advisable from a CDC perspective. After all, I want people to be able to see me smile, which I do a lot.
When admonished by certain people for doing this, I sometimes politely readjust my facial covering, if by then my purpose has been accomplished. Other times I walk away. During my very limited in-person interactions with friends (exactly three people in the past year) we always started out masked but eventually discarded them as time went on.
Were we being irresponsible? Probably.
Do I care? Probably not.
Why? Any success I may have had in my life/career did not come by being risk-averse. To the contrary.
Besides, in each case, our conversations ventured into far more intimate territory once our masks were down than they had been up to that point. And not only do I value that intimacy, I need it. As we parted, I hugged all three as well, also not recommended behavior. But by then our masks were back up, and our pent-up emotions had been released.
No one should misinterpret my remarks to infer I am advocating any behavior that could extend this awful pandemic. Public health officials warn that there are no fewer than seven mutant variants circulating in the U.S. currently, including the super-contagious U.K. variant.
So, no, I do not encourage anyone to lessen vigilance in mask wearing, social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and proper ventilation. By all means, follow the recommendations of the CDC.
But when depression, including thoughts of suicide, and addiction to alcohol and drugs rear their ugly heads, there is a far worse danger lurking, IMHO, than risking exposure to Covid-19.
Of course, you could dismiss what I say because like any other poker player, private eye, or insurance investigator, I earned my living by reading faces when the masks were down. Turn that equation around and say it's you interviewing me. You'll not find out a lot from my eyes. That's because a long time ago, they learned how to lie. Besides they are too busy looking at you to show you anything but how you look to me.
The rest of my face, however, tells a different story.
***
Those pesky headlines:
* Trump’s Non-Vindication -- He may run again, but he won’t win another national election. (Editorial Board/ WSJ)
* First They Guarded Roger Stone. Then They Joined the Capitol Attack. -- We tracked how six men associated with the far-right Oath Keepers went from providing security for Roger Stone to participating in the attack on the U.S. Capitol. (NYT)
* At least 57 state and local Republican officials attended the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that turned into a deadly insurrection, according to an updated HuffPost tally. Almost all of them are resisting calls to resign. A couple of officials even gave speeches, warming up the crowd for Trump. (HuffPost)
* Why Are Republicans Still This Loyal to a Mar-a-Lago Exile? -- If they don’t disown Trump, he will continue to own them. (NYT)
* Donations for a voter fraud probe shed light on how baseless claims led to hundreds of millions in gifts -- The Trump campaign and the Republican Party collected $255 million in two months, saying the money would support legal challenges to an election marred by fraud. Financier Fred Eshelman gave $2.5 million to True the Vote, a group seeking to press the case in court. Now he wants his money back. (WashPo)
* Trump’s acquittal widens divide in GOP (WashPo)
* Pro-Trump Candidates Launch Early Senate, Governor Bids -- Republican hopefuls are betting that former President Trump’s popularity with the GOP base can help propel them into office. (WSJ)
* Calls Grow for Commission to Investigate Capitol Riot -- Lawmakers are increasingly pushing for a 9/11-style panel that would examine failures and make recommendations. It could also be a final chance for Congress to hold Donald J. Trump to account. (NYT)
* Now begins McConnell’s project to shrink Trump’s GOP influence -- George F. Will (WashPo)
* Lara Trump for North Carolina Senate Seat? Trump’s Trial Is Renewing Talk -- Senator Richard M. Burr’s vote to convict the former president has intensified speculation that Ms. Trump might galvanize staunch Trump loyalists behind a possible bid for Mr. Burr’s seat in 2022. (NYT)
* The Loved Ones Lost To QAnon: Kara, a 46-year-old health care worker in the Midwest, said her mom’s descent into QAnon was gradual at first but accelerated once she retired. Now it’s out of control. “My mom’s the most giving, wonderful person. Or, she was,” Kara said. “This has taken over her life.” Since delving into QAnon, Kara’s mom has stopped taking care of herself. She hardly cooks or sees her grandkids anymore, and her relationship with her husband is falling apart. [HuffPost]
* Masks could affect children's development -- For adults, the need to wear a mask can be inconvenient. For children it could be more serious. Masks disguise key cues in our expressions, making it harder to read someone’s face, and there is growing evidence that this could be affecting child development. Child care workers who wear masks while at work say it is difficult to establish a relationship of trust with children because they have to conceal their mouths. Professor Myowa Masako specializes in the human brain and psychological development at Kyoto University Graduate School of Education and Faculty of Education. She says adults must be especially careful about interacting with infants from when they are born until they are about a year old. That’s the age at which babies are studying people’s faces and learning expressions. Babies need to see the eyes, nose and mouth to recognize a face. As the months pass, they learn to distinguish emotions such as joy or anger. This ability forms the foundation for understanding other peoples' feelings. Myowa says that only adults can communicate using just their eyes. She says it’s important to give babies opportunities to see peoples' facial expressions. She advises family members to show their faces to their babies at home even more than before. (NHK)
* ‘What’s the Point?’ Young People’s Despair Deepens as Covid-19 Crisis Drags On -- Experts paint a grim picture of the struggle with lockdown isolation — a “mental health pandemic” that should be treated as seriously as containing the coronavirus. (NYT)
* As Addiction Deaths Surge, Profit-Driven Rehab Industry Faces 'Severe Ethical Crisis' (NPR)
* Eroding trust, spreading fear: How pandemics have contributed to a rise in extremism (WashPo)
* Mike McDermott, the executive in charge of Pfizer’s global supply chain, said he’s hopeful the pharmaceutical giant will deliver 2 billion doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year, enough to inoculate 1 billion people against the coronavirus. [AP]
* Israeli Data Shows 94% Drop in Symptomatic Covid-19 Cases With Pfizer Vaccine (WSJ)
* A nine-month Associated Press investigation of state-sponsored disinformation conducted in collaboration with the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, shows how a rumor that the U.S. created the virus that causes COVID-19 was weaponized by the Chinese government, spreading from the dark corners of the Internet to millions across the globe. The analysis was based on a review of millions of social media postings and articles on Twitter, Facebook, VK, Weibo, WeChat, YouTube, Telegram and other platforms. Chinese officials were reacting to a powerful narrative, nursed by QAnon groups, Fox News, former President Donald Trump and leading Republicans, that the virus was instead manufactured by China. (AP)
* The Taliban Close In on Afghan Cities, Pushing the Country to the Brink -- The Taliban have positioned themselves around several major population centers, including the capital of Kandahar Province, as the Biden administration weighs whether to withdraw or to stay. (NYT)
* India's arrest of activist tied to Greta Thunberg's movement sparks outrage
- -
Indian politicians and activists on Monday condemned the arrest of a 22-year-old climate campaigner accused of sedition for helping edit an online document that Sweden's Greta Thunberg had promoted in support of farmers protesting in the country. (Reuters)* Military Imposes Full Grip on Myanmar in Overnight Crackdown -- Armored vehicles rolled in along with soldiers in camouflage in cities across the country as generals moved to crush the protest movement against the Feb. 1 military coup. (NYT)
* France fights hold of Islamist radicals with dragnets, laws (AP)
* China’s Crackdown on Muslims Extends to a Resort Island -- The Utsuls of Hainan island were once celebrated by the government for their links to the larger Muslim world. Not anymore. (NYT)
* Social media platform Parler back online on 'independent technology' (Reuters)
* President Joe Biden called on Congress to enact “common-sense gun law reforms” on the three-year anniversary of the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, saying “this administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call.” “We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer,” he said. (HuffPost)
* Jaguar cars to go all-electric by 2025 as JLR plans full range of e-models by 2030 (Reuters)
* Historic Arctic outbreak brings dangerous cold, snow and ice to central and southern U.S. (WashPo)
* James Ridgeway, Hard-Hitting Investigative Journalist, Dies at 84 (NYT/Twitter)
* There’s an invisible climate threat seeping from grocery store freezers. Biden wants to change that. (WashPo)
* Cruise Ship Waiting Out 1918 Influenza Pandemic Wondering If It's Okay To Dock At Port Now (The Onion)
***
How to open doors with just a smile
A rich old man and she won't have to worry
She'll dress up all in lace go in style
I guess every form of refuge has its price
And it breaks her heart to think her love is only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice
To comfort an old friend who's feelin' down
But he knows where she's goin' as she's leavin'
She is headed for the cheatin' side of town
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
With fiery eyes and dreams no one could steal
She drives on through the night anticipating
'Cause he makes her feel the way she used to feel
She whispers it's only for a while
She swears that soon she'll be comin' back forever
She goes away and leaves him with a smile
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
And stares out at the stars up in the sky
Another night it's gonna be a long one
She draws the shade and hangs her head to cry
She thinks about a boy she knew in school
(Ooh...) Did she get tired or did she just get lazy?
(Ooh...) She's so far gone she feels just like a fool
(Aaah...) You set it up so well so carefully
Ain't it funny (aaah...) how your new life didn't change things?
You're still the same old girl you used to be
And your smile is a thin disguise
I thought by now you'd realize
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
There ain't no way to hide your lyin' eyes
Honey you can't hide your lyin' eyes
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