Will China Freeze Psych Med Imports and Cause a U.S. Zombie Apocalypse?
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China State Media Says Country Must Prepare for Nuclear War With U.S.
With all the events unfolding on the planet of the apes, have you noticed people are more stressed, easily agitated, and inconsiderate? Since 2020, with the pandemic, school shootings, increased government surveillance, environmental disasters, the threat of World War 3, homelessness, rising crime rates, and AI emerging to take over our collective brains, I have noticed a short-tempered, impatient, narcissistic uptick in social demeanor.
Odd Behavior at the Coffee Shop
Recently, I was standing in line at the coffee shop I frequent, and a man came in, stood to the left of me, and worked his way toward the muffin display. When it was time to go up to the counter, he attempted to go in front of me. I stated that I was in line, and he replied, "I was here first."
Now, if it hadn't been so obvious, I may have let him go before me as I am one of those drivers who will allow a tailgater to go around me by pulling over just in case they are rushing to the hospital for a crowning baby. But his behavior was zombie-like, as if he was in a trance.
In this case, I decided to torture this socially blind individual by calling him out. Of course, he looked at me like I was crazy, but the obnoxious thing was no one was in line but me when he walked in. What are we dealing with here? Narcissism? Ignorance? Mental Illness?
In yet another display of homo sapien madness, I was in the bathroom at the same establishment when a patron jiggled the locked door. Upon the shocking realization that someone else was in the loo, he grunted and moaned as he walked away. Minutes later, he came up to the door and pounded, "Is anybody in there?" It took a second for me to comprehend how incoherent you have to be to think aggression would cause someone to jump off the toilet seat and comply with your demands. I wisecracked, "Ya, that would be why the door is locked." After leaving the bathroom, I walked up to the disgruntled primate and stared at him (I think my face contorted in bafflement).
What was I to say? How do you deal with ignorance on this level? I was tempted to insult him with a sarcastic "I apologize for not sharing the toilet seat with you." Or, "Give me your phone number, and I'll text you the next time nature calls."
And, I kid you not, just days later, in another public bathroom, a deranged man entered and sang a song about my defecations standing just outside the stall. Once again, I exited the bathroom and stared at him as he grinned like a retarded elf on acid. No kidding, and no offense to the mentally handicapped. This guy wasn't retarded; he acted retarded. Big difference.
I could go on and on about recent tailgating incidents and homeless people walking around with white paint on their faces, but let's just say that the public library has become a magnet for feral people who do not understand what "quiet space" means. It's as if they intentionally violate the rule to draw attention to their crazy. One girl roams around the library, and when she nears me, she stares at me with a menacing grin as if I murdered her family. It's that freaky.
The Stupidetes Pandemic
There is a Japanese phrase, "Kuuki Yomenai," which literally translates to "Can't read the air." It is used to describe someone who doesn't get social cues or is unaware of other people's moods & intentions.
In this case, I call it "stupidetes (rhymes with diabetes)" It's a contagious disease that affects many humans. There is, however, a vaccine called "critical thinking" that can ward off bouts of stupidity, but that's only if it is repeated in daily doses for at least six months.
Despite my self-indulgent contempt, we have a real problem here. Let me explain.
Will China Freeze Psych Med Imports to the U.S.?
According to a report in Scientific America, 1 in 6 people are on psychiatric drugs, and (are you sitting down?) that was in 2013. It only increased. There's a reason the mental health industry has been booming since Covid. According to a United Nations report:
The situation for mental health conditions across the globe is extremely worrying. Pre-pandemic, nearly 1 billion people were still struggling with a diagnosable mental health condition, 82 percent of whom were in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and people with severe mental health conditions were dying 10 to 20 years earlier than the general population. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has harmed the mental health and well-being of many more people, both those with and without pre-existing problems and has increased systemic service inadequacies as well as socioeconomic disparities. It is estimated that the pandemic has caused a 25 to 27 percent increase in the prevalence of depression and anxiety around the world. [1]
What concerns me is the growing dependency on pharmaceuticals from China. Now, some people don't read the news. I run into them all the time. These are folks under the spell of normalcy bias. But allow me to present a reality check:
Last year, China accounted for 95 percent of U.S. imports of ibuprofen, 91 percent of U.S. imports of hydrocortisone, 70 percent of U.S. imports of acetaminophen, 40 to 45 percent of U.S. imports of penicillin and 40 percent of U.S. imports of heparin, according to Commerce Department data. [2]
"One of the biggest national security threats in the U.S.-China trade war could be to the everyday medicines taken by millions of Americans. The U.S. relies on imported medicines from China in a big way. Antibiotics, over-the-counter pain meds and the stuff that stops itching and swelling — a lot of it is imported from China."
But that's not the bad news. What all Americans should be pounding on the doors of Congress over is this:
“Medicines can be used as a weapon of war against the United States,” Rosemary Gibson, a senior adviser on health care issues at the bioethics-focused Hastings Center and co-author of “China Rx: Exposing the Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine,” told lawmakers last month. “Supplies can be withheld. Medicines can be made with lethal contaminants or sold without any real medicine in them, rendering them ineffective.”[3]
I meet people all the time who think watching the news is a fear-based activity because they are asleep in the American dream. Allow me to present a reality check:
"Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just about 24 hours ago said all of this was overheated rhetoric, the way he put it. But the point is, China is preparing to kill Americans, and we've got to prepare to defend ourselves," Chang continued. "And the Defense Department is making slow, really slow, molasses-slow preparations to oppose China." [4]
Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan, head of Air Mobility Command, however, forecasts that the US and China “will fight in 2025.” He suggests China will mount an attack on Taiwan while Americans are distracted by the upcoming presidential election. [5]
Republican 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley on Sunday raised dire concerns about China’s military buildup — saying the country, “has been preparing for war with us for decades.”[6]
"We must be prepared for an intense showdown between China and the U.S.," Hu Xijin, the editor of the Chinese state-run newspaper the Global Times, wrote in an editorial Thursday. "The number of China's nuclear warheads must reach the quantity that makes U.S. elites shiver should they entertain the idea of engaging in a military confrontation with China."[7]
Is a Zombie Apocalypse Possible?
What Elephant in the Room?
On the lighter side, I'm reluctantly relieved the veneer is thinning. There's something comforting about the crazy guy singing songs outside the shitter stall. I know this place is an insane asylum. I'm not in the dark. I see the elephant in the room bursting through the windows. And the more people act like it's not, the less likely they will do anything about it.
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