"I DON'T know anyone who's contracted the virus."
We've heard that one a few times lately.
Our response is to sigh loudly and swear under our breath, before saying: "That's because we've suppressed the virus in Australia. Haven't you seen the world news? Some of our relos in England got the virus. It wasn't pretty. They know a lot of people who got it. Some died."
We know a couple of people who don't believe COVID-19 exists. They think it's a big conspiracy.
Our response is usually to think: "Seriously, how dumb can you be?"
Of course, we're all dumb at some things. Perhaps dumb is a dumb word in this instance. Idiotic and moronic might work. Clueless. Stupid. Brainwashed by misinformation spread like ... well ... a virus on anti-social media.
Speaking of anti-social media, trolls spreading racism have been in the news a lot, especially in the UK.
We were chatting about this to Topics contributor Troy "Chevy" Whiteside, a banker, who said: "Social media is being used far too often and freely as a platform for any racist ignorant idiot to spew out vile hate speech.
"I'm surprised some of the political parties so far haven't been able to make Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accountable and liable for this.
"I reckon until the likes of [Mark] Zuckerberg start getting smashed with fines, they won't do anything about it.
"The banks get fined billions if we don't do everything possible to stop money laundering. All the banks spend millions every year on their systems, training and entire departments trying to monitor and catch illegal money flows.
"I don't see why the government doesn't impose the same responsibility and standards on the social media companies."
Hopefully the vaccines will help us get rid of COVID-19. But as far as we know, there is no vaccine for stupidity or racism.
Weet-Bix Snacks
New Lambton's Phil Mahoney drew our attention to this post he put on the Lost Newcastle Facebook page: "Does anyone remember the only snack available we had as youngsters was a dry Weet-Bix with honey when we were kids, usually after school".
The post attracted quite a big response. Thankfully, the comments were social. Here's a snapshot: "What a healthy alternative"; "We had golden syrup on ours"; "Yes, lots of butter"; "I had butter and Vegemite on mine. "I remember having a very dry mouth. Good memories"; "Sao/cheese/tomato or Vita-Weats/butter/vegemite"; "I used to rush home for a cold Milo".
This comment was a cracker [we did honestly think about correcting the spelling]: "Or a bowel of corn flacks."
Hello darkness my old friend
On Saturday, we ran a piece about the peace and danger of suburbia at night.
It was a story about an artwork of a somewhat eerie-looking suburban house at night.
The artist Halinka Orszulok spoke about feeling a sense of danger at night.
A colleague told Topics: "There is nothing like a walk in unfamiliar bush in the dead of night to bring out the primal fear".
"I had a bit of it in the Northern Territory and it was worse than a walk down a dark alley at night," he said.
He also felt this type of fear "walking in from the highway to Hawks Nest, which I have done a few times".
"It can be disconcerting on a moonless night, even on the road."
