Maxwell Mania: Steven + Pandemic = Douchebag

OH. MY. GOD.

I knew that Steven Maxwell would pontificate about COVID-19.   He's drawn like a moth to a flame when he's got a chance to use DEATH as the best reason for people to be saved. 

I missed the live-stream of his son Christopher and daughter-in-law Anna Maxwell's wedding - but apparently he gave a long sermon that was primarily about DEATH.   That is not a standard topic for wedding sermons unless you are Steven Maxwell.

Steven Maxwell took a few days longer than I expected, but he's pulled out a real winner in "Possible Good from the Coronavirus".   The first quote is a mishmash of poor preparation and privilege:

These are historic times. Since the 50’s, generations have been shielded from epidemics and significant consumer shortages, except for the “gas crunch” in the 70’s. If you have the money, you can buy what you want.

Oddly enough, I do agree that these are historic times.  This is the first pandemic that seems to have truly gone global thanks to high speed travel.  This is the first pandemic where people can learn about what is going down globally in real time thanks to mass media.  Since this is the first widespread respiratory pandemic without a vaccine, developed nations are having to dust off procedures and processes that we haven't had to deal with in a while. 

That is literally the ONLY thing I agree with Maxwell on.

The twentieth century will be remembered in medical history as the century where epidemics were first controlled - and pandemics became more possible than ever before.   Developed nations got epidemics of cholera, typhoid fever,  malaria, yellow fever, smallpox, polio,  measles, mumps and rubella under control between in the twentieth century.    Cholera and typhoid were controlled through management of sewage to keep drinking water clean.  Malaria and yellow fever fell to mosquito control efforts.  Smallpox has been eradicated due to vaccinations.  Polio, measles, mumps and rubella are under much better control now than they have ever been.

Having said that - epidemics have gone down - and gone down hard since the 1950's.   In 1967-1969, the US had a rubella epidemic that lead to a deafness (and other disability) bulge that exists to today.   There were flu pandemics in 1957-1958, 1968-1969, 1972-1973, plus SARS in 2002-2004, the ongoing MERS flu plus COVID-19.

Don't forget HIV.  Steven probably blames that one on lifestyle choices - but there are a lot of people who contracted HIV from their partners who they were monogamous with or from blood transfusions before screening became possible.

No "significant consumer shortages"?  What universe is Steven in?  I live in Michigan where our natural disasters are generally predictable, localized, and  time limited like blizzards or tornados.  Even with that, our stores get wiped out of essentials before and after storms.  I feel certain the same issues occur in a much larger scale in places where hurricanes hit or earthquakes destroy the status quo in seconds.

I'm still seeing rage spots over Maxwell's blase dismissal of poor people struggle to afford the basic necessity of life.  For a person who touts his visits to the local Mission, he's still oblivious.

We are experiencing product shortages country wide. This seems to come as quite a shock to most US citizens who are accustomed to full shelves at the grocery store. People are afraid of not having food and supplies they are accustomed to and ultimately of getting the virus.

The ironic bit about this paragraph is the picture blazoned at the top of the post.  The picture shows an empty section of grocery shelving that I'd bet serious money held large and medium packs of toilet paper.  That's certainly a product shortage - but the rest of the picture drives home the fact that the product shortages are selective.  The other side and end of the aisle is fully stocked; people are not running out of every possible product needed in a home.

I needed to go to the store yesterday to pick up diapers for the Spawn.  The store was completely out of toilet paper, but there was a selection of diapers available.  That's a pretty safe statement to describe most non-perishable foods; a reduced selection is there, but there are also often alternates available.  For example, we were getting low on bread and the selection was pretty sparse - so I checked the aisle for tortillas.  There were plenty of tortillas so I grabbed a package of those instead.

It's going to suck that getting supplies will be tricky for a few weeks - but remember that even in a shelter-in-place scenario - companies in food, paper products, cleaning chemicals, auto repair and hardware supply chains and stores are expected by the government to stay open.   

That leads to the irony my family is facing.  My husband and I are old pros at social distancing.  We did it for the first 18 months after Spawn was born.  Don't get me wrong; it's boring as hell and anxiety provoking all at once - but we know how to get through it.   Unfortunately, I work at a hardware store and he works in automotive repair - so our carefully cultivated skills are going to waste. 

Yes, some people are worried about getting the virus.  For people in high risk groups, the worry is acute.  For people in low-risk groups, the worry is as much about accidently spreading the virus to someone who is going to have major side-effects from the virus.

This would have been a natural spot to pump his readers to socially distance and help your at risk neighbors.    Well, a natural spot for anyone who cares about the social implications of being a Christian.

There is a silver lining. Previously, many who might have had little concern about dying are now thinking about it as evidenced by their fear in contracting the virus.

Writing opens a window into the author's soul - and sometimes the author doesn't even see the opening. 

Steven Maxwell assumes that everyone's fear of COVID-19 is due to fear of personally dying themselves.    That's a odd assumption.   Most people - even high-risk people - survive COVID-19.  Sure, it would be natural for at-risk people to fear dying - but it is also natural to fear the death of loved ones.   As I mentioned before, I worry far more about accidently passing COVID-19 on to a high-risk person leading to a severe or even mortal illness than I do dying from it myself.

I wonder if Maxwell fears dying of COVID-19.   His family has had a bunch of surprise diagnoses this year.  Maxwell's heart issues shouldn't have been a surprise based on his family history, untreated high blood pressure and poor cholesterol ratios - but denial can be seductive.   Much more surprising was Anna Maxwell's diagnosis of breast cancer this winter; that had to have been a shock. 

This too would have been a natural place to encourage social distancing and checking in with at risk neighbors to see if you can help them out.   I mean, a natural spot for anyone but Steven Maxwell.

Since the author was Steven Maxwell, this is the point he encourages his readers to make a list of people who they think are unsaved, pray for them, and figure out how to meet with them to start bothering them about salvation.

The post just before this one was Sarah Maxwell asking for ideas on how to treat motion sickness.  She's gotten over 100 comments.   Maxwell's "Bother People during COVID-19 for Jesus" has 9 responses so far - so I suspect I'm not the only one who finds his posturing irritating as hell.