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PANDEMIC PREDICTIONS. A ten-part thread.
1. Far-Right leader(s) will attract popular support with anti-capitalist, xenophobic, conspiratorial/evangelical fundamentalist movement(s).
2. Far-Left leader(s) will ascend with anti-capitalist, anti-corporate, possibly anti-Semitic - but avowedly secular - movement(s) favoring state control and ownership.
3. Suspension of civil liberties will attract more support than opposition.
4. The economy will largely collapse, but a few will profit from it. People will develop community-based support networks, barter, etc.
5. Certain essential services will simply cease, localized corruption and underground economies will grow, and many will cease paying taxes.
6. Mental-health-related illness and suicides will surge, as will domestic violence and theft.
7. Wide swaths of urban centers will become unlivable due to collapsing infrastructure/services, homes will be abandoned due to inability to pay mortgages/rent, and many will be obliged to squat or relocate to rural areas.
8. The arts that will survive are the arts capable of attracting interest online, while mass-entertainment platforms - theatre, cinema, concert venues - will cease to exist.
9. The Internet will be the most pervasive force in people’s lives, even more than it is now, and not always in a good way.
10. There will be tales of terrible cruelty and great heroism.
