A global pandemic created by a severe acute respiratory virus originates in China and sweeps across the globe within four months, killing over a million people. How would Raymond Reddington respond and end the Coronavirus pandemic?
For starters, let’s assume Elizabeth Keaton, his daughter and an FBI profiler who has a hate/love for her criminal father-figure in the hit TV series, The Blacklist, is in danger. Otherwise, Red, as Reddington is affectionately known, would probably care less about a virus. Unless, of course, it impacted his financial well-being, as is the case with millions of Americans now.
Reddington To the Rescue
In Season 2, Episode 5 of The Blacklist titled, “The Front,” an ultra-left group led by Maddox Beck, steals an old painting that contains a thermal image of the location of bodies from which they swipe the DNA containing a dormant pneumonic plague. Beck inoculates his followers and sends them out into the world in hopes of creating another worldwide pandemic.
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However, when Reddington learns that Elizabeth and her fellow agent, Samar Navabi, contract the virus while apprehending an infected follower, he takes immediate action. Red confronts Beck, steals the synthesized vaccine, thus getting treatment to Elizabeth and other infected individuals worldwide just in the nick of time. Beck and his girlfriend/follower commit suicide as FBI agents arrive.
James Spader as Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist (NBC)
If only ending the Coronavirus Pandemic were that easy. Or is it?
How the Coronavirus Began
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Thirty-three days later, on April 13 (when this article was created), 1.8 Million cases were reported worldwide, resulting in 114,980 deaths. Just over 19 percent, or roughly 22,000, have occurred in the United States.
Many believe those numbers are misleading. Namely, because the country of origin for the coronavirus, China, is lying about their actual numbers.
First identified in Wuhan, China, in the Hubei province in December of 2019, the coronavirus began. The exact origin of the disease isn’t known, although the earliest cases appear to have surfaced in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, a place where live animals are slaughtered and sold. Chinese doctors, including Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist who worked as a physician at Wuhan Central Hospital, began noticing a pattern on December 26 of last year.
After sharing information via the internet, Li was summoned to police headquarters and brow-beat for “making false comments on the internet.” This 33-year old physician returned to work, contracted the virus from a patient he treated for glaucoma, and died on February 7 of this year. I find this chain of events and cover-up to be suspicious, but hey, what do I know.
A History of Pandemics
The definition of a pandemic is a disease that is prevalent throughout an entire country or the world. The Bubonic Plague that occurred in the mid-12th century killed an estimated 200 million people, mainly in Europe. Before a vaccine appeared, Smallpox killed an estimated 56 million people, followed by the Spanish Flu that wiped out an estimated 50 million, 675,000 in the U.S. alone, from 1918-1919.
According to estimated numbers of all worldwide pandemics, if the coronavirus ended today, it would be the 9th deadliest pandemic in history.
The World’s Most Productive Economy Has Stalled
Multiple economic indicators list the world’s top 5 largest economies as follows:
- United States
- China
- Japan
- Germany
- India
Combined, these economics contribute an estimated 55 percent to the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). So, given these 5 countries’ contribution to the worldwide economy, where are they concerning coronavirus cases and deaths?
United States 560,433/22,115
China 82,160/3,341
Japan 7,370/123
Germany 127,854/3,022
India 9,240/331
Let me see if I understand these numbers. China, who is the second-largest worldwide economy and where the coronavirus originated, reportedly has 4.4 percent of the cases worldwide. In contrast, the world’s largest economy, and the country that recently imposed tighter trade restrictions on China, has 30 percent of worldwide cases (as of 4/13/20).
Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist administers an injection to someone’s arm (NBC)
China is reporting just over 82,000 cases and Russia around 18,000. Yeah, right. Does anyone else find it odd that the U.S. has 30 percent of all worldwide cases? Could this have something to do with the U.S. tightening trade policies toward China?
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By the way, China claims they only have around 3 percent of worldwide deaths, while the U.S. is absorbing 30 percent of the world’s reported coronavirus deaths. Hmmm.
Is the Coronavirus a Conspiracy Against the U.S.?
I have no idea. I wish I knew. I’m not a conspiracy theorist by nature, but I do believe there is a concentrated effort by others, including China, to disrupt our economy. Such activity has always taken place. The coronavirus is simply another tool to hasten the effort.
Do I believe a deep state exists? Of course, I do. I think Raymond Reddington would agree. After all, he’s dealt with them. Power and money can create entities that are willing to do anything to concentrate one or both.
And as I’ve long said, “you can’t take politics out of politics.” Taking control of the White House is the primary objective of the Democrats. They have failed miserably so far and I believe they’re counting on this pandemic to help them in November. But their most significant problem is putting forth candidates like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Come to think of it, where is Joe these days?
It also troubles me greatly when I hear Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, say that as a result of the coronavirus, the U.S. may never return to “normal.” I never thought I would say this, but I liked my “normal.” My “normal” is socializing with others. It’s recording my podcast, Southern Americana: Connecting the South’s Music, People & Places, on the stage at Puckett’s Grocery in Leiper’s Fork, TN.
My normal is hanging out with friends around the fire pit at Puckett’s during colder months and hanging out on area lakes and beaches during warmer times. I miss people. For those of you who don’t, then stay home and don’t bitch about others who enjoy socializing. Most of us can agree that social distancing sucks.
The Media Is Having A Blast
Today may be the media’s largest moment. They are planting fear across the land. In case you don’t already know, they create headlines as “clickbait.”
What is clickbait? It’s when digital media outlets write headlines with the sole intention of getting you to click on an article, so in turn, they can sell more ads based on how many people “click” on a particular article.
James Spader as Raymond Reddington in The Blacklist
Never mind basic journalistic practices telling you who, what, where, when, and how, in the lead (also known as a lede), or the first paragraph of a news story. Have you noticed when reading digital news articles that the main point in the headline is not addressed until the end of the article or even at all?
More importantly, media outlets are creating engaging headlines to compete with one another and to instill fear. The more fearful you are, the more you’ll tune in or follow their reporting.
Here’s How I Wish Raymond Reddington Would React to the Coronavirus
Raymond would have three concerns. As a self-absorbed narcissist, he would protect his financial assets. However, if Elizabeth or her daughter were in direct danger, he would ensure their safety ahead of his own.
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Red has already proven he can amass a fortune after losing one. And besides securing the vaccine that China is currently holding, Raymond would severely punish, and I mean torture, Xi Jinping, the puffy-faced, squinty-eyed, President of the People’s Republic of China.
I could see Red flying with Dembe to Wuhan to see friends who own the wet market where the virus originated. Reddington knows that where the virus originated, he will find the cure. He calls in favors and assembles the world’s top research scientists, either by luring them with cash or making them come by force. He gains possession of a lab complete with the latest technology, never bothering to consult the WHO, who he knows is supplying secret information about U.S. protocols, to the Chinese government.
He doesn’t bother consulting with American government officials since he knows Dr. Fauci is under the control of the WHO because they have pics of him performing sex acts with underage boys. However, he’ll deal with Fauci later because now he controls access to the photos.
Vaccines are tested on area leaders of the Communist Party in Wuhan prisons after space was made by releasing those imprisoned by party officials, including several foreign businessmen that have been missing for years.
After hundreds of communist officials have been killed or whose bodies and minds have been severely altered by ineffective vaccines that produced horrific side effects, scientists develop a cure. Now Raymond Reddington controls the vaccine.
The Blacklist, Season 2, Episode 5, Raymond sits with Elizabeth in the hospital as she recovers from a deadly virus (NBC)
Red releases the disfigured and mentally deranged guinea pigs onto the streets of Wuhan and Beijing as he heads to the Communist Party headquarters to find Xi Jinping. Both Red and Xi know that won’t happen, so he hatches a scheme to kidnap China’s leader at his vacation villa, then taking him by boat to an undisclosed black site in Taiwan. There he tortures and kills Xi after taping his confession and hanging his remains in the Wuhan wet market where the virus originated.
With the vaccine secure, he returns to the U.S., handing it safely to Elizabeth, who has also contracted the coronavirus, with certain conditions and promises of future intel from Harold Cooper and staff.
Now we can all go back to living our lives and kicking China’s ass by bringing all manufacturing back to the U.S.