Charles P. Pierce, at his Esquire blog:
… You may recall that, back when Ebola was going to kill us all in our beds because President Barack Nkrumah-Kenyatta wanted all of western civilization to start spitting up its own entrails, a 29-year-old nurse named Amber Vinson contracted the disease and, before she was aware of that fact, flew to Cleveland, and then drove to Akron, for a wedding. She shopped for a dress at a place in Akron called Coming Attractions. Then, after the wedding, she flew back to Dallas, where she became symptomatic both of Ebola infection and of cable-news hysteria. The sad punchline is that, because of the publicity around Vinson’s visit, and the subsequent mindless terror, Coming Attractions announced it was going out of business…
This blows so many goats in so many different ways. But it is a measure of what fear can do even in the smallest places when it is fanned vigorously enough by the institutions that profit from it. However, because there is still some ragged hope left for troubled humanity, this story can still have a happy ending. Maybe….
The store had to close down for three weeks at the height of what should’ve been their busiest season, and the owner spent thousands of dollars on ultraviolet decontamination (“The insurance company denied claims. Younker said they told her there was no virus present at the store.”) A publicized re-opening didn’t help, and it was announced in the local media that Younker had decided to wind down her business.
Then a total stranger (who had some experience with the platform as a fundraiser for animal rescue) set up a GoFundMe account. Final decisions are still up in the air:
Bridal & formal shops place their main inventory orders twice a year. She usually spends about $60,000 each time. She would have to do that by the end of January…
So I’m still trying here. If what I’m doing doesn’t help her stay open, maybe it can at least help her keep her employees employed for a few more weeks or months, until she officially closes her doors in May. Thank you for helping me do that.
srv
Clearly, we are still better off than we would have been if Obama had gotten the plague he wanted, declared martial law and cancelled the elections.
America dodged a bullet there.
sharl
Well that sucks. I wonder just how many other small businesses are just one bad PR incident away from such disaster? The Akron-Canton area has been economically unhealthy for quite some time, so local assistance is likely limited.
This sort of thing made the news during the Ferguson protests, when the asshole police management had their cops stand by while local businesses were looted or burned. Like they needed that extra burden: STL-area resident Sarah Kendzior has written about the run-down economy in those neighborhoods north of St. Louis, and the photos in that piece are reminiscent of what I see when I go back go visit my Rust Belt Ohio home.
cckids
The sheer, unending, willful ignorance of people regarding Ebola (as well as other stuff) is so, so depressing. Do these fuckwits believe that the dresses are soaked in virus-laden blood, piss or saliva? Honestly, what, WHAT will make them be taught? Makes me want to do an internet scream. ARRRRRGH.
David Koch
watching chris hayes and he reports Mittens is jumping into the 2016 race with both feet.
i got a feeling jebbie doesn’t run now. he doesn’t want to be humiliated by coming in a distant 2nd (not while his parents are alive). and he doesn’t want to endure 100 million dollars of mitten’s attack ads.
what i wonder about is if all the non-romneys will give willard a free pass this time. the oddest part of the very weird 2012 primaries was how everyone refrained from attacking their main competitor, even though willard spit on their non-aggression pact and carpet bombed them to ashes.
Villago Delenda Est
The Villagers all need to be boiled in oil.
Preferably Iraqi sweet crude.
jc
Funny how the ebola freakout, and the ISIS freakout just happened to coincide with the weeks immediately preceding the mid-term election. Gee, what a coincidence. And here we are, a whole month later, and both seem more or less like old forgotten stories.
NotMax
Je suis Coming.
PurpleGirl
@jc: Ebola is a forgotten story. (Note though that NYC hospitals still have signs up about asking for a nurse if you have a fever and have recently come from West Africa. They don’t want to be caught off guard.)
I’m sorry the dress shop may have to close. I hope something can keep them open for a few more months. Maybe that could lead to the business reinvigorating itself.
Mandalay
@David Koch:
Wasn’t it more the case that Romney had far more money, allowing him to destroy his competition. If Jeb Bush runs he will face many problems, but insufficient money for ads attacking Romney won’t be one of them.
There is already a whiff of loserstink in 2016, with Hillary Clinton running. If Romney runs against her the whole nation will be gagging on loserstink.
NotMax
@David Koch
IIRC, by the 11,432nd “debate” both Gingrich and Santorum had repeatedly punched against Romney. Huntsman (earlier) as well, but he was ejected from the clown car so quickly that barely anyone took notice.
The problem, of course, was (and is) that only the brain-dead nod along with any utterance of Gingrich or Santorum.
Amir Khalid
@David Koch:
Mitt still has that prophecy to fulfill. (The white horse prophecy, I think it’s called.) Until the results were called in 2012, he believed he was about to get the big win. Remember how long it took him to finally concede? With Obama ineligible and himself not getting any younger, I guess it’s now or never for him.
Mike J
@NotMax:
The candidate that would have given them their best chance was thrown out because he served his country when a Democrat asked him to. Tells you everything you need to know about Republicans.
mai naem mobile
@Mike J: yep, Huntsman would have given Obama a run for his money. Hes a silver spoon but his dad would have been a great asset, his family looks like a Benetton/Ralph Lauren fusion ad ,hes fluent in Chinese, at least one kid in the armed services, former governor and intl posts. And his kids don’t come across as stuck up ding dongs like Romney’s and his wife doesn’t come across as a mean girl.
Geeno
@NotMax: See – I would have said “Only Terri Schiavo would nod along with anything Santorum said”, but that’s me.
Hal
@Mike J: Huntsman isn’t a right wing nutjob. That alone disqualifies him.
Wag
@cckids:
To quote Warren Zevon:
There ain’t much to country life
Sweat, piss, blood, and jizz
Most of which can transmit Ebola, hence rural america’s fear of the disease.
Couldn't Stand the Weather
Every so often, I turn off the TV in disgust after yet another display of pants pissing fear and/or unutterable ignorance.
Not just climate change ignorance.
Not just ignorance of current events.
Ignorance of basic math (like 2012 poll numbers).
These people don’t know how the federal government functions. On a basic level.
These people don’t know how the flu is transmitted. Not HIV/AIDS or Ebola. The damn flu, which is as old as Moses.
Combined with the irrational fear of teh Other (and yeah, I do feel bad about the lady’s dress shop, and I can see what she’s up against) it’s enough to make me want to scan the night sky for a decent sized meteor.
Something something education expensive…
end rant
Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)
@cckids:
I don’t know if the stories about the measles outbreak traced back to Disneyland are in your neck of the woods, but one of the stories I saw trying to emphasize how contagious measles is said (and I’m going by memory) that if a person with measles is placed in a totally non-vaccinated population, they will infect 12 to 15 other people. Someone with Ebola will infect 1 to 2 other people. It’s just not that highly contagious unless you get to the end stages, and then the people most in danger are the ones taking care of you.
cckids
@Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): Yeah, I’m in Vegas, so the measles outbreak is not only close, my son & his girlfriend were in Disneyland at the same time as this total moron with the sick kid. So it hits very close to home.
Elie
I sent a donation to help the bridal business. If everyone could do just a little, we could help her stay in business for at least a while longer and also make a statement about who we should be in this country. It is very tough and while its horrible that this happened in the US, I am convinced it would happen in many other countries as well. Humans are fearful, tribal animals in some circumstances with the same intelligence as stampeding cattle. I am not hopeless, however.. not at all. We have to act to the good when we can, however. This is simple enough to do.
Elie
As far as Romney and Bush, I wouldn’t underestimate the ability of the Bushies to do a fair amount of damage to Romney’s reputation. They are not chumps in this category. Willie Horton was a minor example but they are wicked inside fighters. My guess is that before Bush even announced his desire to consider a run, they had already done some research on all of his potential rivals to the nomination.