The "meaning" aspect of the covid nonsense I think is very much underreported. It is quite clear that the broad swathe of society with meaningless, stupid jobs (ie university administrators) were much more enthusastically swept up in the hysteria than people with meaningful, practical jobs (ie plumbers).
yes there's also the issue that for the most part anyone left of center had a _really_ hard time seeing how badly the virus was overplayed, and it's not entirely clear why, they I have to assume it was an instinct to transform society towards being more focused on protecting the most vulnerable, despite that the vulnerable were the most clearly harmed by these insane policies.
As I said the whole time though, these idiots think that sitting at home watching netflix while collecting unemployment and eating delivered food was their Normandy Beach. Completely deranged.
Hindsight is 2020. I am sympathetic to early lockdowns, in the first wave, when CDC was sending out defective test kits and not allowing you to be tested unless you just returned from China. Seeing China lockdown Wuhan, with a population on par with NYC, also kind of led the way in setting a president. The 'masks don't work' "noble" lie to save them up for healthcare workers was totally unforgiveable. But you can also blame our inability to manufacture or stockpile masks on neoliberal deindustrialization and "just in time" delivery that Wall Street demands companies adhere to; because their one and only responsibility is to maximise shareholder value, no matter how many people you kill in the process. Then of course the national press, which has become institutionally incapable of doing anything besides filtering information through a partisan lens, decided it would be a great stick to hit Trump with. So COVID maximalism got hyped and anything to the contrary ignored or mocked.
The worst part is that there is no plausible correction mechanism. We lived through Bush straight up murdering half a million people. Obama intentionally maximising the number of foreclosures on poor people to "foam the runway" for Wall Street and and quite literally using propaganda as his only tool to fix the economy. They get nothing but praise and warm wishes from the same people who pretend like Trump taking home classified documents is the crime of the century.. Trump's one and only redeeming quality continues to be that all the right people hate him.
People can be forgiven for being initially taken in. A two week pause to prepare the hospitals is at least within human control but then they didnt even do that.
There is no excuse for this unprecedented bullshit, even at the very beginning. It was all delusional, a combination of a ludicrously unhealthy perspective on death and aging and extreme hubris about what totalitarianism can accomplish.
I still fundamentally dont understand how just about anyone left of center cannot see this for what it was, presumably it has some association with a belief that society should be more oriented around helping the weak, though of course this victimized the weak, poor, and powerless the most.
Oh, I see that aspect of it just fine. This wasn't 'the left' pushing it. it was some scientists but largely the media. And definitely the rich. It was an unknown pathogen. What if it had the mortality of 1918 flu? You need a few months to nail that down at least. after that though, yeah should have ;lifted lockdowns and made masks optional.
So what if it had the deadliness of the 1918 flu? Lockdowns dont work and there was no evidence they did. Hospitals and doctors are the best suited to treat the ill, not arbitrary political decisions.
And its not a matter of it being the left pushing it theres just something about that mindset that creates an entirely different perspective of society's responsibility regarding disease, or something like that.
Also i wanted to add, a lot of things are forgivable if people ask for forgiveness. Instead these assholes are denying responsibility and gaslighting us.
Sorry, busy last couple of days. Lockdowns didn't work for covid isn't the same thing as lockdowns don't work. e.g. surely they would work for Ebola. And there was evidence for lockdowns having worked on the 1918 flu:
Basically, extremely transmissible viruses make infection inevitable, which is why the lockdowns didn’t save a significant number of lives.
For the real kicker, the CDC thought lockdowns would work because they suspected that COVID was transmitted by fomites (large drops of water that sink quickly when exhaled; hence social distancing, disinfecting surfaces, and those 100% useless Plexiglas things they used at the presidential debates). It wasn’t until MAY 2021 they admitted it was airborne (small drops of water that stay aloft for quite some time when exhaled). https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-admits-coronavirus-is-airborne-2021-5
Obviously, people with more than 1 brain cell were capable of arriving at that conclusion much sooner, and pivoting to emphasizing improved ventilation, and high-quality masks. I was convinced it was airborne within a week or two of lockdown. IIRC South Korea and Japan treated it as if it was airborne practically from day one.
The lockdowns were largely to allow for hospitals to stock up, which didn’t work because of neoliberal capitalism (see my first comment) and China stopping exports of PPE. They were also to “flatten the curve” and not overwhelm hospitals and morgues, which still got overwhelmed at least in NYC and LA.
So, direct your anger at the incompetence of the CDC and Wall Street, they played a much bigger part in extending the lockdowns for so long.
I hate the CDC and wall street, and they were surely the evil profiteers here, but I'm not playing any of this game.
The plague of Athens, which was probably basically ebola, broke out when they were under siege.
Do we care about freedom or are we a bunch of bitches?
IMO I'd rather literally die than give up everything for disease fear.
The American revolution took place during a smallpox epidemic. If the Constitution didnt apply during a plague it would say that, as it sayd habeas corpus can be suspended during an insurrection
Are you really unwilling to concede that a lockdown could be an effective way of stopping some viruses? I'll argue the point if I must, but I'd rather not.
Really I agree with you 95%. I can see an initial justification for a few weeks until we had a better picture of the situation. Which of course we squandered.
The "meaning" aspect of the covid nonsense I think is very much underreported. It is quite clear that the broad swathe of society with meaningless, stupid jobs (ie university administrators) were much more enthusastically swept up in the hysteria than people with meaningful, practical jobs (ie plumbers).
yes there's also the issue that for the most part anyone left of center had a _really_ hard time seeing how badly the virus was overplayed, and it's not entirely clear why, they I have to assume it was an instinct to transform society towards being more focused on protecting the most vulnerable, despite that the vulnerable were the most clearly harmed by these insane policies.
As I said the whole time though, these idiots think that sitting at home watching netflix while collecting unemployment and eating delivered food was their Normandy Beach. Completely deranged.
Hindsight is 2020. I am sympathetic to early lockdowns, in the first wave, when CDC was sending out defective test kits and not allowing you to be tested unless you just returned from China. Seeing China lockdown Wuhan, with a population on par with NYC, also kind of led the way in setting a president. The 'masks don't work' "noble" lie to save them up for healthcare workers was totally unforgiveable. But you can also blame our inability to manufacture or stockpile masks on neoliberal deindustrialization and "just in time" delivery that Wall Street demands companies adhere to; because their one and only responsibility is to maximise shareholder value, no matter how many people you kill in the process. Then of course the national press, which has become institutionally incapable of doing anything besides filtering information through a partisan lens, decided it would be a great stick to hit Trump with. So COVID maximalism got hyped and anything to the contrary ignored or mocked.
The worst part is that there is no plausible correction mechanism. We lived through Bush straight up murdering half a million people. Obama intentionally maximising the number of foreclosures on poor people to "foam the runway" for Wall Street and and quite literally using propaganda as his only tool to fix the economy. They get nothing but praise and warm wishes from the same people who pretend like Trump taking home classified documents is the crime of the century.. Trump's one and only redeeming quality continues to be that all the right people hate him.
On Obama, I'd recommend these:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/03/the-empire-continues-to-strike-back-team-obama-propaganda-campaign-reaches-fever-pitch.html
https://prospect.org/economy/needless-default/
People can be forgiven for being initially taken in. A two week pause to prepare the hospitals is at least within human control but then they didnt even do that.
There is no excuse for this unprecedented bullshit, even at the very beginning. It was all delusional, a combination of a ludicrously unhealthy perspective on death and aging and extreme hubris about what totalitarianism can accomplish.
I still fundamentally dont understand how just about anyone left of center cannot see this for what it was, presumably it has some association with a belief that society should be more oriented around helping the weak, though of course this victimized the weak, poor, and powerless the most.
Oh, I see that aspect of it just fine. This wasn't 'the left' pushing it. it was some scientists but largely the media. And definitely the rich. It was an unknown pathogen. What if it had the mortality of 1918 flu? You need a few months to nail that down at least. after that though, yeah should have ;lifted lockdowns and made masks optional.
So what if it had the deadliness of the 1918 flu? Lockdowns dont work and there was no evidence they did. Hospitals and doctors are the best suited to treat the ill, not arbitrary political decisions.
And its not a matter of it being the left pushing it theres just something about that mindset that creates an entirely different perspective of society's responsibility regarding disease, or something like that.
Also i wanted to add, a lot of things are forgivable if people ask for forgiveness. Instead these assholes are denying responsibility and gaslighting us.
Also being a shut in has always been allowed, as has wearing a mask most places
Sorry, busy last couple of days. Lockdowns didn't work for covid isn't the same thing as lockdowns don't work. e.g. surely they would work for Ebola. And there was evidence for lockdowns having worked on the 1918 flu:
http://web.archive.org/web/20210317011750/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/how-cities-flattened-curve-1918-spanish-flu-pandemic-coronavirus
I’ve been having trouble getting that link to load readable, here is a pdf. https://filebin.net/oisopdkucydoo6x3#
Basically, extremely transmissible viruses make infection inevitable, which is why the lockdowns didn’t save a significant number of lives.
For the real kicker, the CDC thought lockdowns would work because they suspected that COVID was transmitted by fomites (large drops of water that sink quickly when exhaled; hence social distancing, disinfecting surfaces, and those 100% useless Plexiglas things they used at the presidential debates). It wasn’t until MAY 2021 they admitted it was airborne (small drops of water that stay aloft for quite some time when exhaled). https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-admits-coronavirus-is-airborne-2021-5
Obviously, people with more than 1 brain cell were capable of arriving at that conclusion much sooner, and pivoting to emphasizing improved ventilation, and high-quality masks. I was convinced it was airborne within a week or two of lockdown. IIRC South Korea and Japan treated it as if it was airborne practically from day one.
The lockdowns were largely to allow for hospitals to stock up, which didn’t work because of neoliberal capitalism (see my first comment) and China stopping exports of PPE. They were also to “flatten the curve” and not overwhelm hospitals and morgues, which still got overwhelmed at least in NYC and LA.
So, direct your anger at the incompetence of the CDC and Wall Street, they played a much bigger part in extending the lockdowns for so long.
I hate the CDC and wall street, and they were surely the evil profiteers here, but I'm not playing any of this game.
The plague of Athens, which was probably basically ebola, broke out when they were under siege.
Do we care about freedom or are we a bunch of bitches?
IMO I'd rather literally die than give up everything for disease fear.
The American revolution took place during a smallpox epidemic. If the Constitution didnt apply during a plague it would say that, as it sayd habeas corpus can be suspended during an insurrection
Are you really unwilling to concede that a lockdown could be an effective way of stopping some viruses? I'll argue the point if I must, but I'd rather not.
Really I agree with you 95%. I can see an initial justification for a few weeks until we had a better picture of the situation. Which of course we squandered.
And yes, I am familiar with colonial smallpox. My Great great (I don't know how many great's) grand dad, Cotton Mather, was notable for starting inoculation against it on this content, and a few other less positive things. https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/special-edition-on-infectious-disease/2014/the-fight-over-inoculation-during-the-1721-boston-smallpox-epidemic/#:~:text=Attached%20to%20the%20explosive%2C%20which,active%20promotion%20of%20smallpox%20inoculation.