What do you say to those minimizing COVID deaths?
Asked by
longgone (
19764
)
September 23rd, 2020
I’m thinking of arguments like “We have x annual deaths from car accidents/the flu/sepsis/homicides, so we really shouldn’t panic.”
What’s your response?
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31 Answers
Car accidents don’t spread virally. Then I’d share the legend about rice on the chessboard just to drive home how problematic exponential growth is and why New Zealand can be back to normal and why the US has over 200k dead people.
My knee-jerk response is to walk away and not talk to these people at all. I have done that. An intelligent, science-driven discussion doesn’t work. The people with whom I have had contact that say these things are people who are robustly healthy, have all their parts, and for some reason believe that they are entitled to their good fortune. One of the many reasons I don’t have contact with my family of origin anymore.
I think those people are mostly just trying to make themselves feel better. It puts it into perspective and convinces them they’re unlikely to die from it.
I feel differently about, say, Candace Owens claiming that the pandemic is a hoax to get Trump out of office because only a small handful of people who died didn’t have another health problem.
Car accidents are not contagious.
Strict rules have been enshrined into law that people must follow under threat of punishment, in an effort to both reduce the prevalence of car accidents and the repercussions thereof.
I wouldn’t say anything to them; I’d walk away ! They and their family maybe indirectly get awarded the Darwin Award.
All dead !
When meet someone like that I tell them to tell that to the dead people who died from this virus.
Just to help put things in perspective, my close friend’s uncle just died from something unrelated to COVID and they had a 350 person (or I guess you would say “corpse”) backlog of bodies to cremate that delayed the funeral by several weeks.
It is beyond depressing that it is our commander in chief who leads the pack of dissembling dummies attempting to minimize the severity of this disastrous pandemic. He is not only openly engaged in suppression of the facts concerning the disease, but vigorously determined in undermining the integrity of those Federal agencies formerly distinguished for their reputations concerning the public trust. His ham fisted efforts to appoint visible hacks to such agencies as the FDA & CDC with the undisguised intention to lean on those departments to suppress and distort the truth is monstrous and only serves to maximize the resulting misery and stampede the death toll. It’s bad enough that the country has more than its surplus of stupid Americans. The only possible thing worse is a duplicitous lying ignoramus leading the procession.
@stanleybmanly “The only possible thing worse is a duplicitous lying ignoramus as head of the procession.”
I would argue having a Democratic establishment whose failures, corruption and outright cheating in elections guarantee that we will continue to have duplicitous lying ignoramuses as head of the procession well into the future is even more problematic. Trump may be the tumor, but Pelosi, Schumer, Wasserman-Schultz, Tom Perez, Neera Tanden, Clinton, Obama and Biden etc. are the carcinogen.
So the tumor is excused and worthy of tolerance? Are you saying the “reprehensibles” you list would behave likewise in the fool’s position.
I say “Fuck you, you fucking fuck.”
@stanleybmanly “So the tumor is excused and worthy of tolerance?”
When did I say that? You cut out the tumor, but you need to eliminate the carcinogen if you don’t want them to keep coming back.
@stanleybmanly “Are you saying the “reprehensibles” you list would behave likewise in the fool’s position.”
I’m saying that they will ensure that Republicans keep winning because they care more about pleasing their donors than they do about the country and are perfectly happy to lose to Trump if that means they get to stay in power—which won’t happen if a progressive wins and cleans house.
Do you actually believe the election of a single progressive— such as Bernie will clean up the Senate or House? I agree 100% that both parties do a superb job at preserving the corrupt system of serving corporations and plutocrats and preventing any chance at reform. But to say that Trump is equivalent to all the rest is just plain absurd.
Yearly car accidents in the US are about 20% of what coronavirus has done in 8 months.
@stanleybmanly I think electing a genuine progressive would clean up the DNC. They get to pick the head of the DNC, and then purge all of the lobbyists and consultants from the party. They could certainly exert immense pressure on neoliberal leaders to step down from powerful seats or face the bully pulpit being used against them. FDR took on his party in his day and they fell in line.
“But to say that Trump is equivalent to all the rest is just plain absurd.”
I never said they were equivalent, I said they were worse. We’re probably going to have an even more evil Republican president than Trump in the near future, and it will be the Democrats that cause it year after year. Like I said, Trump is the tumor, but they are the carcinogen that causes all of the tumors to keep coming back.
Thanks to everyone who answered! I appreciate the ideas so far. Maybe I should add: for the sake of the question, let’s assume the relationship is important to me and the person I’m talking to is willing to change their mind in general.
Also, I have a request. Can we stay with COVID and the question of how to talk to people for now? I didn’t put this in General because I’m fine with it going off-topic (and into politics) eventually…but I don’t feel totally satisfied yet. I still need more ideas.
@gorillapaws I don’t believe it is as simple as “throw the rascals out”. The setup we find ourselves in is a system. It is the game ITSELF that is corrupt. Bernie and any other true progressive is excluded, but even if he makes it will be either corrupted or sidetracked.
“We really shouldn’t panic”. Who can disagree with that? But the best argument against complacency is the climbing death toll and the fact that we lead the WORLD in per capita tombstones.
^ You’re right. It’s hard to disagree with that. Of course, the argument uses circular logic. It’s only fair to label the preventative measures a “panic” if the death toll is not actually high.
Just because this is in social and I like @gorillapaws going to push back on this: FDR took on his party in his day and they fell in line.”
Yes, under FDR, Japanese were interred in concentration camps in the United States and Jews were turned away because of quotas to go back to Germany and die. When I went to the FDR memorial in DC I spit on the ground. He is no hero in my eye.
He saved capitalism. And the capitalists despise him to this day for it!
^ What’s going to save it this time?
That’s a truly great question. You should ask it. If you don’t, I will.
Love the way you guys listened to @longgone ‘s request. Perhaps it should be moved to General.
@Zaku that graphic starts with the gross error of stating 1% mortality means 1% of the entire population dies.
It means 1% of the infected people die.
The graphic made some valid points but killed the message with the opening.
@Zaku I like that! Thanks.
@janbb We don’t usually move threads to General. It’s okay though. I’m about to do some lurve resets as part of regular maintenance. If those guys happen to be affected, that is an unfortunate glitch and cannot be helped.
@LogicHead ”...Here is an article from the liberal nasty WP…”
The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos. The guy known for running a ruthless sweatshop empire. It’s hardly a bastion of liberal ideology and strongly opposes center-left positions like Bernie has proposed.
Hahaha, @LogicHead, how Is the phrase “liberal nasty WP” an example of “...not speaking in a partisan fashion…”?
What a beyond silly statement. :-D
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