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OT: Coronavirus Resources - and other things to not worry about

Habsy said:
Amazing that people would believe the entire planet is perpetrating a hoax.
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35% of your countrymen are simply incapable of understanding the world that we live in. They live in a world of fantasy and conspiracy where magic/religion is truly real on some level and literally everything that happens in the world above the ground level they inhabit, is controlled by dark forces conspiring against them. They have rejected any semblance of shared reality with the rest of us.

For all the talk of "Left Wing Media" and it's brainwashing, the obvious culprit is right wing media (hello Fox!). The volume of right wing media in the US is the only major outlier between the US and other western nations, and the only thing that really explains the significant percentage spread between the number of our nutters and the number of yours.
 
Habsy said:
Amazing that people would believe the entire planet is perpetrating a hoax.
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I mean, at the start, you could almost believe it. Maybe not a hoax, but think that people went overboard, government responses were so overblown, etc... I remember back in late Feb/early March, my parents were planning to fly to England a month later and go on a seniors hiking trip, and they had a couple people cancel because of this. I thought at the time that those people were a little crazy, sure this was bad, but it was only a problem in a few areas and there really was nothing to worry about. Sure, back then, you could think some conspiracies.

But now? Geez, I'm not kidding when I feel it's criminal what has gone on at the highest levels, and the people who actually still believe it's a hoax or who are going to crowded beach parties are about as dumb as flat earthers. I mean, on my way out of the store, I passed by a Karen on her way in who was claiming she had a doctors note that she couldn't wear a mask inside a grocery store. A strong part of me wanted to turn around and start filming, although I'm pretty sure the person at the door was certainly not paid enough to care so I doubt it would have been a confrontation.

But like, literally millions of cases in the US is just unfathomable numbers. Like do people just believe that all these "confirmed" cases are just a doctor calling someone who comes in with a cough a case? Or is it simply the fact that Trump doesn't believe in it that it doesn't exist?
 
Its grim and gross but the tiniest most cynical silver lining to the carnage is that the BS gets fully exposed.

If every place had followed good practices, the virus would have been minimized and the conspiracies would have claimed victory.

A very very tough and disgusting lesson but maybe a necessary one.
 
zeke said:
Its grim and gross but the tiniest most cynical silver lining to the carnage is that the BS gets fully exposed.

If every place had followed good practices, the virus would have been minimized and the conspiracies would have claimed victory.

A very very tough and disgusting lesson but maybe a necessary one.
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Yeah, in a weird way this is turning into the modern philosophical version of WW2. An event so unmistakably stupid and destructive that it causes the entire world to take a long, hard look at the ideas and structures that failed and got us here.
 
MindzEye said:
Yeah, in a weird way this is turning into the modern philosophical version of WW2. An event so unmistakably stupid and destructive that it causes the entire world to take a long, hard look at the ideas and structures that failed to get us here.
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Yeah I've been mulling over for a while that maybe despite the cost humans actually need some regular wars to keep us grounded and with the proper reverence for life and freedom.

But maybe this provides a similar lesson
 
It's total madness. I will never understand why Trump & Fox News didn't simply carry on with their full menu of racist, conspiratorial, own the libs bullshit, while at the same time simply reporting the truth about Covid-19 and encourage their fans/viewers to support the temporary lockdown and wear masks. For the sole reason of getting the economy re-started as quickly as possible and help Trump's re-election chances in November.

This literally insane approach to a pandemic has cost thousands of lives, and (probably) tanked Trump and the GOP Senate's chances. For no reason other than the sheer stupidity of one unhinged man.

Our only hope is that this is the thing that brings down their entire bullshit machine.
 
axlsalinger said:
It's total madness. I will never understand why Trump & Fox News didn't simply carry on with their full menu of racist, conspiratorial, own the libs bullshit, while at the same time simply reporting the truth about Covid-19 and encourage their fans/viewers to support the temporary lockdown and wear masks. For the sole reason of getting the economy re-started as quickly as possible and help Trump's re-election chances in November.

This literally insane approach to a pandemic has cost thousands of lives, and (probably) tanked Trump and the GOP Senate's chances. For no reason other than the sheer stupidity of one unhinged man.

Our only hope is that this is the thing that brings down their entire bullshit machine.
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See you are still stuck in thinking of "them" as smart people just choosing to cynically manipulate facts for political gain.

But that's not what they are. They are True Believers in a specific world view in which they actually believe their own BS.

While there are still some simply evil manipulators like Mitch around, even then he is many ways a true believer in much of this, while other old guys like Grassley have become total True Believers too.
 
MindzEye said:
Yeah, in a weird way this is turning into the modern philosophical version of WW2. An event so unmistakably stupid and destructive that it causes the entire world to take a long, hard look at the ideas and structures that failed and got us here.
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wave 2 will be the reckoning... if it turns out as badly as some people fear, every country will be fkd so the US may not look so bad
 
Try living smack dab in the middle of the hot zone against an unseen enemy. It's pretty surreal at times.
 
“I alone can fix it”. And if he can’t, and he can’t, then it’s fake news. Classic authoritarian cult of personality. “Fixing it” would have required meaningful participation and success of “deep state” institutions and international/interstate cooperation. Utterly impossible for this self-aggrandizing buffoon - so face masks become part of a demented culture war in the face of an objectively real microbial reality.

The truth is, of course, is that he didn’t give a shit.
 
axlsalinger said:
It's total madness. I will never understand why Trump & Fox News didn't simply carry on with their full menu of racist, conspiratorial, own the libs bullshit, while at the same time simply reporting the truth about Covid-19 and encourage their fans/viewers to support the temporary lockdown and wear masks. For the sole reason of getting the economy re-started as quickly as possible and help Trump's re-election chances in November.
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I think you're missing a key piece of the philosophical underpinning to that entire movement. The entire movement is predicated on the Libs being full of shit, only there to be owned, sheeple, etc, etc, etc (whatever suits the narrative of the moment). The entire point of their movement isn't to be for anything (other than guns, jeebus, and some weird version of freedom that allows them to do or say anything they want without anything resembling repercussion), it's to be against the established order, or whatever avatar of the established order is their issue du jour.

It's a tantrum more than it's a political philosophy.

That's why Trump/Fox took the stance they did. Because experts and fucking liberals told them that this was going to be bad.
 
MindzEye said:
I think you're missing a key piece of the philosophical underpinning to that entire movement. The entire movement is predicated on the Libs being full of shit, only there to be owned, sheeple, etc, etc, etc (whatever suits the narrative of the moment). The entire point of their movement isn't to be for anything (other than guns, jeebus, and some weird version of freedom that allows them to do or say anything they want without anything resembling repercussion), it's to be against the established order, or whatever avatar of the established order is their issue du jour.

It's a tantrum more than it's a political philosophy.

That's why Trump/Fox took the stance they did. Because experts and fucking liberals told them that this was going to be bad.
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I get all that. It does help explain the reaction in February-March. Hell, even give them April if we want to be charitable about it.

Since then, there's no excuse. Certainly Trump and his most fervent supporters are too ignorant/stupid to try and seek out the truth, but many of the people around him and running Fox News are quite capable of interpreting data, knew exactly what was going on, and did nothing to stop it.
 
Basically, the far right movement is convinced that if they let their guard down, transvestites in riot gear will be roaming the streets, performing abortions on unwilling bankers and shitting in bathroom sinks 'cause they're so confused.
 
They should have just continued playing three months ago. Why restart when US cases are peaking? Hilarious logic.
 
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