RE: X5 Unrelated, but Good Information in Times of Need

Maruzo · #1 07-03-2020, 09:42 PM

I agree with you. At the end of the day we're all responsible for our own health and safety.

But there's the problem. People in general don't know what's good for them.

And the cultural and societal tendencies of America makes it that much harder for our people to realize what's good for them.

You can have 75% of the population agreeing that the guidelines are really important and much be followed to a tee.

Yet there's nothing you can say or do that can change the minds of the remaining 25% of the population to follow the guidelines.

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

crystalworks · #2 07-04-2020, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maruzo

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

As EOD posted, we aren't doing terribly when it comes right down to it. The numbers could be better of course if everyone followed guidelines, but that's not a realistic expectation in a free society.

I just hope that the ones being cavalier are the ones being affected the greatest. On the bright side, maybe the US population's IQ point average will go up a few ticks after the smoke clears.

People die all the time for all sorts of reasons and when we hit 250,000 deaths it will still be only .08% of the total population. That will probably take over a year from the time this started so we are not losing huge swathes of the population. Here are the CDC's 2017 stats for leading causes of death for context:

Heart disease: 647,457
Cancer: 599,108
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 169,936
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 160,201
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 146,383
Alzheimer’s disease: 121,404
Diabetes: 83,564
Influenza and pneumonia: 55,672
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 50,633
Intentional self-harm (suicide): 47,173

All of those together are less than 1% (0.63%) of the total population. US society is in greater peril of failing from many other causes before covid-19. Poor parenting and education being chief among them in my book.

Maruzo · #3 07-04-2020, 11:45 AM

We can definitely do better. And we must. Americans are susceptible to the influence of media hype. The greater the number of positive cases, the more perceived damage it becomes in the eyes of the public.

People starts to panic, businesses continue to close, many more for good, financial ruin, then social unrest and protests followed by rioting and looting.

This pandemic has caused much more financial harm than physical harm.

We will come out of this weaker financially than many countries.

That concerns me. An America with a perceived weakness will bring out the hyenas of the world. Everyone will want a piece of us.

Not the right time for protectionism and nationalism. IMHO.

This is the time when we need the support and our allies. Join efforts to fight this disease. So we are not perceived as the loner who went at it selfishly without regards to the wellbeing of the world.

Maruzo · #4 07-04-2020, 12:01 PM

Got this from a friend in Texas:

zonefive · #5 07-17-2020, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maruzo

I agree with you. At the end of the day we're all responsible for our own health and safety.

But there's the problem. People in general don't know what's good for them.

And the cultural and societal tendencies of America makes it that much harder for our people to realize what's good for them.

You can have 75% of the population agreeing that the guidelines are really important and much be followed to a tee.

Yet there's nothing you can say or do that can change the minds of the remaining 25% of the population to follow the guidelines.

Logically, that means America is doomed to fail this fight against Covid.

Or any other similar type of viruses that is sure to come in the future. Given the drastically increasing global population density and the scarcity of resources.

It's funny, we survived the threat of nuclear weapons and the cold war, only to be defeated by the smallest of an adversary, an insignificant strain of molecular proteins.

The elephant who ignored the mouse on its feet.

"There's the problem." No -- Not a problem. People are responsible. YOU have the problem.

Don't worry about other people. Worry about yourself.

What constitutes "success" against a virus that will infiltrate/expose an entire population in time, one way or another? You haven't said. Because you don't know.

We haven't been defeated by the coronavirus. The damage we have suffered has been due to our reaction to the virus.

amancuso · #6 07-18-2020, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zonefive

"There's the problem." No -- Not a problem. People are responsible. YOU have the problem.

Don't worry about other people. Worry about yourself.

What constitutes "success" against a virus that will infiltrate/expose an entire population in time, one way or another? You haven't said. Because you don't know.

We haven't been defeated by the coronavirus. The damage we have suffered has been due to our reaction to the virus.

Or non-reaction, which is the point Maruzo is making. We're all trapped aboard a rudderless ship.