The hoax master trolls are out in force.
We have identified two such in the family business, and are now training their replacements.
I suggest all of you who can run them out of public and private employment to do so: they would destroy our country if they could.
Wow, spoken like a fascist totalitarian.
Let me ask you this, why do we not treat the annual flu exactly the same way? Wouldn't shutting down huge swaths of the economy, practicing social distancing and sheltering in place save thousands of lives every year if we did it? People who treat one death differently from deaths which could be prevented by the same measures are utterly irrational. It reminds me of a scene from All in the Family when Gloria and Meathead were freaking out that Archie had bought a gun:
"Gloria Bunker-Stivic : Daddy, did you know that sixty-five percent of the people murdered in this country in the last ten years were killed by handguns?
Archie Bunker : Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they was pushed out of windows?"
Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if those COVID-19 victims were dying of the annual flu? Apparently, because I am willing to bet you have never demanded that we take THAT nearly as seriously as we are based on our reaction to COVID-19.
I am also willing to bet you aren't too concerned about the close to 40,000 deaths a year that could be prevented by having a national speed limit of 5 MPH.
First of all, the "hoax meme" was a lie from the start, Trump never said that the illness, or its threat, was a hoax, he was refering to the dishonest (and often self-contradictory and irrational) criticism of his response (or lack thereof) was the latest in a string of hoaxes that his detractors had leveled at him. Second, many are either flat out or subtly playing on the irrational fear that most people have upon hearing the term "global pandemic", which in and of itself is a result of decades of Hollywood and the media ALWAYS playing up worst case scenarios (in the case of Hollywood, often comically so). I guarantee you that over half of people who think we are not doing enough to stop the spread (...sorry, "flattening the curve") subconsciously have this notion that left unchecked, this would wipe out most of human civilization akin to "The Stand" or "The Walking Dead" (just without the zombies in the case of the later). That is flat out stupid. Period. The question is whether the underlying notion of how bad this might get is a hoax or not.
There are COSTS (and not just economic, but in human life, health, and quality thereof) to what we do. There are opportunity costs to everything we do, not only is it perfectly rational, it is the very distinction between thoughtful and rational response and irrational fear-driven reaction.
