Ever since 2016 there's been a big push to discount science and the work of experts, especially when they disagree with what the president and the right wing media says.
Dr. Fauci is urging caution, and the president is on record with not agreeing with what he has to say. People are now sending Fauci death threats and he has to have 24x7 security. He's an expert in infectious diseases and has served multiple administrations, both Democratic and Republican.
Let's just say that during a pandemic, I'm going to trust the recommendations of a doctor over those of a real estate developer. And it boggles my mind that other people see it differently.
If going out to the park meant that people were only putting themselves at risk, that's one thing. I'm all for people and their personal responsibility. But when you risk others? When do your rights begin to trump (no pun) others? You can be totally asymptomatic and still carry the disease. Tests are not reliable.
The fact that people want to say this is "just the flu" is beyond belief. If this was "just like the seasonal flu" then why don't hospitals run out of PPE every year? Why don't we face a shortage of ventilators every year? Why don't we have healthcare workers begging and pleading for support every flu season?
Staying at home and isolating as much as possible is the responsible thing to do. The only way that we, as a species, survived our early days was to gather in groups for mutual protection. History has shown us that humankind works best in groups, pooling resources, sharing knowledge, and protecting one another from harm. Everyone bears the cost of living in a society, these days mostly in the form of taxes. But if there are things that need to be done for the greater good like accepting a few weeks of inconvenience and isolation to slow the spread of the disease, it's just something that has to happen.
But now we have so many armchair experts who think they know better than people who have actually studied virology their entire life. They hear a sound bite on some TV show, regurgitate that into a somewhat plausible sounding narrative, and it's off to the races. Al (sorry for making you the example here) brought up the Spanish Flu several times to argue about how this is more about governmental overreach than good public health policy, yet he didn't even know the basics of the Spanish Flu. But somehow he's an expert and can say that there are no risks with his clandestine trips into the woods?
There are a lot of things that I don't know. And I trust that the experts whose job it is to know actually do, or have the breadth of knowledge to be able to extrapolate possible outcomes from situations. I understand in vague terms how a rocket pushed an Apollo capsule into orbit, but I wouldn't ever say that I could build one or know more about rocketry than the people that do.
As far as the economy goes, yes. The situation is dire. But humans lived, quite successfully, in pre American economic conditions. There are so many people who have a vested interest in restarting the economy that it will almost certainly recover and likely come back better than it was before. I hope that when it does it's a little more fairer for all, re: corporate taxes vs personal taxes.
Dr. Fauci is urging caution, and the president is on record with not agreeing with what he has to say. People are now sending Fauci death threats and he has to have 24x7 security. He's an expert in infectious diseases and has served multiple administrations, both Democratic and Republican.
Let's just say that during a pandemic, I'm going to trust the recommendations of a doctor over those of a real estate developer. And it boggles my mind that other people see it differently.
If going out to the park meant that people were only putting themselves at risk, that's one thing. I'm all for people and their personal responsibility. But when you risk others? When do your rights begin to trump (no pun) others? You can be totally asymptomatic and still carry the disease. Tests are not reliable.
The fact that people want to say this is "just the flu" is beyond belief. If this was "just like the seasonal flu" then why don't hospitals run out of PPE every year? Why don't we face a shortage of ventilators every year? Why don't we have healthcare workers begging and pleading for support every flu season?
Staying at home and isolating as much as possible is the responsible thing to do. The only way that we, as a species, survived our early days was to gather in groups for mutual protection. History has shown us that humankind works best in groups, pooling resources, sharing knowledge, and protecting one another from harm. Everyone bears the cost of living in a society, these days mostly in the form of taxes. But if there are things that need to be done for the greater good like accepting a few weeks of inconvenience and isolation to slow the spread of the disease, it's just something that has to happen.
But now we have so many armchair experts who think they know better than people who have actually studied virology their entire life. They hear a sound bite on some TV show, regurgitate that into a somewhat plausible sounding narrative, and it's off to the races. Al (sorry for making you the example here) brought up the Spanish Flu several times to argue about how this is more about governmental overreach than good public health policy, yet he didn't even know the basics of the Spanish Flu. But somehow he's an expert and can say that there are no risks with his clandestine trips into the woods?
There are a lot of things that I don't know. And I trust that the experts whose job it is to know actually do, or have the breadth of knowledge to be able to extrapolate possible outcomes from situations. I understand in vague terms how a rocket pushed an Apollo capsule into orbit, but I wouldn't ever say that I could build one or know more about rocketry than the people that do.
As far as the economy goes, yes. The situation is dire. But humans lived, quite successfully, in pre American economic conditions. There are so many people who have a vested interest in restarting the economy that it will almost certainly recover and likely come back better than it was before. I hope that when it does it's a little more fairer for all, re: corporate taxes vs personal taxes.
