I’m sorry to come off so insensitive. And while I fully appreciate and value your open-mindedness the great irony that is so often lost in these conversations is the insurmountable long-term damage that has been and is done through lockdowns, destruction of small business, the unprecedented widening of the wealth divide, insufficient vetting of new medical technologies, co-opting of big tech and social media, and hindrance of healthy childhood development.
That—along with the obviously voracious governmental appetite for power and newly-established framework of tyrannical control—seems far more severely pressing and repercussive than any pain, suffering, or loss inflicted by the disease itself since it affects pretty much the whole 99% and not just the most vulnerable, at-risk portions.
See, THIS is the post that has the reasoning and logic behind it I was hoping to hear expressed, in particular for what’s going on in China as it is right on topic.
I accept your apology and appreciate that you accepted my post in the spirit in which it was intended, and my intention was to take us beyond quips and insults and into productive contemplation of this huge mess we are all in.
We are indeed seeing the most extreme scenario playing out in China right now. However, they don’t have a very good vaccine and I’m not sure they have all the treatments the US in particular has. I think that is partly playing into their draconian response. But rounding people up and putting them in quarantine centers or locking them inside their homes without adequate food and supplies hardly seems like a response that will help them effectively contain the virus and not derail their economy. It’s really hard to fathom from the outside, the reasoning behind what we are seeing of their approach.
I do think here in the west, we similarly derail ourselves from the optimal approach by entrenching ourselves in extreme positions of denial. It is counter productive to our interests to pretend this virus is like a mere cold or flu and that no precautions at all need to be taken. People need to also consider that that even people with mild symptoms are developing “long haul” symptoms. If we ignore that and have people continue to take Covid too lightly and expose themselves unnecessarily, that could have horrible effects on individuals and the economy as more people become disabled by chronic fatigue, brain fog and other serious symptoms that some people are developing after mild cases.
On the other end of the spectrum it is counterproductive to our interests to force businesses into extended shutdowns and schools into prolonged distanced learning models and not expect the disastrous effects on our economy and our students that we are indeed seeing.
We need a balanced, measured and nuanced approach to pandemic recovery and economic recovery. And that’s so difficult to achieve when we are so polarized against each other. So at the very least, on an individual level, I hope we can each do better to meet constructively.