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or, you could be angry that it became highly politicized and many media outlets absolutely overhyped the danger for clicks and political points. if we'd been m
by clairity 6y ago
or, you could be angry that it became highly politicized and many media outlets absolutely overhyped the danger for clicks and political points.
if we'd been more levelheaded, we would have suggested the public should either
1) physically distance, or
2) wear a mask
in enclosed spaces and face-to-face situations.
if you're an essential worker or particularly vulnerable, you'd do both where possible. that's it. that likely would have provided all the risk reduction we needed to get the spread under control.
the message would have been simple, the effects likely as good, and we wouldn't have left a hundred million poeple on the edge of (or in) economic and psychological collapse.
but that doesn't punch the emotional and neurochemical pathways the way politicians and news peddlers want.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThose would’ve been excellent suggestions in January, yes. But by mid March we’d missed the opportunity to use less intense measures.
- clairity 6y agono, the virus didn't somehow get more contagious in march, it had just spread farther/deeper. the same measures would have reduced risk equally in either case. only the likelihood of need (that those measures would have non-trivially helped prevent spread) would have gone up on a per-interaction basis.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThe same measures have wildly different levels of impact based on how deep the virus has gotten into the community.
- _jal 6y ago> but that doesn't punch the emotional and neurochemical pathways the way politicians and news peddlers want Every discussion involving advertising or app marketing here inevitably attracts tons of comments adopting a let's-be-real-here, this-is-just-how-it-is tone about the realities of the industry. And yet these same people are also experts on the news industry and know the exact opposite is true there, that "de-politicized" or "balanced" news is somehow a thing that is not only possible but stupidly trivial to produce. I mean, I get it, I utterly despise crabbed, shoddy, stupid journalism, too. But don't pretend there's some trivial fix. It is the way it is because of a combination of economic and ultimately social pressures. It is as much a symptom as a cause.
- clairity 6y agoi certainly didn't suggest the systemic fix was trivial, and that the equilibrium we've reached around news and advertising isn't cogent and compelling. but as individuals, we each have the capacity to center ourselves emotionally, clear our heads, and think critically about the coercive messages we're being fed. we have that power, and it is effective.
- VectorLock 6y agoWhat do you think is overhyped? The situation in Italy? Or the thousands of people dying a day?
- gammarator 6y agoThis is hindsight bias. That those steps alone would be sufficient was not established in March (and could be argued even now).
- clairity 6y agoit's not. i've held the same position since early march, when lockdowns started being seriously discussed.
- apatters 6y agoSo did the WHO. They have been excoriated by millions for supposedly saying you shouldn't wear a mask. But from the beginning they were advising that you keep your distance from others, cough into your sleeve, and wear a mask if you get sick (otherwise, save them for health care workers). Lockdowns were invented by panicking authoritarian politicians. The ruling class showed its true nature and was all too eager to copy China's brutal boot-on-throat approach to crisis management.
- ashtonkem 6y agoThe idea that politicians wanted to lockdown and trash the economy is laughable. Even now politicians are eager to open up, even though plenty of states are still in the exponential growth stage.
- lastres0rt 6y agoConsidering how Google and Apple are basically mandating WFH for the rest of this year, these lockdowns aren't for them; they're for all the other people who need a way to take care of themselves without giving their bosses the finger.
- mattwad 6y agoin the US we still aren't even following these simple rules consistently (even in NYC where I live). I agree with your point, I blame the guy in charge of everything who's repeatedly tried to downplay the severity, causing the rest of the system to seemingly overreact to compensate for people refusing to follow the rules.
- clairity 6y agoit's ok if we don't follow the rules perfectly and consistently for sufficient risk reduciton. but people absolutely flouting them is problematic, and the majority of that is likely a reaction to the overhyping in the first place. regarding trump, luckily our governmental structures are designed to withstand such incompetence. i'm more concerned that the legislative process is torching money in the wrong places.
- jtbayly 6y agoThe models never assume full compliance. IIRC, the big one from the UK assumed 70%.
- new2628 6y agoTBH, even if it was an overreaction, the effects were by and large positive, regardless of the pandemic. Work from home, less traffic, more family time, slowdown of economy, pausing of a lot of wasteful, useless activity. I really enjoyed walking around with almost no cars on the roads and listening to birds.
- clairity 6y agosure, it's great if you can afford the leisure, but 60-80% of americans can't, and it's irresponsible (at best) to ignore that.
- new2628 6y agoI realize this, yet, the fact that I can afford this leisure is largely due to my personal choices of forgoing some of the luxuries these people afford. I sympathize with those who are affected negatively by the situation, but I wish, for example, those who decide to buy a larger car would also sympathize with those who prefer clean air and less noise.
- clairity 6y agoi agree that frugal living is the bee's knees (i do it myself!), but nobody likes a wagging finger over an extended hand, especially if you construct a dichotomy simply for that purpose.
- indecisive_user 6y agoIf you want clean air and less noise then you should have moved to the country side where those are plentiful. Telling people in the city, that you decided to move to, that they should be conscientious of your decidedly non-city wants, is kind of pretentious.
- orangecat 6y agothe effects were by and large positive, regardless of the pandemic I generally hate the phrase "check your privilege", but in this case it fits perfectly.