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Off-topic, but do you really view that "we're in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions"? I can think of a huge number of actual disasters of epic proport

Off-topic, but do you really view that "we're in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions"? I can think of a huge number of actual disasters of epic proportions (full-scale nuclear war, 100 kilometer asteroid impact, yellowstone super caldera explodes, an actual pandemic that has 99% effective death rate arises, etc.) The current situation seems pretty low-key compared to a real disaster.

op00to 6y ago
The hundred thousand people dead and millions out of work in the US alone would like to have a word with you about your denial that the COVID-19 pandemic is not of epic proportions.
- irrational 6y ago
  I'd be happy to speak with them. It is a sad state of affairs, but in my book, a disaster of epic proportions is a large percent of the world population dying. It is a disaster of such proportions that entire nations collapse. It is a economic depression that lasts for generations. What we are going through right now is like a hangnail compared to your entire foot being ripped off. It is scary for the people most affected, but hardly a disaster of epic proportions.
  - colejohnson66 6y ago
    I’m curious what you would call this situation then?
    - irrational 6y ago
      A disaster. It's not epic, yet. Now if the virus starts mutating and we start getting a million death a day, then I'd definitely start calling it epic.
      - perl4ever 6y ago
        I think you're ignoring the meaning and history of the word "epic". For one thing, it comes from a time when cities and armies were thousands instead of millions, and for another, it just never was based on some specific numeric scale. One description is: "...involving a time...in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the moral universe for their descendants...to understand themselves as a people or nation"
  - op00to 6y ago
    You must be insane, not just because of your willingness to speak with the dead.
colejohnson66 6y ago
2,996 people are confirmed to have died in the 9/11 terrorist attack, and look at how the country reacted. Compare that to today where more than that die (just from coronavirus) every day. There’s now over five million dead people who are believed to have died from it. Not to get too off topic, but it’s very concerning that a very substantial portion of the (US) population is convinced it’s some kind of “hoax” being used for political gain.
- jimhi 6y ago
  I am not disagreeing this is an epic disaster but let's keep the facts straight. There are over five million people believed to be infected with Covid-19 counted. The confirmed death count is ~355k.
  - colejohnson66 6y ago
    Ah yes. Correct. My quick google search for a statistic shows 5 million something in the preview text with no detail and I took it for deaths. My bad. Still, that’s 100x 9/11, and people are saying it’s no big deal. That was my point.
- IggleSniggle 6y ago
  5 million is a huge and terrifying number. But the post you are responding to is clearly putting this in the context of WW2-like or worse numbers, where 85 million people died. That constituted 3% of the global population at the time, equivalent to 231 million people dead today.
BurningFrog 6y ago
None of your "actual disasters" have actually happened. For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. Though I'm open to give other candidates a fair hearing. Keep in mind that this one is far from over yet!
- davidw 6y ago
  > For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. I'm in my 40ies, and while other things are more easily boiled down to a single image or two that get seared in your brain, like the Challenger exploding or the airplane hitting the second tower, there's simply nothing like it to have happened here in terms of the toll in human lives and myriad other secondary problems. The Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 was pretty massive in terms of the death toll, but it was more localized in an area far from anywhere I've lived, and if we're looking at the total number of deaths, COVID-19 is well ahead of it.
  - irrational 6y ago
    I suppose part of it is my view is colored by my own experience. My governor totally shut down our state very early and still hasn’t really started opening it back up. Because of that we have had very very few cases. I don’t know of anyone that got sick, much less died. I very much live in a middle class neighborhood (receptionists, elementary school teachers, paramedics, mail men, etc.) but none of my neighbors or friends have been very affected by this pandemic. For most of us it has been like an extended vacation. I’m still working from home, but it is much different than going into an office. Frankly I’ll probably look back at this time as one of the high points of my life. Now if I lived somewhere like LA or NYC, my view of this time would be very different.
    - davidw 6y ago
      It's interesting how much all of this depends on some people's ability - or lack thereof - to look at and contemplate life beyond their bubble. I mean... I'll admit that when it was just something in China, I didn't pay a ton of attention. But when it hit Italy - a modern, wealthy country with great health care, and honest reporting... it was obvious that it was real, and serious. The image of the army trucks carrying away bodies from the hospital will stick with me for a long time. If you haven't been hit hard, you're lucky, and it's likely because things got shut down early.
gdulli 6y ago
A guy told me once he was so hungry he could eat a horse. Did he think I was stupid? I called him out on it, of course. Nobody tries to pull one over on me and gets away with it. I love being right!
dorkwood 6y ago
I'm not sure it makes a great deal of sense to plot everything on that sort of scale. That would mean we'd have to call earthquakes or hurricanes 'very small' disasters, and that doesn't seem right.

op00to 6y ago

The hundred thousand people dead and millions out of work in the US alone would like to have a word with you about your denial that the COVID-19 pandemic is not of epic proportions.

irrational 6y ago
I'd be happy to speak with them. It is a sad state of affairs, but in my book, a disaster of epic proportions is a large percent of the world population dying. It is a disaster of such proportions that entire nations collapse. It is a economic depression that lasts for generations. What we are going through right now is like a hangnail compared to your entire foot being ripped off. It is scary for the people most affected, but hardly a disaster of epic proportions.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  I’m curious what you would call this situation then?
  - irrational 6y ago
    A disaster. It's not epic, yet. Now if the virus starts mutating and we start getting a million death a day, then I'd definitely start calling it epic.
    - perl4ever 6y ago
      I think you're ignoring the meaning and history of the word "epic". For one thing, it comes from a time when cities and armies were thousands instead of millions, and for another, it just never was based on some specific numeric scale. One description is: "...involving a time...in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the moral universe for their descendants...to understand themselves as a people or nation"
- op00to 6y ago
  You must be insane, not just because of your willingness to speak with the dead.

colejohnson66 6y ago

2,996 people are confirmed to have died in the 9/11 terrorist attack, and look at how the country reacted. Compare that to today where more than that die (just from coronavirus) every day. There’s now over five million dead people who are believed to have died from it. Not to get too off topic, but it’s very concerning that a very substantial portion of the (US) population is convinced it’s some kind of “hoax” being used for political gain.

jimhi 6y ago
I am not disagreeing this is an epic disaster but let's keep the facts straight. There are over five million people believed to be infected with Covid-19 counted. The confirmed death count is ~355k.
- colejohnson66 6y ago
  Ah yes. Correct. My quick google search for a statistic shows 5 million something in the preview text with no detail and I took it for deaths. My bad. Still, that’s 100x 9/11, and people are saying it’s no big deal. That was my point.
IggleSniggle 6y ago
5 million is a huge and terrifying number. But the post you are responding to is clearly putting this in the context of WW2-like or worse numbers, where 85 million people died. That constituted 3% of the global population at the time, equivalent to 231 million people dead today.

BurningFrog 6y ago

None of your "actual disasters" have actually happened. For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. Though I'm open to give other candidates a fair hearing. Keep in mind that this one is far from over yet!

davidw 6y ago
> For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. I'm in my 40ies, and while other things are more easily boiled down to a single image or two that get seared in your brain, like the Challenger exploding or the airplane hitting the second tower, there's simply nothing like it to have happened here in terms of the toll in human lives and myriad other secondary problems. The Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 was pretty massive in terms of the death toll, but it was more localized in an area far from anywhere I've lived, and if we're looking at the total number of deaths, COVID-19 is well ahead of it.
- irrational 6y ago
  I suppose part of it is my view is colored by my own experience. My governor totally shut down our state very early and still hasn’t really started opening it back up. Because of that we have had very very few cases. I don’t know of anyone that got sick, much less died. I very much live in a middle class neighborhood (receptionists, elementary school teachers, paramedics, mail men, etc.) but none of my neighbors or friends have been very affected by this pandemic. For most of us it has been like an extended vacation. I’m still working from home, but it is much different than going into an office. Frankly I’ll probably look back at this time as one of the high points of my life. Now if I lived somewhere like LA or NYC, my view of this time would be very different.
  - davidw 6y ago
    It's interesting how much all of this depends on some people's ability - or lack thereof - to look at and contemplate life beyond their bubble. I mean... I'll admit that when it was just something in China, I didn't pay a ton of attention. But when it hit Italy - a modern, wealthy country with great health care, and honest reporting... it was obvious that it was real, and serious. The image of the army trucks carrying away bodies from the hospital will stick with me for a long time. If you haven't been hit hard, you're lucky, and it's likely because things got shut down early.

gdulli 6y ago

A guy told me once he was so hungry he could eat a horse. Did he think I was stupid? I called him out on it, of course. Nobody tries to pull one over on me and gets away with it. I love being right!

dorkwood 6y ago

I'm not sure it makes a great deal of sense to plot everything on that sort of scale. That would mean we'd have to call earthquakes or hurricanes 'very small' disasters, and that doesn't seem right.