6 ms·

It’s more like somebody else’s house is on fire, I thought my taxes paid for firefighters, but it turns out those firefighters never bothered to purchase firefi

It’s more like somebody else’s house is on fire, I thought my taxes paid for firefighters, but it turns out those firefighters never bothered to purchase firefighting equipment, so you’re forcing me to spend months putting out other people’s fires using cups of water from my own kitchen while firefighters shout on TV that this is the only possible way things can be.

objectivetruth 6y ago
When someone else's house is actually on fire, it IS in your best interest to help them put it out. Two good reasons: a) so the fire doesn't spread to your house, and b) so all the other people in the neighborhood will help you if your house does catch on fire. Now, I'm presuming you're an American here, so the blame is pretty clearly on the one fire chief who swears the house isn't on fire at all. Maybe just a little spark that'll put itself out any day now. THAT is why you have to keep running those cups of water out there. (Also, comparing a viral pandemic to "somebody else's problem" is a little naive, unless you are very sure that you and your loved ones somehow have a solid immunity to this novel virus and that it won't ever affect you.)
hehsjsbb 6y ago
I think a more accurate analogy is "there's a wildfire and firefighters asked you to conserve water so they can fight it, but some people decided to run their taps 24/7 out of spite and now there's rationing"
- sbpayne 6y ago
  I think this is closer, but perhaps needs a slight change. I don't think it's out of spite; it's not like people are taking _more_ risk AFAICT. So maybe something like: "there's a wildfire and firefighters asked you to limit water use to only drinking water, but some people decided to keep taking long showers, washing dishes, etc"
- showdeadtest 6y ago
  While on paper that analogy is sound, I feel in practice the asks being made are more extreme and disruptive than short-term water conservation. Others may disagree.
  - roughly 6y ago
    Yeah, and again, the issue isn't that your house is on fire or that there's a wildfire, it's that there's a global pandemic that in absence of any "conservation" measures on your part displays a superlinear growth path - so, yes, the asks being made are much more disruptive, because the event that's occurring is much more dangerous.

objectivetruth 6y ago

When someone else's house is actually on fire, it IS in your best interest to help them put it out. Two good reasons: a) so the fire doesn't spread to your house, and b) so all the other people in the neighborhood will help you if your house does catch on fire. Now, I'm presuming you're an American here, so the blame is pretty clearly on the one fire chief who swears the house isn't on fire at all. Maybe just a little spark that'll put itself out any day now. THAT is why you have to keep running those cups of water out there. (Also, comparing a viral pandemic to "somebody else's problem" is a little naive, unless you are very sure that you and your loved ones somehow have a solid immunity to this novel virus and that it won't ever affect you.)

hehsjsbb 6y ago

I think a more accurate analogy is "there's a wildfire and firefighters asked you to conserve water so they can fight it, but some people decided to run their taps 24/7 out of spite and now there's rationing"

sbpayne 6y ago
I think this is closer, but perhaps needs a slight change. I don't think it's out of spite; it's not like people are taking _more_ risk AFAICT. So maybe something like: "there's a wildfire and firefighters asked you to limit water use to only drinking water, but some people decided to keep taking long showers, washing dishes, etc"
showdeadtest 6y ago
While on paper that analogy is sound, I feel in practice the asks being made are more extreme and disruptive than short-term water conservation. Others may disagree.
- roughly 6y ago
  Yeah, and again, the issue isn't that your house is on fire or that there's a wildfire, it's that there's a global pandemic that in absence of any "conservation" measures on your part displays a superlinear growth path - so, yes, the asks being made are much more disruptive, because the event that's occurring is much more dangerous.