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I'm actually gonna upvote this, even though I think your phrasing itself has the very problem you accuse the article of, which is being unnecessarily intense/em

I'm actually gonna upvote this, even though I think your phrasing itself has the very problem you accuse the article of, which is being unnecessarily intense/emotional. But at the heart of it I think you're asking "What is the emotional cost, of all of us on HN reading and worrying about these things? Is the emotional burden worth the marginal information gain of getting scary, unverified news (something that happens all too much: remember fear of terrorism after 9/11)?" I wrote about this a bit here: https://blog.alexrohde.com/archives/703 https://blog.alexrohde.com/archives/703 Also, if you find these articles a burden, it looks like you could probably do something like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22522076 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22522076

clairity 6y ago
so glad to see more folks speaking out against the mediopolitical coercion happening around the pandemic. it's both fascinating and horrifying to watch the machinations work their way into our brains and out of our hearts and mouths. masks and lockdown, and spinning our wheels over who're doing those things right and who're not, aren't going to save us and is full-on, simplistic media and political performance (biden is still unhelpfully screaming "wear a mask!") distracting us from the weightier subtleties. the policy that minimizes spread is to not breathe strangers' direct exhaust (not just air) for a prolonged period of time. we need to hone in on that one behavior, not its poor proxies, like masks and lockdowns. distancing for instance is a much better primary mitigation for the populace, rather than getting lost in the fear-based political weeds of masks and essential businesses. with that singular focus, we'd have had greater agreement, cooperation, and effectiveness (rather than performativeness), and less uncertainty, anxiety, and fear.

clairity 6y ago

so glad to see more folks speaking out against the mediopolitical coercion happening around the pandemic. it's both fascinating and horrifying to watch the machinations work their way into our brains and out of our hearts and mouths. masks and lockdown, and spinning our wheels over who're doing those things right and who're not, aren't going to save us and is full-on, simplistic media and political performance (biden is still unhelpfully screaming "wear a mask!") distracting us from the weightier subtleties. the policy that minimizes spread is to not breathe strangers' direct exhaust (not just air) for a prolonged period of time. we need to hone in on that one behavior, not its poor proxies, like masks and lockdowns. distancing for instance is a much better primary mitigation for the populace, rather than getting lost in the fear-based political weeds of masks and essential businesses. with that singular focus, we'd have had greater agreement, cooperation, and effectiveness (rather than performativeness), and less uncertainty, anxiety, and fear.