5 ms·

Politics seems to be a factor here, but I wonder how much of this has to do with popular culture. Over the last 20 years we've been bombarded with metric tons

by aazaa 6y ago

Politics seems to be a factor here, but I wonder how much of this has to do with popular culture. Over the last 20 years we've been bombarded with metric tons of Apocalypse porn, a lot of it focused on killer viruses. Most of those movies are unrealistic to put it mildly. Zombies. Deserted cities. Rotting corpses on sidewalks. Visible, palpable nauseating death. This pandemic is nothing like those movies. I know of not a single pop culture depiction that looks anything like what we have now, except maybe the movie Contagion. And that's really a stretch. So a lot of people have a problem when they see dire predictions and statistics that bear no relationship to what their own five senses are telling them. There's also the problem of previous pandemics that sounded the alarm, but amounted to little in the US. SARS-CoV-1 and the Swine Flu. All of this leaves the US with a population primed to expect a very unrealistic kind of pandemic, and already skeptical from previous false alarms. Throw in a president who not only sympathizes with the "hoax" perspective, but actively encourages it, and it should maybe not be surprising that we are where we are.

Forge36 6y ago
Contagion feels like a stretch because everyone has PPE. News teams aren't sending camera crews into the overflow hospitals being setup. Hard to show full hospitals ("rooms are full" doesn't look good on TV), nor could TV crews go into Patient rooms and show what it looks like (social media is doing this, but typically for patient's who are surviving as personal accounts).
- robertoandred 6y ago
  World News Tonight showed a hospital and a patient in his room last night.
me_me_me 6y ago
While maybe there is some truth to what you say, it doesn't justifies being an idiot that cant distinguishing reality from tv. Furthermore denying evidence because it doesnt align with how it happens in the movies
TheGrim-999 6y ago
Ironically, the notion that the President called the virus a hoax is itself the hoax. He never said that, and you can't quote him saying that. He did call the media's reaction to the virus a hoax, which the media of course then took out of context and reinterpreted in the worst way possible. But in our post-truth world we now have mainstream media taking quotes out of context and reinterpreting them to create their propaganda, citizens will then constantly parrot the propaganda on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook/etc., and if enough people have been convinced that Trump called covid a hoax, it apparently becomes "true" and never goes away. If someone sees 1,000 people on Reddit saying he called it a hoax, well now you have 1,001 people that go around parroting it, and it just spreads and never dies, even though it's completely detached from reality. Even more ironically, the story itself is just further propaganda that is detached from reality. Of course there's people that DO think the virus itself isn't real. Just like there's people that believe the earth is flat. But the vast majority of people that don't give a flip about the virus are doing it not because they think it isn't real, they're doing it because the data shows it's a coronavirus that's 2-3 times deadlier than the flu. That's it. Just like you mentioned. Shutting down and destroying the country over a virus that's 2-3 times deadlier than the flu is absolutely absurd. They stopped buying into the fear porn and they're going on with their lives.
- agentdrtran 6y ago
  How do you square minimizing the threat of COVID with the news recently that some hospitals are running out of beds, getting mobile mourges, and running their staff to the point of exhaustion and breakdown?
- corpMaverick 6y ago
  That is easy to fix. He should send a clear messages about the virus, but he keeps has downplaying the severity of the outbreak. Even calling the medias reaction to the virus a hoax is wrong. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-re...
- question000 6y ago
  Here is the exact quote: "One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We’re 15 people [cases of coronavirus infection] in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that." He literally says "this is their new hoax." Referring to COVID.
subsubzero 6y ago
I don't know stuff has been pretty apocalyptic the past 9 months. In San Jose a normally busy clean commercial street was boarded up on every store front with graffiti on most boards(BLM riots/protests). Trash was everywhere. Everyone was wearing masks. In NYC in April mobile morgue trucks flooded the city as the dead exceeded the capacity of the city's morgues. Drive by some parking lots and see hundreds of cars waiting to get covid tests. During the spring many stores in major metro areas ran out of basic supplies like paper towels/tiolet paper, cleaners, meat. A friend of mine had to wait 3 hours to get toilet paper at a target(3/20). In Italy and Europe busy tourist areas were empty and soldiers were patrolling the plazas with rifles. This stuff is like nothing I have ever seen in my life and my parents and grandparents lives as well.
- NikolaeVarius 6y ago
  The power works, water runs, food is delivered, and I stil get bills and spam in the mail This is not an apocalypse scenario. There were supply shocks, but thats a function of JIT living that naturally makes things extremely fragile.
- Pyramus 6y ago
  > This stuff is like nothing I have ever seen in my life and my parents and grandparents lives as well. My personal experience doesn't match that. I'm German, so my grandparents on both sides were involved in WWII. I grew up with the stories of what they had to go through. My grandmother had to flee after the war when she was ten on a 24h notice, being allowed to carry only one suitcase and give up all other possessions. Hunger was rampant, people foraged in the woods for acorns. Bread with mustard was a delicacy. I think we should be grateful that for most Western countries, the last 2-3 generations have seen an incredible, unprecedented period of stability and peace.
- rhino369 6y ago
  This probably somewhat explains why people in rural and suburban areas are quick to dismiss it as a hoax. None of what you seen is present outside of coastal American cities. I vacationed in rural Wisconsin this summer. Felt like every other summer I spent there. I think it was a mistake to lockdown many states in March that didn't really have a large number of infections. They spent 2-3 months lockdown for a virus that didn't really exist in their world yet. They formed their opinion that it was FRAUDVIRUS at that time. And aren't reevaluating now that they are finally getting their huge wave.

by aazaa 6y ago

Forge36 6y ago

Contagion feels like a stretch because everyone has PPE. News teams aren't sending camera crews into the overflow hospitals being setup. Hard to show full hospitals ("rooms are full" doesn't look good on TV), nor could TV crews go into Patient rooms and show what it looks like (social media is doing this, but typically for patient's who are surviving as personal accounts).

robertoandred 6y ago
World News Tonight showed a hospital and a patient in his room last night.

me_me_me 6y ago

While maybe there is some truth to what you say, it doesn't justifies being an idiot that cant distinguishing reality from tv. Furthermore denying evidence because it doesnt align with how it happens in the movies

TheGrim-999 6y ago

Ironically, the notion that the President called the virus a hoax is itself the hoax. He never said that, and you can't quote him saying that. He did call the media's reaction to the virus a hoax, which the media of course then took out of context and reinterpreted in the worst way possible. But in our post-truth world we now have mainstream media taking quotes out of context and reinterpreting them to create their propaganda, citizens will then constantly parrot the propaganda on Reddit/Twitter/Facebook/etc., and if enough people have been convinced that Trump called covid a hoax, it apparently becomes "true" and never goes away. If someone sees 1,000 people on Reddit saying he called it a hoax, well now you have 1,001 people that go around parroting it, and it just spreads and never dies, even though it's completely detached from reality. Even more ironically, the story itself is just further propaganda that is detached from reality. Of course there's people that DO think the virus itself isn't real. Just like there's people that believe the earth is flat. But the vast majority of people that don't give a flip about the virus are doing it not because they think it isn't real, they're doing it because the data shows it's a coronavirus that's 2-3 times deadlier than the flu. That's it. Just like you mentioned. Shutting down and destroying the country over a virus that's 2-3 times deadlier than the flu is absolutely absurd. They stopped buying into the fear porn and they're going on with their lives.

agentdrtran 6y ago
How do you square minimizing the threat of COVID with the news recently that some hospitals are running out of beds, getting mobile mourges, and running their staff to the point of exhaustion and breakdown?
corpMaverick 6y ago
That is easy to fix. He should send a clear messages about the virus, but he keeps has downplaying the severity of the outbreak. Even calling the medias reaction to the virus a hoax is wrong. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-remark/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-coronavirus-rally-re...
question000 6y ago
Here is the exact quote: "One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia. That didn’t work out too well. They couldn’t do it. They tried the impeachment hoax. That was on a perfect conversation. They tried anything, they tried it over and over, they’ve been doing it since you got in. It’s all turning, they lost, it’s all turning. Think of it. Think of it. And this is their new hoax. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. But you know, we did something that’s been pretty amazing. We’re 15 people [cases of coronavirus infection] in this massive country. And because of the fact that we went early, we went early, we could have had a lot more than that." He literally says "this is their new hoax." Referring to COVID.

subsubzero 6y ago

I don't know stuff has been pretty apocalyptic the past 9 months. In San Jose a normally busy clean commercial street was boarded up on every store front with graffiti on most boards(BLM riots/protests). Trash was everywhere. Everyone was wearing masks. In NYC in April mobile morgue trucks flooded the city as the dead exceeded the capacity of the city's morgues. Drive by some parking lots and see hundreds of cars waiting to get covid tests. During the spring many stores in major metro areas ran out of basic supplies like paper towels/tiolet paper, cleaners, meat. A friend of mine had to wait 3 hours to get toilet paper at a target(3/20). In Italy and Europe busy tourist areas were empty and soldiers were patrolling the plazas with rifles. This stuff is like nothing I have ever seen in my life and my parents and grandparents lives as well.

NikolaeVarius 6y ago
The power works, water runs, food is delivered, and I stil get bills and spam in the mail This is not an apocalypse scenario. There were supply shocks, but thats a function of JIT living that naturally makes things extremely fragile.
Pyramus 6y ago
> This stuff is like nothing I have ever seen in my life and my parents and grandparents lives as well. My personal experience doesn't match that. I'm German, so my grandparents on both sides were involved in WWII. I grew up with the stories of what they had to go through. My grandmother had to flee after the war when she was ten on a 24h notice, being allowed to carry only one suitcase and give up all other possessions. Hunger was rampant, people foraged in the woods for acorns. Bread with mustard was a delicacy. I think we should be grateful that for most Western countries, the last 2-3 generations have seen an incredible, unprecedented period of stability and peace.
rhino369 6y ago
This probably somewhat explains why people in rural and suburban areas are quick to dismiss it as a hoax. None of what you seen is present outside of coastal American cities. I vacationed in rural Wisconsin this summer. Felt like every other summer I spent there. I think it was a mistake to lockdown many states in March that didn't really have a large number of infections. They spent 2-3 months lockdown for a virus that didn't really exist in their world yet. They formed their opinion that it was FRAUDVIRUS at that time. And aren't reevaluating now that they are finally getting their huge wave.