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> We all made profound sacrifices so that we all may enjoy the best chance of survival. Would it be unreasonable for me to point out that not everybody sees it

> We all made profound sacrifices so that we all may enjoy the best chance of survival. Would it be unreasonable for me to point out that not everybody sees it that way? Did pharmaceutical companies genuinely make sacrifices or did they make bank? Ditto for large corporations who took advantage of local competitors often being shut down, authoritarian politicians who used Covid as an endless excuse for failing policies and power grabs, and endless grifters who managed to cash in on all of the dollars flowing in ways that are too numerous to list.

maxbond 4y ago
No that isn't unreasonable. But when I said "we" I meant human beings, not pharmaceutical companies. I do agree that pharmaceutical companies and other corporations took advantage of the situation in a way that is inappropriate. I don't mean to suggest that the response to the pandemic shouldn't be criticized, but that it should be criticized with the goal of moving forward and doing better. And if you're suggesting that we should hold these companies accountable, by taking away their patents on vaccines for example, I'm all for it. What I more often see seems to imply we shouldn't have responded at all and should have "toughed it out" and just let people die.
- logicalmonster 4y ago
  > What I more often see seems to imply we shouldn't have responded at all and should have "toughed it out" and just let people die. It's about making a smart cost-benefit analysis. We do this all of the time when it comes to death: for instance, we all willingly hop into cars even knowing there's a non-zero chance we could die in an accident. I can't really blame anybody for the response on day 1 when we were operating in a fog of war with limited trustworthy information, but I think once we learned about the age-stratified risks associated with Covid, we should have focused on protecting the vulnerable and working to restore normal society as much as possible. IMO, here's the big picture concern about the Covid response. The events of the last few years are possibly heading the world towards a global financial meltdown and absolute chaos (including wars) that could possibly lead to far more human suffering than anything Covid could have possibly thrown at us. The total response to Covid shouldn't be evaluated by just the last few years, but by the next decade or so where we reap the consequences.

maxbond 4y ago

No that isn't unreasonable. But when I said "we" I meant human beings, not pharmaceutical companies. I do agree that pharmaceutical companies and other corporations took advantage of the situation in a way that is inappropriate. I don't mean to suggest that the response to the pandemic shouldn't be criticized, but that it should be criticized with the goal of moving forward and doing better. And if you're suggesting that we should hold these companies accountable, by taking away their patents on vaccines for example, I'm all for it. What I more often see seems to imply we shouldn't have responded at all and should have "toughed it out" and just let people die.

logicalmonster 4y ago
> What I more often see seems to imply we shouldn't have responded at all and should have "toughed it out" and just let people die. It's about making a smart cost-benefit analysis. We do this all of the time when it comes to death: for instance, we all willingly hop into cars even knowing there's a non-zero chance we could die in an accident. I can't really blame anybody for the response on day 1 when we were operating in a fog of war with limited trustworthy information, but I think once we learned about the age-stratified risks associated with Covid, we should have focused on protecting the vulnerable and working to restore normal society as much as possible. IMO, here's the big picture concern about the Covid response. The events of the last few years are possibly heading the world towards a global financial meltdown and absolute chaos (including wars) that could possibly lead to far more human suffering than anything Covid could have possibly thrown at us. The total response to Covid shouldn't be evaluated by just the last few years, but by the next decade or so where we reap the consequences.