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Anything involving viruses has become a hot-button political issue (at least in the USA). There is a significant faction of people who want to panic at any sugg

by timr 4y ago

Anything involving viruses has become a hot-button political issue (at least in the USA). There is a significant faction of people who want to panic at any suggestion of a new pandemic, and refuse to be mollified by any contradictory facts. There is also a significant faction who want to ridicule public health authorities, and refuse to believe that there might be any who are acting in good faith. Anyone in the middle -- like actual scientists, who tend to be skeptical of hyperbolic claims -- gets torched by both groups. Unfortunately, also in the US, these two factions break down almost perfectly along party lines.

bsaul 4y ago
The fact that covid happened during the us presidential campaign is probably the second largest reason why the pandemic has been so poorly handled in the world (the first major reason being that it emerged from china and its very problematic regime)
- smt88 4y ago
  > The fact that covid happened during the us presidential campaign is probably the second largest reason why the pandemic has been so poorly handled in the world Handling of Covid in other countries seems unrelated. Japan, a very conservative country and close US ally, handled it well, as an example.
- timr 4y ago
  Absolutely agreed. Don't forget that the presidential campaign involved an extremely controversial figure.
ravenstine 4y ago
Even without the politics, it's one of those things that attracts people who both need to prove to themselves that they're intelligent and exact control over others by proxy. Some people really do get a kick out of the rest of society being punished by lockdowns and having to wear PPE, and they're insidious because they believe their own bullshit. This may come off as me being a pandemic/virus/masks/vaccine denier, but that's not what I'm saying. There was a time when those same misanthropes might have been thumping the Bible. With fewer people in the West taking religion seriously, The Science became their new host given that it the public both simultaneously respects it and understands it even less than religion.

by timr 4y ago

bsaul 4y ago

The fact that covid happened during the us presidential campaign is probably the second largest reason why the pandemic has been so poorly handled in the world (the first major reason being that it emerged from china and its very problematic regime)

smt88 4y ago
> The fact that covid happened during the us presidential campaign is probably the second largest reason why the pandemic has been so poorly handled in the world Handling of Covid in other countries seems unrelated. Japan, a very conservative country and close US ally, handled it well, as an example.
timr 4y ago
Absolutely agreed. Don't forget that the presidential campaign involved an extremely controversial figure.

ravenstine 4y ago

Even without the politics, it's one of those things that attracts people who both need to prove to themselves that they're intelligent and exact control over others by proxy. Some people really do get a kick out of the rest of society being punished by lockdowns and having to wear PPE, and they're insidious because they believe their own bullshit. This may come off as me being a pandemic/virus/masks/vaccine denier, but that's not what I'm saying. There was a time when those same misanthropes might have been thumping the Bible. With fewer people in the West taking religion seriously, The Science became their new host given that it the public both simultaneously respects it and understands it even less than religion.