6 ms·

Fear has nothing to do with it, you can make a rational assessment of risks and reasonable decisions to mitigate them without living in terror. I sometimes dri

Fear has nothing to do with it, you can make a rational assessment of risks and reasonable decisions to mitigate them without living in terror. I sometimes drive my automobile for non-essential reasons too despite that being one of my largest risk factors, much larger than covid.

Fricken 3y ago
I guess we're in agreement. It's terrifying because we're not making reasonable decisions to mitigate the risks. I'm a rock climber and I've gotten into enough tricky situations on the cliffs. So long as you can take action the fear is manageable. It's when there is seemingly no viable action to take that the bad fear sets in. Thing is, the risks I take personally as a climber aren't as big as the risk were taking collectively as a civilization by not acting on climate change, even though the risks I take go well beyond what most people would accept if they understand what they were in for.
- throwawaylinux 3y ago
  We are most certainly not in agreement. You implied that one had to live in fear of covid in order to make rational choices about it. I mean it's okay that you were, you don't have to do the macho act to save face or anything. It's a very common response even irrational fear (and is unfortunately exploited). I was not saying that's the "wrong" way to feel or live, just that it saddens me to think of people feeling like that.
seanmcdirmid 3y ago
If you were 70+ then COVID was far more likely to kill your than driving. But most of us weren’t 70+ and couldn’t really empathize with those that were.
- throwawaylinux 3y ago
  > If you were 70+ then COVID was far more likely to kill your than driving. I know, because I had some understanding of the risks. All without being terrified! In fact there may even have been some correlation there. > But most of us weren’t 70+ and couldn’t really empathize with those that were. Speak for yourself.
  - yread 3y ago
    So, to summarize: - you understood 1.5% 70+ who get the disease will probably die - you empathized with them - you weren't terrified of 10s of millions of people, possibly your loved ones, dying
    - throwawaylinux 3y ago
      You got that right. I inform myself, I empathize with people, and I don't live in fear of things largely out of my control. Millions of people including my loved ones and likely I will die of a heart attack or cancer. Millions of elderly including my loved ones are at risk of flu and other common illnesses, falls, etc. Countless young (and old) people will die of auto wrecks and violence. The sun will strip the atmosphere off the earth in a few billion years. I simply don't live my life terrified about all these things. Just because you do doesn't mean you also have to get angry at people who don't, or try and fail to shame them -- not to scare you more but it's bad for your blood pressure and stress levels.
      - yread 3y ago
        There is a crucial difference though: you can't do anything about atmosphere being stripped but you definitely can reduce risks of getting the disease or dying once sick. And the most terrifying part for me was that maybe I could have done something to help other people but didn't
        throwawaylinux 3y ago
        That's not a crucial difference for me when you include all my other examples. There are things you might or could have done, but it's not reasonable to think you can make perfect decisions. Life is full of ifs and buts. There might be some path in life I could take from here that would lead to malaria being eradicated. I simply don't feel the need to live in fear of any of it. Covid, malaria, driving, McDonalds, climate change. Strike 2 for attempted shaming though.
        3y ago

Fricken 3y ago

I guess we're in agreement. It's terrifying because we're not making reasonable decisions to mitigate the risks. I'm a rock climber and I've gotten into enough tricky situations on the cliffs. So long as you can take action the fear is manageable. It's when there is seemingly no viable action to take that the bad fear sets in. Thing is, the risks I take personally as a climber aren't as big as the risk were taking collectively as a civilization by not acting on climate change, even though the risks I take go well beyond what most people would accept if they understand what they were in for.

throwawaylinux 3y ago
We are most certainly not in agreement. You implied that one had to live in fear of covid in order to make rational choices about it. I mean it's okay that you were, you don't have to do the macho act to save face or anything. It's a very common response even irrational fear (and is unfortunately exploited). I was not saying that's the "wrong" way to feel or live, just that it saddens me to think of people feeling like that.

seanmcdirmid 3y ago

If you were 70+ then COVID was far more likely to kill your than driving. But most of us weren’t 70+ and couldn’t really empathize with those that were.

throwawaylinux 3y ago
> If you were 70+ then COVID was far more likely to kill your than driving. I know, because I had some understanding of the risks. All without being terrified! In fact there may even have been some correlation there. > But most of us weren’t 70+ and couldn’t really empathize with those that were. Speak for yourself.
- yread 3y ago
  So, to summarize: - you understood 1.5% 70+ who get the disease will probably die - you empathized with them - you weren't terrified of 10s of millions of people, possibly your loved ones, dying
  - throwawaylinux 3y ago
    You got that right. I inform myself, I empathize with people, and I don't live in fear of things largely out of my control. Millions of people including my loved ones and likely I will die of a heart attack or cancer. Millions of elderly including my loved ones are at risk of flu and other common illnesses, falls, etc. Countless young (and old) people will die of auto wrecks and violence. The sun will strip the atmosphere off the earth in a few billion years. I simply don't live my life terrified about all these things. Just because you do doesn't mean you also have to get angry at people who don't, or try and fail to shame them -- not to scare you more but it's bad for your blood pressure and stress levels.
    - yread 3y ago
      There is a crucial difference though: you can't do anything about atmosphere being stripped but you definitely can reduce risks of getting the disease or dying once sick. And the most terrifying part for me was that maybe I could have done something to help other people but didn't
      - throwawaylinux 3y ago
        That's not a crucial difference for me when you include all my other examples. There are things you might or could have done, but it's not reasonable to think you can make perfect decisions. Life is full of ifs and buts. There might be some path in life I could take from here that would lead to malaria being eradicated. I simply don't feel the need to live in fear of any of it. Covid, malaria, driving, McDonalds, climate change. Strike 2 for attempted shaming though.
        3y ago