3 ms·

I have a history book at home about the Plague. Re-reading that during Covid really drove the point home tgat as a society we are much less advanced than we lov

by hef19898 3y ago

I have a history book at home about the Plague. Re-reading that during Covid really drove the point home tgat as a society we are much less advanced than we love to believe. At least the people back in the 13-15th centuries, and before, had tue excuse of simply knowing jack shit about diseases, viruses, bacteria and the like. We on the other had none of those excuses.

jacquesm 3y ago
Worse still: if there is another pandemic next year I would expect that to fare even worse than COVID because now all of the jackasses that were downplaying the last one will have the prevention paradox to give them even more ammo. And just to think that we were very lucky that COVID did not have a slightly longer incubation time or a higher mortality, and that vaccine production went from a stand-still to overdrive as fast as it did. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.
- hef19898 3y ago
  Yeah, we were lucky. Because despite the first realistic shot at fighting a pandemic in history, we still kind of botched it. Bad enough even, that we still suffer the political fall-out all over the place.
  - jandrese 3y ago
    There is still a sizable chunk of the population, polling in the double digits last I checked, that thinks COVID was a government hoax to take away their freedom. These people vote.
    - hef19898 3y ago
      Oh yes, they do. And that is on top of the 15-20% in every western democracy that has no issue voting for wannabe fascist and totalitarians. The upcoming election cycles will be interesting to watch. And obviously vote in, hoping it kind of makes a difference.
      - jacquesm 3y ago
        It is seriously worrisome. Perfect storms like this don't come around many times in a century and when they do you can have massive fall out. It's pretty weird how we are both on the cusp of massive progress and potentially a massive setback at the same time. I don't recall that being so prominently the case as long as I've been alive.
        hef19898 3y ago
        I don't remember anything like that neither, not that it means a lot but my chiodhood and youth was the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. It feels that democracies are more fragile now for a lot of reasons. The only historical, recent that is, that is comparable seem to be the 30s of the last century. Well, at least I don't wonder anymore how people like Hitler and Mussulini came to power.
        jacquesm 3y ago
        Indeed, 'it can't happen here' is definitely answered in the negative. It can happen here, and it probably will happen here where 'here' is anywhere that considered itself to be on the 'good' side during WWII (that is: anywhere other than Japan, Italy and Germany). Italy is already almost there, the United States is flirting with it and may well succeed, the UK is up for grabs for whoever promises the electorate the biggest tax cuts and Russia is currently re-enacting the whole thing to see if they are able to determine if maybe Hitler was on to something. It is absolutely incredible, the amount of lack of knowledge about history on display. And we can't seem to get the message across either. If Trump should - god forbid - come to power I predict all out war in Europe within the next 6 years.
        hef19898 3y ago
        If Trump wins, he will be president for lif, as will be maybe Ivanka (with the blessing of the GOP) later. That will mean the potential end of liberal democracies in the West. And yes, unless the war in Ukraine is over by then, even a potential land war in Europe, again. And depending how that goes, who knows what China will be up to regarding Taiwan. Or Indi and Pakistan, once the stops are pulled, it will only be downhill. Or not, part of me still has hope. Not a lot, but still.

jacquesm 3y ago

Worse still: if there is another pandemic next year I would expect that to fare even worse than COVID because now all of the jackasses that were downplaying the last one will have the prevention paradox to give them even more ammo. And just to think that we were very lucky that COVID did not have a slightly longer incubation time or a higher mortality, and that vaccine production went from a stand-still to overdrive as fast as it did. Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it.

hef19898 3y ago
Yeah, we were lucky. Because despite the first realistic shot at fighting a pandemic in history, we still kind of botched it. Bad enough even, that we still suffer the political fall-out all over the place.
- jandrese 3y ago
  There is still a sizable chunk of the population, polling in the double digits last I checked, that thinks COVID was a government hoax to take away their freedom. These people vote.
  - hef19898 3y ago
    Oh yes, they do. And that is on top of the 15-20% in every western democracy that has no issue voting for wannabe fascist and totalitarians. The upcoming election cycles will be interesting to watch. And obviously vote in, hoping it kind of makes a difference.
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      It is seriously worrisome. Perfect storms like this don't come around many times in a century and when they do you can have massive fall out. It's pretty weird how we are both on the cusp of massive progress and potentially a massive setback at the same time. I don't recall that being so prominently the case as long as I've been alive.
      - hef19898 3y ago
        I don't remember anything like that neither, not that it means a lot but my chiodhood and youth was the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. It feels that democracies are more fragile now for a lot of reasons. The only historical, recent that is, that is comparable seem to be the 30s of the last century. Well, at least I don't wonder anymore how people like Hitler and Mussulini came to power.
        jacquesm 3y ago
        Indeed, 'it can't happen here' is definitely answered in the negative. It can happen here, and it probably will happen here where 'here' is anywhere that considered itself to be on the 'good' side during WWII (that is: anywhere other than Japan, Italy and Germany). Italy is already almost there, the United States is flirting with it and may well succeed, the UK is up for grabs for whoever promises the electorate the biggest tax cuts and Russia is currently re-enacting the whole thing to see if they are able to determine if maybe Hitler was on to something. It is absolutely incredible, the amount of lack of knowledge about history on display. And we can't seem to get the message across either. If Trump should - god forbid - come to power I predict all out war in Europe within the next 6 years.
        hef19898 3y ago
        If Trump wins, he will be president for lif, as will be maybe Ivanka (with the blessing of the GOP) later. That will mean the potential end of liberal democracies in the West. And yes, unless the war in Ukraine is over by then, even a potential land war in Europe, again. And depending how that goes, who knows what China will be up to regarding Taiwan. Or Indi and Pakistan, once the stops are pulled, it will only be downhill. Or not, part of me still has hope. Not a lot, but still.