(12-17-2020, 02:07 AM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(12-16-2020, 10:02 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: I rail at our Coward-in-Chief for failing to do what it took to ensure that a large number of people have gone into the demographic equivalent of a black hole (death) because he defied competent and relevant medical advice that might have saved a huge chunk of 310 thousand people so that they might be around to get the vaccine. I made my choice to reduce my risks to the extent that my economic reality allows; one year of misery that allows me the chance of enjoying fifteen good years sounds like a rational-enough choice. Maybe I will take that trip to New York City someday, which would be much less likely had I caught COVID-19 and died on a respirator.
Maybe the difference between Red America and Blue America is that Red America lives on its impulses and is unable to defer gratification, and the ability to defer gratification so characteristic of Blue America explains why Blue America has more and better education. Maybe that explains why Blue America has lower rates of crime and drug overdoses. Much of Red America lacks the talent for making statistical inferences and still believes that Donald Trump won in a landslide because everyone that many in Red America believe that nobody else voted for Joe Biden.
One could say that Red America could see the light at the end of the tunnel while the Democrats were imposing a cloud of gloom and doom over Blue America.
Surely you recall the old saying: the light at the end of the tunnel could be an oncoming train.
So when is it safe to quit taking precautions against COVID-19? Only when you get the vaccine and are satisfied (you will feel ill because your body will be reacting to dead viruses or antibodies, and COVID-19 is nasty) that the vaccine has an effect.
It is still a 1.8% chance of death if you get the infection. If you are so drunk that you have a 1.8% chance of causing a vehicle collision, then you are driving drunk. 1.8% chance of death? A bite by a venomous snake or an attack by a dog are both less likely to kill you. I avoid snakes that I do not know are non-venomous, and I do not provoke dogs. I have mocked some burglar who got into a house through a dog door, which is a very dumb thing to do. There might be a dog, and it can go from being placid and well-behaved to being as ferocious as a bear or Big Cat in seconds.
(Oh, yes -- I consider a dog a more reliable defense of me or any loved ones in the dark than myself with a gun. Burglars, muggers, and rapists are meat).
Quote:I know a lot of people who got COVID but I don't no any who were killed by it not even the older people who had it so far as the people who read to many books were downplaying herd immunity.
I'd rather face a tour of military duty, which is safer. I wear a mask in public.
Quote: It really doesn't matter which way you go, the country is now more or less deadlocked and it won't take much to split the country and its government at this point.
We have gone as far as we can with the polarization that we have. The question is whether we can come together for some valid reason such as shared danger or at least economic distress that we cannot reliably evade.
Quote: War is hell and there are no rules or special protections and no one is off limits or 100% safe during times of war. Welcome to the 4T.
We are at war; people are dying at a rate characteristic of a bungled war.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.