“No Blaine, I did not say COVID — 19 only affects retirees or anything like that, and though I suspect your comment is a deliberate attempt to undermine what I wrote, I have to say if that is what you genuinely thought I meant, your literacy skills could use a little work.”
Don’t question my literacy skills or ability to think critically by insulting me, Ian. That shows you to be petty and self-defensive. And I didn’t make a ‘deliberate attempt to undermine what you wrote’. But what I said clearly ‘struck a nerve’ with you- a sure sign you doubt yourself. So, you lash out at anyone who dares disturb your beliefs. One doesn’t need a degree in psychology to understand that. In fact, it’s common enough knowledge that terms such as ‘struck a nerve’, ‘hit too close to the bone’, among others, exist.
“but that the species will be preserved by the survival of those member best able to adapt to and deal with environmental challenges.”
Darwin doctrine applied to civilization. Only those strong enough to survive SARS CoV are worthy of care. That in itself is a selfish, ‘I got my good health and tough for you’ attitude. We live in a society which means, as civil people, we care about those who need our help. We don’t turn our backs on those in need. At least, civilized people don’t. And Darwin wasn’t writing about societies when he discussed ‘Survival of the Fittest’; he was talking about the evolution of species. Read up on it, I’m sure you can grasp both blatant and subtle meanings, if you try. Most of us can. You’re referring to the ‘culling the herd’ mentality many far-right wingers espouse. Whether intentional or not, that’s exactly what you said. Remember, a rose by any other name…
“Placing entire nations under house arrest does not protect the vulnerable, in fact it makes them more vulnerable”
The vulnerable are not made more vulnerable because of a ‘lock down’. And it’s known that, in this country at least, many COVID related deaths are never reported because a pneumonia patient who dies typically wasn’t tested because the virus was new and/or relatively unknown or tests either didn’t yet exist or weren’t widely available.
And a lock down prevented many people from getting urgently needed care? In the UK, maybe but the only people here or couldn’t get lifesaving medical help were those for whom no hospital had a bed available or enough medical professionals. Or, in the example I give at the end of my next paragraph.
“(as again is now being acknowledged because public opinion demanded a clear definition of what COVID related deaths actually means. Turns out it includes people whose deaths were not due to any Coronavirus variant but due to urgent medical help being unavailable because of lockdown.”
“ as again is now [redundant, but okay] being acknowledged” That’s never been “acknowledged by anyone outside of the radical right. I’ll assume you’re merely quoting that from anther source, although there’s little if any evidence to support that claim, which is pushed mostly by those more concerned with money than with the suffering and deaths of others. I don’t mean workers, I can’t begin to imagine their economic suffering, I mean big business and politicians who use it as a cudgel to get people radicalized enough to physically attack those who disagree with them, including state and local governments. POTUS tells people to “Liberate yourselves from your governor, mayor, or any other authority figure who wants to steal your rights” and people take up arms or blockade roads critical to ambulances or fire department vehicles. At least one heart attack victim died in the ambulance because a bunch of ‘Open America, you’re infringing on my rights’ types blocked a needed route to the hospital. That’s a death due to lack of medical care because of people protesting a stay-at-home order, not because of the order itself.
An old adage is “Your right to swing your fist ends where my jaw begins”. Closing businesses is where my jaw begins and your right to swing your fist ends. And with most reasonable, civilized people too frightened to go shopping, out to restaurants or hair stylists anyway, what’s the big deal over stay-in-place orders? Knowing the virus is out there and highly contagious, most people, even if they’re relatively safe from becoming sick, are considerate enough to care about those with whom they come into contact with who may well be susceptible to it and don’t want to spread it among others.
Thanks for your reply, it solidified a few things I suspected.
