How COVID-19 is affecting society

[danielravennest]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/sean-hannity-condemns-armed-michigan-protesters-puts-our-police-at-risk-071256303.html

What?

Gun-toting crazies isn't a good look for them. They'll lose the middle-of-the-road voters which Republican's can't afford to lose.

 

[Kara Spengler]

The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum isn't making any money so are offering you and your family a lifetime pass for $3000.

Creationists Are Selling Absurdly Expensive Lifetime Passes to Ark Encounter

Assuming someone wanted to go there at all it does not strike me as a place you would go to more than once.

 

[Fionalein]

The Ark Encounter and Creation Museum isn't making any money so are offering you and your family a lifetime pass for $3000.

Creationists Are Selling Absurdly Expensive Lifetime Passes to Ark Encounter

poor guys... they will soon learrn that Mammon is stronger than the Lord in Evengalists...

 

[Fionalein]

Assuming someone wanted to go there at all it does not strike me as a place you would go to more than once.

maybe they can sell some when they start preaching that God will soon send a second flood after the GoP's fall from grace...

 

[Anya Ristow]

If anyone has any references to explain, in a rigorous, non-dismissive way, why some people who should know better are so resistant to the idea of wearing a mask, I'd like to see it. I know some people whose line or work leads me to believe they are capable of understanding the purpose of the thing, but they seem irritated by the very thought of it.

As an example, I know someone of a technical bent, who has in fact invented technical gear and been employed by famous people, who is now a Trumper and refuses to wear a mask. In response to one of his videos I made what I thought was a super brief, non-condescending summary of the reason you wear a mask, and suggested he'd get better cooperation from people he approached if he wore one. He answered only a few of the hundreds of comments to his video, including mine, to say, very tersely, that he wasn't going to do that.

I found where this particular person is finding justification for not wearing a mask. There's a Dr. Judy Mikovits who says it is harmful for some people to recycle their own breath because...reasons. Something about reactivating viruses already in your system or something. I'm not really in the mood for going down some nutter's rabbit hole, but I'll leave this here so I'll remember it if I get really bored.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

reactivating viruses already in your system or something

Reminds me, replacing your toothbrush when you're recovering from illness is a good thing.

 

[Anya Ristow]

Well the fun part for me is that even Google thinks it is a bad idea. Google, the biggest private data hoarder on this planet.

Google just doesn't want other operators in this field.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

 

[Romana]

I found where this particular person is finding justification for not wearing a mask. There's a Dr. Judy Mikovits who says it is harmful for some people to recycle their own breath because...reasons. Something about reactivating viruses already in your system or something. I'm not really in the mood for going down some nutter's rabbit hole, but I'll leave this here so I'll remember it if I get really bored.

She looks to be a nasty piece of work. When I looked at Twitter conservabots were spamming her libelous "documentary" (I hope Dr Fauci sues).

Here's another nasty piece of work, proud to be called "Grandma Killer":

Trump Supporter Gets Dragged for Saying 'Call Me Grandma Killer' in Bonkers Anti-Lockdown Twitter Rant

If you say so.

secondnexus.com

 

[Kara Spengler]

I found where this particular person is finding justification for not wearing a mask. There's a Dr. Judy Mikovits who says it is harmful for some people to recycle their own breath because...reasons. Something about reactivating viruses already in your system or something. I'm not really in the mood for going down some nutter's rabbit hole, but I'll leave this here so I'll remember it if I get really bored.

There are legitimate reasons for things that might not be apparent at first. For example, since my spouse wears a hearing aid it would make the typical mask that hooks over the ears problematic. So we found one that attaches with velcro to the back of the head.

 

[Free]

Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions

They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior

blogs.scientificamerican.com

 

[Free]

 

[Kara Spengler]

Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions

They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior

blogs.scientificamerican.com

I see both men and women foregoing them though. Then using some bizarre logic to say why not.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions

They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior

blogs.scientificamerican.com

A bit like stopping the car to ask passers by for directions when you're lost.

 

[Fionalein]

I guess the main reason is "why me?". They are lip service patriots. They only cheer for the US as long as others die - not them. Slap that into their flag waving unpatriotic faces next time they show up. Tell them the bring shame to the flag they so proudly wear.. tell others to do so as well. If enough do they will break down like the little crybabies they are.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I guess the main reason is "why me?". They are lip service patriots. They only cheer for the US as long as others die - not them. Slap that into their flag waving unpatriotic faces next time they show up. Tell them the bring shame to the flag they so proudly wear.. tell others to do so as well. If enough do they will break down like the little crybabies they are.

I think the problem is the political right's strategy of trying to turn everything into a symbolic conflict in a continuing culture war, and there seem to be at least two skirmishes taking place on this particular hillock.

First, there's a conflict between a whole mythology of self-reliant individualism, in which problems are solved by creative entrepreneurs and the free market, vs the state, who in this case are restricting a whole range of freedoms and preventing people from making a living, in the name of public health, and in this case they're trying to tell people what to wear.

Second, there's a related conflict between the idea of the individual being responsible for his or her own health and that their family and friends, and deciding what protective measures are and aren't necessary, and that of the state mandating that everyone must wear protective masks not only for their protection, but also to protect everyone else.

Ask yourself, how would Ayn Rand's fantasy objectivist supermen like Howard Roark have reacted to a pandemic, and what would he have done had some politician tried to tell him what he could and couldn't wear, and what sort of measures he should take to protect his health, or that of his customers, employees, or even people with whom he had no dealings whatsoever?

They used to worry, way back when, about the deleterious effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, on the younger generation, along with cultural marxism and video games.

As it turns out, it's all those teenage American boys jerking off as they read Atlas bloody Shrugged that we needed worry about -- see what they've grown into.

 

[Clara D.]

Ask yourself, how would Ayn Rand's fantasy objectivist supermen like Howard Roark have reacted to a pandemic?

I'm sure he would load up his rifle and whinge about not being able to get his hair done.

 

[Veritable Quandry]

It always makes me laugh that Ayn Rand's heroine, her "self-made genius" inherited a railroad. So not only did she not build the business, but the railroads were built on land taken from Native American tribes by force, and financed by grants of cash and land to private companies from the government. Few industries have taken so much from others by sanctioned force. Maybe mining and oil come close. They all built industries on taking public goods and converting them into private profits.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It always makes me laugh that Ayn Rand's heroine, her "self-made genius" inherited a railroad. So not only did she not build the business, but the railroads were built on land taken from Native American tribes by force, and financed by grants of cash and land to private companies from the government. Few industries have taken so much from others by sanctioned force. Maybe mining and oil come close. They all built industries on taking public goods and converting them into private profits.

Similarly, you cannot have a free market economy unless you also have authorities who keep the roads maintained, clear and policed, so that merchants and customers can take their goods to and from markets in peace and safety, and you also have both market authorities who enforce a common system of weights and measures and a basic standard of product purity and an independent tribunal to arbitrate any disputes.

Ayn Rand is one of those particularly US phenomena, like the Rapture and the prosperity gospel, guns, bigfoot and being sexually molested by space aliens, that seem to be considered normal by an alarmingly large number of Americans but completely bonkers to everyone else.

 

[Romana]

I see both men and women foregoing them though. Then using some bizarre logic to say why not.

My brother was just telling me a story about one such woman yesterday.
As a healthcare professional, doing his job, and following his conscience, involved telling her the facts. He tried to find a way she would listen to, but she countered everything with canned Faux talking points. It's not the best idea for a doctor to tell a patient to get stuffed (and his medical group would probably have given him a lecture if he did), so he had to give up and kids off say "whatever". When he told me the story I could almost hear him shaking his head. The woman was squarely in a high-risk group (like her orange hero) but she felt she was invulnerable.