Pick Your Extreme

Author: Discipulus_Didicit

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Discipulus_Didicit
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Option 1) Corona virus is going to lead to human extinction if we don't all camp in our bunkers and stockpile TP immediately.

Option 2) Corona virus social distancing measures are just another part of a communist conspiracy to take over the world.

Option 3) Wearing a mask is kind of annoying.

So here is the mystery... why does it seem pretty much everyone is going with option one or two?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
1. Extinction might not be good for people but would perhaps be good for the planet, though I think that evolutionary purpose doesn't allow for human extinction just yet.

2. Communism is a myth, it's just different people doing the same thing in different ways. Social distancing or not is just common sense or not.

3. Wearing a mask makes you look like a nurse or the Lone Ranger....So be cool...Be the Lone Ranger....And get yourself a horse and call it Tonto.

In fact, wearing a mask and social distancing is a metaphor for the Lone Ranger, or vice versa.
Discipulus_Didicit
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@zedvictor4
So here is the mystery... why does it seem pretty much everyone is going with option one or two?
Dr.Franklin
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number 2,duh
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nah idk
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I go with option 3. There is no propaganda. 
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It might be that I am young and innocent, uninvolved by the world, but I trust my decision.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
why does it seem pretty much everyone is going with option one or two?

Because the userbase is polluted with paranoid conspiracy theorists who don't trust public health authorities and won't bother verifying the claims thereof. They're probably die-hard birthers, deep state folk, and the like.
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Option 1 is comedic.

Option 2 is conspiratorial but unrealistic.

Option 3 is kind of chavvy.


Nothing particularly extreme stands out....So what is the purpose of the exercise?
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Option 1) Corona virus is going to lead to human extinction if we don't all camp in our bunkers and stockpile TP immediately.

Option 2) Corona virus social distancing measures are just another part of a communist conspiracy to take over the world.

Option 3) Wearing a mask is kind of annoying.

So here is the mystery... why does it seem pretty much everyone is going with option one or two?
For some reason this health crisis is being looked at through the lens of identity politics, and political tribalism causes paranoia and an escalation of extremism.
Greyparrot
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@Castin
For some reason...
Gee, wonder if this is all about power-grabbing? No really, elites do care about you, they really do.
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Coronavirus infections are going up, BUT at the same time the death rate is going down. On July the 6th fewer than 1/11th as many Americans died as on the single peak day, May the 6th. From June the 20th (counting that day, a period of about 17 days ) until the time of posting the number of deaths was about 8200. In comparison, this number was well-surpassed in a mere 4 days from May 5-8. This is in spite a far higher total number of cases now.
This is for two reasons:

First, vulnerable populations (re: the elderly) are better insulated from infection now than they were 3 months ago. Of corona deaths so far I think maybe 2.5% were people under 45, but new infections are skewing younger.

Second, we're simply doing a better job of keeping people alive. The Trump administration enabled the stockpiling of both HCQ (which per a recent study might actually be useful in saving lives after all) ALONG WITH the more generally accepted remdesivir. Doctors are probably more experienced now also in handling coronavirus patients and I would assume there are fewer shortages for things like ventilators now.

Contrary to misconception, despite Trump denouncing widespread testing for self-motivated reasons the drop in reported deaths is actually not due to that. As of about 3 days ago the New York Times reported that the US performs about 600,000 tests a day, which is 5-6 times higher than a couple of months ago.

Over 130,000 have died but it wouldn't be fair to characterize us as "losing" against the virus either. Good news is legitimately beginning to emerge from this health crisis but there's a general reluctance to give airtime to such.
This is because there is, and presumably always has been within living memory, a "failed America" bias among narrative disseminating organs, where social and public ills that exist in the United States are given disproportionate attention compared to problems of a similar magnitude that exist elsewhere in the First World.
For example, Belgium has a population of about 11 and a half million, or a little over 1/30th ours. They've had 9,700 coronavirus deaths, which per capita would be equivalent to about 280,000 American COVID-19 fatalities (that is, more than double). However, there's scant coverage of Belgium, or other European countries which by certain measures have fared worse than the US. All focus has been on the proposal that America has "uniquely failed" compared to its peers in handling the virus, which is a half-truth at best.
Related is the "exceptional Europe" bias. Unlike Americans, who were castigated as dumb inbred rednecks for opposing shutdowns, Sweden's decision not to shut down at all was taken as an example of special Swedish wisdom, where their society was allegedly so utopian and their leaders so enlightened that doing something which would surely f*ck a country like America was seen as a good idea for them.
Discipulus_Didicit
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@Castin
Looks like the thread is about 50/50 between the two. IRL most of my family goes with option 2 and my friends with option 1.
Castin
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Yeah I live in Trump country so I'm surrounded by people who lean toward 2. My family is strictly pro-mask, anti-conspiracy, though. It's been causing a bit of friend/family friction.
Castin
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@Greyparrot
For some reason...
Gee, wonder if this is all about power-grabbing? No really, elites do care about you, they really do.
Pfft. If the elites don't care about me, why do they selflessly tax dodge even though they make millions? Answer me THAT.
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@Castin
If the elites don't care about me, why do they selflessly tax dodge even though they make millions? Answer me THAT.

I see the fear in the elite's eyes. I really do. Now, time for some icecream.
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@Castin
It's been causing a bit of friend/family friction.
You let your family meet your friends? Rookie mistake.
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@Castin
For some reason this health crisis is being looked at through the lens of identity politics,...
For some reason???
Castin
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@Greyparrot
I see the fear in the elite's eyes. I really do.
No.

Now, time for some icecream.
Yes.
Castin
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@Discipulus_Didicit
It's been causing a bit of friend/family friction.
You let your family meet your friends? Rookie mistake.
Some of them are our neighbors. D: C'est unavoidable, tu sais?

Plus my ID expired and I couldn't renew it because the DMV was closed for so long, so I had to ask my friend to come to the pharmacy with me every time I picked up my family's prescriptions because my friend had a valid ID. And I pick up the prescriptions during family grocery trips. Soooo... half hour car ride listening to them argue about masks every 1-2 weeks for four months.
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@Castin
What you should do is create Maga masks for your family. They will surely wear them without question then.
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@ethang5
For some reason this health crisis is being looked at through the lens of identity politics,...
For some reason???
I guess I just don't understand. It. Is. A. Virus. It is a public health issue. It is not a communist conspiracy. It is not a left/right thing. We should just listen to our healthcare professionals. Why is that complicated?
Castin
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@Greyparrot
What you should do is create Maga masks for your family. They will surely wear them without question then.
Ha, it's my friend who won't wear a mask.

Yes I befriend outside my party, I know, unthinkable.

But I should've thought of that. Just might've worked.
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For some reason this health crisis is being looked at through the lens of identity politics,...
For some reason???

Why is that complicated?
Who uses identity politics?

Discipulus_Didicit
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@ethang5
For some reason???
Well yeah, unless they do it for no reason. I'm not discarding that as a possibility by the way.
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@Discipulus_Didicit
See, the people who go with two are usually less educated, so providing them with the truth would be a lot easier in a fun, palatable format.

Castin
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@ethang5
Why is that complicated?
Who uses identity politics?
Homo sapiens.

The bastards.
Castin
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@PressF4Respect
See, the people who go with two are usually less educated, so providing them with the truth would be a lot easier in a fun, palatable format.

Wow.
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Why is that complicated?
Who uses identity politics?

Homo sapiens.
Actually, Homo neanderthalensis used identity politics too.

The bastards.
Nice dodge, but now you can't pretend you don't know why it's complicated. 
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@Discipulus_Didicit
Well yeah, unless they do it for no reason. I'm not discarding that as a possibility by the way.
They who? Everyone knows it's liberals who employ identity politics, and everyone knows why they do. Everyone except Castin that is.