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How Dare You!
For a number of years, I have told people that while I might think people on the left are wrong in their beliefs, those same people treat my beliefs as illegitimate; that I have no right to hold different views than they. I believe that it peaked in the current gender wars, mostly because their views became less and less logical under even the gentlest scrutiny.
Now, the virus epidemic gives those people a whole new slew of issues on which, rather than make a cogent argument, it’s considered good form to simply say “how dare you!” That an intellectual adolescent the likes of Greta Thunberg was invited to the UN and literally made that argument foretold how bleak our future looks for any exchange of ideas.
It really hit home this morning when a local (San Antonio) financial columnist was screeching about our Lt. Governor. Dan Patrick had made the case that mitigating some of the quarantine might be worth considering given its effects on the economy. These arguments are the same as the caterwauling about the president’s suggestion about looking forward to Easter as a potential time to start relaxing quarantine rules. Literally nothing about proposing this as a date to think about changing the rules was controversial, yet it’s as if the POTUS proposed slaughtering seniors in their homes.
I wonder if we are past the point of no return, and there is no point in even trying to convince anyone on the other side, of anything.
Published in General
If people want to complain, I reserve the right to call them out on it.
This situation sucks. The perfect right answer is not obvious, and frankly, there is no good path. China tried to ignore this for 8 weeks and that did not work.
It is weird too say, after two weeks of shut down, that the problem with the shutdown is that the number of deaths is lower than the predicted deaths without a shut down.
I am sorry your husband lost his job. I have been there. 10 months over 2 years losing 2 jobs.
Nothing to see here. I was trying to edit the comment and somehow wound up reposting it in another post. Figured there was no need to keep this one here, so it’s gone. :)
It isn’t just that the numbers are lower. It’s that they’re so much lower than the predicted numbers – vastly lower – that it sounds to me like the predicted numbers are wildly, majorly off to start with. That’s the impression I’ve had throughout all of this, and that’s what I was basing my comment off of – the impression that the predictions were baloney to start with. Are the numbers off as much as I think they are? Perhaps not. Nevertheless, that’s my starting point, which may help explain why my patience is stretched pretty thin at the moment.
Thanks for your empathies with my husband’s job loss. I do appreciate it. I remember you mentioning at least one of those losses awhile back. This is our second job loss. The last one was back in 2009, and it lasted for a year. We’re praying this doesn’t turn into a repeat of that. (shudder)
Me too. For a lot of people.
And I am praying my friend in the hospital comes out alive.
Me too – on both counts.