There’s a Fine Line Between Prudence and Panic…

 

…and we crossed that line a long time ago.

Over the weekend on Facebook, I repeated a line that I heard at the beginning of the COVID-19 freakout, “There is a fine line between prudence and panic” and commented that we are so far beyond the line that it is no longer funny and is now just sad. Someone responded that we obviously weren’t panicking because 100,000 people are dead and that I (and apparently I alone) am the reason that we can’t open up the economy. Sorry, but that guy was wrong — as a nation, we are in full-blown panic mode, and I think the latest fight over masks proves that beyond any reasonable doubt.

I think masks are mostly virtue signaling, but I’m on record as saying that if virtue signaling will make the paranoid feel safe enough to open up the economy, I will grudgingly virtue signal. I also view wearing masks when I’m in a store as a simple courtesy to the paranoid (and where I live, almost everyone seems to think the COVID mortality rate is 99% and if you get within 50 feet of another healthy person, you will die an instant and horrible death.) I’m all for courtesy, but just because I’m willing to virtue signal and be courteous doesn’t mean that we are not panicking.

But, it is worth saying if we let the paranoid among us dictate how normal people are required to act, it will end badly for all of us. All of us.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Very few people are in panic mode. They just happen to be the loudest. Most of us don’t care about the WuFlu. (Or not much). Let’s get things open and rolling and roll right over the chicken feces types who are quaking in their Wellies.

    • #1
  2. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    • #2
  3. A-Squared Inactive
    A-Squared
    @ASquared

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Very few people are in panic mode. They just happen to be the loudest. Most of us don’t care about the WuFlu. (Or not much). Let’s get things open and rolling and roll right over the chicken feces types who are quaking in their Wellies.

    Come to my little blue suburb and I will show you some full on panic.

    • #3
  4. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    A-Squared (View Comment):
    Come to my little blue suburb and I will show you some full on panic.

    Time to put anti-psychotics in the water.

    • #4
  5. A-Squared Inactive
    A-Squared
    @ASquared

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    • #5
  6. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    This is not a one-size fits all “fine line.”  The difference between prudence and panic can vary depend on where one resides.  I agree that, in a lot of the country, the line was passed some time ago, but that’s not the whole story.

    • #6
  7. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    Doesn’t matter. They need to get out and live. “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.”

    • #7
  8. Old Buckeye Inactive
    Old Buckeye
    @OldBuckeye

    A-Squared: I’m on record as saying that if virtue signaling will make the paranoid feel safe enough to open up the economy, I will grudgingly virtue signal. I also view wearing masks when I’m in a store as a simple courtesy to the paranoid

    Same here, A-Squared. I’m trying to go about my business in a business-as-usual way. If it means donning a mask to avoid the stink eye, ok, I’ll wear a mask. I’m really surprised at the level of fear exhibited by people I know–people I would have thought might have shrugged their shoulders with a “meh” over a report of a virulent flu strain. They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together. 

    • #8
  9. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):
    They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I’m going to plan Ricochet meet-ups as soon as Dear Leader lets us get together with people.

    • #9
  10. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):

    A-Squared: I’m on record as saying that if virtue signaling will make the paranoid feel safe enough to open up the economy, I will grudgingly virtue signal. I also view wearing masks when I’m in a store as a simple courtesy to the paranoid

    Same here, A-Squared. I’m trying to go about my business in a business-as-usual way. If it means donning a mask to avoid the stink eye, ok, I’ll wear a mask. I’m really surprised at the level of fear exhibited by people I know–people I would have thought might have shrugged their shoulders with a “meh” over a report of a virulent flu strain. They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I think stores–and stores that sell food in particular–are good locations to determine who is paranoid and who is prudent (or imprudent, frankly).  And this comes down to a determination of whether masks do any good.  I don’t know the answer, but hypothetically, if they do some good, I’m reluctant to call people “paranoid” who wear masks in a location that they have to go to.  

    • #10
  11. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    I agree with you.

    Unfortunately, we all live in bubbles.  My media bubble includes quite a few “conservative” outlets – not explicitly conservative (like the Wall Street Journal) but not overtly liberal, either.  So, when I read National Review and Wall Street Journal comments sections and see full-blown panic (some of the writers at NR fall into this camp as well), I’m somewhat taken aback.  I’ve also seen it in my court (which I wrote about last week).  So, absent the complete disappearance of covid, and undeniable evidence to that effect, I don’t think the panic will recede any time soon.

    With respect to masks, I don’t feel any obligation to be courteous, and I am not going to sacrifice my own comfort (I am pretty claustrophobic and I absolutely detest masks) for the sake of courtesy.  Also, I think the paranoid folks need to see people walking around without masks – in conjunction with also NOT seeing bodies lining the streets, which means that this particular courtesy is actively harmful.  I suppose it is also courteous to refer to transsexuals by their preferred gender, but I don’t do that, either.  Maybe I’m just a jerk.  I can live with that.

    • #11
  12. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):
    They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I’m going to plan Ricochet meet-ups as soon as Dear Leader lets us get together with people.

    Just do the meetups in Idaho, or other free states.

    • #12
  13. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    This is what concerns me most deeply.  I have been very, very disappointed with NR’s coverage of this.  NR remains one of my daily websites and most respected organizations.

    • #13
  14. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    This is what concerns me most deeply. I have been very, very disappointed with NR’s coverage of this. NR remains one of my daily websites and most respected organizations.

    I have to disagree so maybe it’s a matter of perspective.  I think Geraghty and Verbruggen have been quite balanced and informative, and there has been some questioning of the wisdom of the shutdowns by others.

    • #14
  15. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):
    They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I’m going to plan Ricochet meet-ups as soon as Dear Leader lets us get together with people.

    Count me in. – bring your Theremin.

    • #15
  16. Mark Camp Member
    Mark Camp
    @MarkCamp

    A-Squared: I think masks are mostly virtue signaling, but I’m on record as saying that if virtue signaling will make the paranoid feel safe enough to open up the economy,

    While they are opening up the economy, could you also ask them to revoke their decrees suspending our Constitutional rights? If they were to do that, to be honest I wouldn’t care if the people who know how to open up the economy ever opened up the economy.*  The people who know how to run the economy (which I assume would include knowing how to “open” it) could just retire, or get jobs, or emigrate to Venezuela where economy-runners are in great demand, or go on welfare. I think we’d all be better off.

    *That sounds like I’m a Conservative, in the sense of “a person who doesn’t care about others”.  I know that the economy Provides Jobs, and that when it’s closed, it can’t Provide Jobs, no matter how hard it tries, until its operators open it.  But if We the People had our property rights back, We the People could enter into voluntary agreements with each other, to exchange money for labor (the government would enforce these contracts, as it does in any free country), and this would more than make up for all of the Jobs that the economy couldn’t Provide, being as how the virus was keeping it closed.

    While I am at it, I should confess that I don’t really care about the economy at all, as long as the government is respecting and protecting the property rights of every individual, and regulating public affairs (e.g., standardizing weights and measures, including the number of grams of gold that equals one “dollar”, and preventing a state from block trans-shipments of goods), as needed.  There is nothing that the people who run the economy can stimulate it to do that we the people couldn’t do by ourselves, and a lot better, if all those people suddenly dropped dead.

    • #16
  17. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Hammer, The (View Comment):
    Just do the meetups in Idaho, or other free states.

    That’s a long, long way from my cave.

    • #17
  18. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    E. Kent Golding (View Comment):
    Count me in. – bring your Theremin.

    Then we’ll need to have a place for me to plug it and the amp in.

    • #18
  19. Miffed White Male Member
    Miffed White Male
    @MiffedWhiteMale

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):
    They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I’m going to plan Ricochet meet-ups as soon as Dear Leader lets us get together with people.

    I’d drive to Michigan for that.

     

     

    • #19
  20. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I refuse to succumb to any kind of panic.  I do not wear a mask unless it is mandatory (so far, only within a Costco store).  I have a 1:1 meeting with my boss every Tuesday.  Today, she wore her mask to the meeting, saying she wanted to be a role model for other employees.  It took her exactly 10 minutes to remove the mask.

    • #20
  21. A-Squared Inactive
    A-Squared
    @ASquared

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    I have to disagree so maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I think Geraghty and Verbruggen have been quite balanced and informative, and there has been some questioning of the wisdom of the shutdowns by others.

    NR has been very schizophrenic on the lockdowns.  

    They wrote an unsigned editorial saying that the economic lockdowns were absolutely necessary and there was no reasonable criticism of the lockdowns.  I listened to that week’s Editor’s podcast.  They spent the first 20 minutes mocking the economic lockdown and how stupid many of the provisions were. I began to think Lowry had changed his mind about the editorial, then in very next topic, they proceeded to brag about this editorial and how destroying the economy was unfortunate but absolutely necessary.

    Geraghty has been pretty balanced, but the rest of them can talk them in circle and take the complete opposite stance of something they said just minutes before.

    • #21
  22. A-Squared Inactive
    A-Squared
    @ASquared

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    I think stores–and stores that sell food in particular–are good locations to determine who is paranoid and who is prudent (or imprudent, frankly). And this comes down to a determination of whether masks do any good. I don’t know the answer, but hypothetically, if they do some good, I’m reluctant to call people “paranoid” who wear masks in a location that they have to go to.

    I’m not sure how that test is suppose to work, but here in IL, they are required, so it doesn’t work.  FWIW, I was in FL for a couple of weeks in April.  My 74-year old mother with health problems and I went to Sam’s Club on a Saturday.  I had my mask in my pocket, but only about 10% of the people in the store were wearing masks, so I didn’t put it on.  Later in the week, I went to the WalMart just a mile or so away and probably 70% of the people were wearing masks, so I put mine on.

    I don’t think wearing a mask in and of itself makes you paranoid, but insisting that everyone else must wear a mask because you are scared of walking within 20 feet of a person that has 1% probability of being sick with a disease that has a 99% survivability rate probably does.

    • #22
  23. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    A-Squared (View Comment):
    I don’t think wearing a mask in and of itself makes you paranoid, but insisting that everyone else must wear a mask because you are scared of walking within 20 feet of a person that has 1% probability of being sick with a disease that has a 99% survivability rate probably does.

    Amen!

    • #23
  24. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    This is what concerns me most deeply. I have been very, very disappointed with NR’s coverage of this. NR remains one of my daily websites and most respected organizations.

    I have to disagree so maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I think Geraghty and Verbruggen have been quite balanced and informative, and there has been some questioning of the wisdom of the shutdowns by others.

    Interesting perspective, yes. Verbruggen and McCormack and Doherty have been particularly awful. Not active fear-mongering, but not very skeptical, either. Geraghty has been half and half. 

    All of them take quite a lot for granted and seem to wholly accept that these unprecedented measures are justified and mostly acceptable. 

    Then again, I’ve been reading Ricochet and powerline… 

    • #24
  25. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Hammer, The (View Comment):

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Also, tell your FB friends to get off the Internet and get treatment. Get out in the sunshine and exercise.

    It’s worth mentioning that the conversation happened in the NR Plus facebook group, so not exactly a left-wing bastion.

    This is what concerns me most deeply. I have been very, very disappointed with NR’s coverage of this. NR remains one of my daily websites and most respected organizations.

    I have to disagree so maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I think Geraghty and Verbruggen have been quite balanced and informative, and there has been some questioning of the wisdom of the shutdowns by others.

    Interesting perspective, yes. Verbruggen and McCormack and Doherty have been particularly awful. Not active fear-mongering, but not very skeptical, either. Geraghty has been half and half.

    All of them take quite a lot for granted and seem to wholly accept that these unprecedented measures are justified and mostly acceptable.

    Then again, I’ve been reading Ricochet and powerline…

    I’d forgotten about McCormack.  Have to agree on that one.

    • #25
  26. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    A-Squared (View Comment)

    I don’t think wearing a mask in and of itself makes you paranoid, but insisting that everyone else must wear a mask because you are scared of walking within 20 feet of a person that has 1% probability of being sick with a disease that has a 99% survivability rate probably does.

    I don’t make a habit of checking people’s profiles, and did not do so with yours.  But I think there’s a decent degree of age and geography in how one sees this.  It’s why I’m generally opposed to blanket, country-wide comments on the shutdowns–regardless of which “side” one is on.

     

    • #26
  27. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    A-Squared (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    I have to disagree so maybe it’s a matter of perspective. I think Geraghty and Verbruggen have been quite balanced and informative, and there has been some questioning of the wisdom of the shutdowns by others.

    NR has been very schizophrenic on the lockdowns.

    They wrote an unsigned editorial saying that the economic lockdowns were absolutely necessary and there was no reasonable criticism of the lockdowns. I listened to that week’s Editor’s podcast. They spent the first 20 minutes mocking the economic lockdown and how stupid many of the provisions were. I began to think Lowry had changed his mind about the editorial, then in very next topic, they proceeded to brag about this editorial and how destroying the economy was unfortunate but absolutely necessary.

    Geraghty has been pretty balanced, but the rest of them can talk them in circle and take the complete opposite stance of something they said just minutes before.

    Yeah, this whole episode has brought NR down quite a lot in my book, which is a shame.  As I said, they accept way too much at face value. I don’t want conspiracy theories, but I do want some level of skeptical reasoning. I have the feeling that once quite a lot more is known, I’d be able to go back to a lot of articles and point to my own comments that question some of the “conventional wisdom” that the authors blindly adopt and say “I told you so.” They won’t care any more than they do right now… But still.

    • #27
  28. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Arahant (View Comment):

    Old Buckeye (View Comment):
    They don’t plan to go anywhere/do anything that involves more than a handful of people until maybe next year, depending on whether there’s another go-round of the sickness in the fall. My old hobbyist groups have as much as disbanded since nobody wants to get together.

    I’m going to plan Ricochet meet-ups as soon as Dear Leader lets us get together with people.

    Michigan is a bit of a haul from where I live, but if I could meet @arahant, @percival, and once again see the lovely @6foot2inhighheels it would be worth it.

    • #28
  29. Headedwest Coolidge
    Headedwest
    @Headedwest

    I am 74 years old, retired, with some health problems. That means that if I get the Wu Flu it will probably be a serious or even life threatening experience. So I am going to be careful and wear my N95 mask for shopping and the like.  I will not yell at you if you do not wear anything because my N95 is protective, albeit a bit suffocating.  I have a UV disinfector, and when I get home I can put the mask in it and it is ready to go again.

    BUT.  That does not mean that healthy people under 60 need to do the same.  In fact, I would appreciate it if the youngsters would acquire herd immunity as soon as possible.  They have little risk even if they get this disease, and they help everybody by lowering the chance that this virus can keep spreading.

    So, thanks to all of you who by virtue of age or good health can get out and about and get us through this thing.  I will be waiting for the time when it is safe for me to plug back into society.

    • #29
  30. Hammer, The Inactive
    Hammer, The
    @RyanM

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    A-Squared (View Comment)

    I don’t think wearing a mask in and of itself makes you paranoid, but insisting that everyone else must wear a mask because you are scared of walking within 20 feet of a person that has 1% probability of being sick with a disease that has a 99% survivability rate probably does.

    I don’t make a habit of checking people’s profiles, and did not do so with yours. But I think there’s a decent degree of age and geography in how one sees this. It’s why I’m generally opposed to blanket, country-wide comments on the shutdowns–regardless of which “side” one is on.

     

    Allen is old, hoy.  

    :)

    • #30
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