Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
– George Washington
Even though I am well aware of Americans’ obsessive, single-minded and moronic devotion to black hat/white hat (excuse me, “blue hat/red hat”) fantasies of how the world works, it is especially frustrating and infuriating during the pandemic. On the one hand, we have a demented would-be emperor and his crazed followers denying that anything is wrong and claiming that the best way to deal with the possibility of a disease raging through the population is to pretend it doesn’t exist. On the other hand, we have several dozen deranged would-be kings and queens granting themselves the power to reduce people to serfdom and destroy everything they have worked toward for years or decades by declaring their jobs, businesses and even Constitutional rights “non-essential” and sending out violent thugs to enforce their “orders”, however arbitrary or nonsensical. And despite their claims to the contrary, none of these positions are based in science, logic or careful consideration; they are purely based in politics. The collectivist idiots who identify with the color “blue” (in defiance of its historical associations) like to pretend that their arbitary diktats are based in “science”, despite the fact that there’s nothing “scientific” about criminalizing the purchase of seeds while allowing the purchase of produce, or violently confining a woman in a filthy cage packed with strangers for the “crime” of being found in the company of her romantic partner. Meanwhile, collectivist idiots who identify with the color “red” (in defiance of its historical associations) like to pretend that their arbitary diktats are based in…something that isn’t arbitrary? (I’m not sure; I’ve never been good at understanding stupid people). Examples include banning abortion as “non-essential” (same reason some states gave for trying to ban gun sales; it’s a versatile excuse for authoritarianism), suspending the writ of habeas corpus, or closing the borders. In reality, both groups of violent, power-mad imbeciles are defining their positions completely in relation to one another (as they usually do), and searching for logic or consistency in any proclamation made by any US politician is a complete waste of time. My advice? You’ve got a brain; use it. Read as much as you can, decide for yourself which precautions make sense, respect the rights of others to make those decisions for themselves, and accept whatever consequences result from your choices without pointing the finger at anyone else other than the politicians and other state actors who are never content with only running their own lives, but instead demand to make decisions for everyone, and dispatch thugs and lawyers to destroy the lives of anyone who refuses to kowtow to their whims.
One thing this pandemic does is make some things much more clear. For example, where those in power and their enforcers really stand. Yes, we have “social distancing” here as well and no public gatherings. But the cops have mostly just reminded people and handed out some moderate fines to those that were persistently ignoring the rules. No arrests as far as I know and, for example, lovers are treated as an exception. Sure, they get reminded when being close in public, but when they explain the situation, they get listened to.
That said, cops are still enforcement here as well and they would likely enforce unjust and idiotic rules, if maybe not very enthusiastically. But because the whole country is much more sane, and there is a reasonable understanding of actually sitting in the same boat, those in power have to be reasonably sane too or face push-back. And that makes the situation a lot better.
I do understand the thing with the seeds though. It serves to reduce shopping trips and contact overall. Sure, some exceptions could be made, but that takes time to arrange, so they restricted everything non-essential. The secondary problem is that there are far too many people without common sense that actually _would_ run to the shop to buy seeds (or something else non-essential) and nothing else. You and me would just buy seed or other non-essential stuff during a regular needed shopping trip and cause negligible additional risk, but many people cannot be trusted to be this sensible, unfortunately.
” . . . but many people cannot be trusted to be this sensible, unfortunately.”
That’s exactly the issue, that the governors and others in power don’t trust the people they serve to be sensible or to know more about their own situation than those promulgating the often nonsensical proscriptions being forced on people. When a state governor says the Constitution “is above my pay grade,” maybe it’s time to find a governor who takes his oath of office seriously. It seems some in power are showing their true colors (no pun intended) and unleashing their authoritarian preferences. I fear for what is going to follow the current crisis.
@Maggie: I love the chart. Keeping my social distance, but I’m in that center bisection with you.
Not Washington.
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I share your disgust with both political parties, but from what I can see, they’re both too far on the side of “everybody stay home.” Trump just criticized Georgia for planning to open up again.
This virus won’t be stopped until there is herd immunity, most likely through the majority of people being exposed (I don’t have any faith in vaccination for this disease). The latest data suggests the vast majority of people (who aren’t old or otherwise fukt up) shrug off the virus and develop antibodies without any symptoms whatever.