kungfoodude

The economic fallout of going to an even more severe lockdown would be extreme. The full price of the current lockdown has still yet to even be paid and it will be a big one. It's one that is ever increasing a permanent underclass in the country. That's another debt that will be paid in a big way and we have yet to feel the full brunt of. The virus has laid bare a few key weaknesses in this country. First, there is no real safety net for ordinary citizens. This should come as a surprise to anyone who pays attention. We aren't too big to fail, unlike mutli-billion dollar corporations. The difference between how we reacted at the government level and how a lot of the rest of the first world, is really quite stark. Second, as Americans some of our biggest strengths have once again proved to be among our biggest weaknesses. Our fierce independent streak coupled with an extremely individual outlook on what is best for society has pretty much doomed any efforts to get people to make sensible and logical decisions for the overall good of our country. It obviously doesn't help that our leadership cares more about spreading lies and division for individual gain rather than actually attempting to do the right thing. Third, our economic structure is not sustainable in any sort of a calamity like this. Not for the overwhelming bulk of the populace. I don't mean that as an attack on capitalism but our version of capitalism sacrifices the wellbeing of the majority of the population when you have a disaster or major economic downturn. Again, not a new thing. We've seen it happen time and time again. It just acknowledges that the casualties of our perpetual boom and bust cycle are an acceptable price of doing business. If those flaws didn't exist here, I don't think we would be having the same discussions about this virus and it's impact. You are ultimately correct. Given the way we are structured, we cannot afford to stay under quarantine. Our society is structured the way it is and that means that a lot of people are going to die from the virus directly and likely even more from the devastating economic crisis that is likely to unfold. Frankly, there really aren't a lot of great counter arguments against opening up the bulk of the country. That doesn't mean I agree with the idea of sacrificing people's health and/or lives for the economic good but people need to understand that is literally the foundation of our society. Our history is rife with examples from our very inception. The more people realize that, the easier this pill is going to be swallowed.

Yep. It could get ugly. Honestly, it really may make the most sense to cancel all the sports until revenue sports are back. It will keep the athletic departments from falling into a big hole.

Stanford cut 11 sports. Get ready to see that be widespread if football gets axed.

Yep. ACC cancelled non-conference football games. We all know what is coming next. Man....fug this virus.

I would just swear off Fox and CNN. There is no reason to even give them the time of day. Trust me, you won't be any less informed(more like better informed) and their drivel won't accidentally creep into your head.

The man literally said "Silver Bullet." Speaking of BS.....

Yeah, I will freely admit that I was happy to see CNN get smashed up. They deserve a fuging wake up call. Killer Mike was 100% right to say what he did about that incident.

Voting rights have been eroded over time and one party is quite open about how they do not want to see increases in voting. That is mind blowing. Just look at how badly our voting is handled compared to most of the first world. But it isn't accidental. The power structure constantly struggle not to get more people to vote but to manipulate voting to get their desired outcome. It is completely ridiculous.

Wonder why a bunch of sweating and heavy breathing coupled with close proximity would be an issue? So weird.

I think the media has done a good enough job of undermining themselves so when a true charlatan is in office(like now) they can exploit those weaknesses. You definitely hit the nail on the head about people not being savvy enough to consume news and have a skeptical view. It's too easy to be lazy and follow along with a narrative that you are predisposed to believe in. We constantly lean towards confirmation bias in consumption of news and media. That is where one of our fatal flaws as Americans is laid bare. We are intellectually lazy and feed these trolls(TV Media, social media, etc) instead of ignoring them. That is how we bear the ultimate responsibility for the evolution of the modern news media(and really sport media, as well). We love these echo chambers for some reason. I even hear people say things like, "Well, I watch Fox and MSNBC and that way I have a counterpoint." The problem with that is constantly consuming blatant, naked propaganda is that even little bits of that will slip through and their sensationalism will still have subtle impacts. If nothing else, it is stressful to watch/listen to that trash. People need to disengage more and stop consuming from these bad actors. They hurt society and there is no benefit to feeding those machines.

I think that narrative is somewhat true but it just takes a spark for a protest to turn nasty. Not every person committing some property violation was someone that went out with the intention of doing anything bad. Some just get caught up in the moment. That's why I get a little wary of all these, "well all these rioters are from other places." Historically that has been used for pretty specific reasons and mostly not good. The CNN situation was largely people letting their outrage get the best of them. Some of these "riots" have been that as well. The bulk are just fuging knuckleheads looking to take advantage of the situation. Anyway, let's not get off into the weeds too much on that. The point being that the general American public is progressively losing faith in the journalistic institutions which is a frightening prospect. When they lose the public opinion, it makes totalitarian measures seem much more reasonable. Dipshit does actually understand this. He sees that the media isn't doing their job and he is driving that wedge between the free press and the public. It also allows him to make these dramatic abuses of the free press more normalized. And that is scary. The Obama administration also attacked the press(much more subtly) during the Snowden/WikiLeaks era. In my opinion, that is one of the biggest threats we are facing. As the public loses faith in it's institutions(and rightly so), it makes the slope towards totalitarianism very steep and well lubricated.

It was telling when the BLM protesters were breaking windows at CNN in ATL. They think they can spread all this fear, unrest, despair and division 24/7 for YEARS and not eventually make everyone mad at them. The polls are telling, people are losing trust in the media and it started before Dipshit.

And then came the "selective news." People now seek out sources that aren't impartial and certainly not "fair and balanced" but are echo chambers for their own preexisting beliefs or biases. And to a person they refuse to admit it.

Sadly, these comedy/news shows have done a better job of covering real issues than our real TV news agencies. It shows how far journalism has fallen. I almost never agree with anything our moron of a president says but he isn't entirely inaccurate when he calls the media "the enemy of the people." I don't think he means it the way I do because he fellates any of the outlets that lick his boots. I do also believe that we as Americans are mostly to blame for that. When CNN shifted to 24/7 sensationalism, we watched. When Fpx News shifted to pure propaganda and spread obvious lies, we watched. So the feedback was clear, this was what we wanted. That part is our fault.

https://www.startalkradio.net/show/coronavirus-and-conspiracy-theories-with-michael-shermer/

They refuse to admit that such a large part of who they are has become that online format. It is a little more understandable(albeit still unhealthy) in the Coronaverse but it isn't underatandable otherwise. You can't text people? You can't call? You can't meet them? It's also a refusal to admit that they really are addicted to it.

And the FCC also rolled back rules making it more difficult to establish media monopolies in 2017. It also has attacked Net Neutrality in the past few years. The attacks on the American viewer are just increasing and they pale in comparison to what the social media companies do. We know the truth, however. Those are not battles that will be won by the populace.

It's really sick. I am not for government intervention into media, because it is rarely for good purposes but at some point there needs to be some amount of level headed oversight to police this garbage. And these local media super monopolies need to be abolished, as well. But, none of that is going to happen and the damage is largely done. At this point, may as well just sit back and watch this place steadily come to pieces with a nice drink in hand. fug it.

It is unbelievable the real behavioral changes that poo causes in people. I had a roommate on a contract job once that was an older guy from southern Georgia, fairly reasonable but conservative. Generally a pretty decent dude. But he would come home from work and while I would be prepping food, he'd turn on Fox News and would literally be screaming at the top of his lungs at the poo they were stirring up. It was NUTS. And you see the results of this kind of poo all the time. I have a friend's wife that I berated once because she just started spewing unfiltered MSNBC talking points that were VERIFIABLY untrue. People cannot pull their heads out of their asses and realize that this is what they want. They want divisiveness, fear and anger. Because for some reason people will watch more and then they get more ratings which gets them more money. And social media is even fuging worse. I tell people all the time. Turn that poo off. Just don't pay attention. It is amazing how much better you feel when you leave social media and TV behind.

The platforms evolved to actually fug with your brain chemistry. It is fuging disturbing. I only keep Facebook around for beer/bourbon related groups. If that vanished tomorrow, so would my FB account.

There would be less than 1% of the human population left.

Twitter is just the continuation of having complete freedom to communicate to the world, while reducing human interaction to it's most disturbing elements. Social media is a net negative. I have literally said that for years. All the way back to the MySpace days. It was cool and fun at one time but it was also really easy to see how it would end up and it fulfilled my expectations and then some.

Perhaps that is the case, perhaps not. Too many unknowns. We'll have a much better idea in 2-10 years. The mask is an inconvenience. People just need to get over it.

Part of that is they are trying to account for lack of full information. Some of it is just they way that study/group/person decided to estimate. That is why I don't really get upset at some of the ranges of estimates based on the best available data. It is what it is.