Posted on 03/22/2020 4:25:33 PM PDT by wlindhorst
My first post here and vanity, I hope it's in the right place. Be gentile. I can't contain my frustration any longer.
Rant on: The late, great George Carlin had a part in his skit where he said: "think about how dumb the average person is, half of those are dumber than that!" The quote is close enough for my illustration.
Anyone remember the great American lock down of the 2009 Pig Flu pandemic? No? Me either. There wasn't one. Obama eventually called a state of emergency after he got off the golf course. There was not wide breathless-media panting about how we're all going to die. I looked. The best I could find were the typical "estimates" that 100 million people could be infected and 4 million could die. Where did they get those numbers? Out of their ass, just like now. In reality, from April 2009 to April 2010, a very low number of 12,469 deaths. (per the CDC). H1N1 Pig flu is now just a regular flu just like all the other flues (flus?) floating around. SCARY!
We are currently in a crisis brought on our own collective doing. A media obsessed public willing to believe everything we are told. We sit in front of TV and listen to our media masters to tell us what to think for the day. Well at least most people do. So scary things will be scary to you if you're told to be scared! Quelle horreur!
So lets adapt this to the current public panic. A new unknown virus coming from China is running unabated around the planet due to our very well connected and prosperous nations. It spreads rather quickly to Europe and inevitably to the States. UNKNOWNS! DEADLY! COULD KILL MILLIONS! Read any of the sensational headlines and, if you are a pessimistic guy who watches the media with a critical eye, you might ask yourself: Really? Are you sure?
Those who may not be so critical of the media will indeed quickly panic. Who better to fix this than GOVERNMENT! So everyone who is in a mild state of panic because of the media's headlines start calling their local/state/federal officials and ask: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! Rational government might start looking at facts. A dysfunctional government who wants to be elected this coming November starts coming up with "solutions." Solutions induce more panic, the media finds more cases of infections, ie: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!", and thus the populace who are now turned in to the media 24/7 (yay ratings!) are even more worked up over WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!.
Ok, so let me write about Italy. Again, I'm a logical thinker and a huge skeptic of government. ANY government. How well is that socialized health care going? How many new patients could they take in where they are likely at capacity to begin with? Yay socialized health care! But you say "LOOK HOW MANY DIED! OMG!" Yay, socialized health care. On this note also, if health care is "free" why not go to the hospital when you feel like it? Claim you're victim to the latest PANDEMIC and surely you'll get a room with another sufferer of the PANDEMIC. Hospital beds go pretty quick in this model. Lets put that on TV! mOaR FeAr!
So. Lets talk about facts as well as the media can bring themselves to report.
a) Yes, people have died
b) 99% of those who did die had pre-existing conditions, infirmed, or well-aged. Zero children under 9.
c) It does appear to be more contagious than other forms of flu
US as of my last googling it has claimed ~155 lives. Again, all who died had pre-existing conditions, at least those which the media reported on as having pre-existing conditions.
Our population is 305 million or so now? Someone better at maths can figure out the percentage.
Yes, shutting down our economy and subjecting the populace to spending more time watching more rotting media TV is a hysterical reaction. It is madness. And it won't work unless we become prisoners in our own homes. For how long? I'll come back to that.
But you may say: You heartless prick! Your child could go to school and then go home and hug grandma. Shut down all the schools and shut down all the restaurants and shut down everything where people may congregate!
To that I say, ok, take the inverse. If grandma is so afraid of getting a hug from little johnny because she may end up with pneumonia and die, grandma might want to stay away for a little while. Or if you're an asthmatic or if you have emphysema. Any of the other ALREADY potentially life threating ailments you might have, then quarantine yourself. Let the rest of us live our lives as we have been doing, and if you very small percentage of the population who may/potentially be at risk, then stay home. DONE.
Then you would say: YOU HEARTLESS PRICK, FLATTEN THE CURVE. Ok, I understand what you mean by this: don’t inundate emergency services. Have we had this yet in the US? Were all the critical cases in Italy so critical that they had to remain in the hospital? Can the vast majority of Americans return home and recover there? Will everyone who ends up infected go to a hospital need a respirator and overwhelm the system? Somehow I doubt it.
Back to shutting down the economy, which is essentially what the world is doing. They've gone mad.
Media loves big government, right? We can all agree on that. Solutions to this is more government. More hand-outs. People can't work because (government made) business shut down. Government hands out checks; yay government! Free money! Last look I was seeing $1 Trillion US dollars is about to be printed. This is insanity! Estimates of 10% of the GDP will be created out of thin air and given away. Well, maybe in some form of loans but either way it will be created and in the market. Anyone who took high school economics or is even paying attention will surely know that inflation with skyrocket. Not at first, perhaps, but if they ever let us out of our homes we're going to want to buy stuff again. It will be a **** load more expensive I'll tell you that. Lets hope oil doesn't spike, which would make recovery much worse.
What is the endgame? When will the madness stop? At the November election? Will people stay at home until November and keep following daily government reports on how they will take care of us? After Trump gets elected what will the media jump to next? Attempt to tank the economy for the next 4 years? I don't know how even the liberal elite would put up for it. They have multiple houses to maintain!
I don't know where this is going and I maybe the panic is justified. I just don't see it. Someone tell me, rationally, if my assumptions are wrong. If you're going to tell me I'm a racist/xenophobe/homophobe or whatever then stuff it. A lot of people are going to lose a lot of what they worked for all over a media induced panic.
If you read all this, congrats.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.
This is the story of the little boy who rang a bell in the city center. When asked why, he said to keep away the elephants. When told there are no elephants, he said, “See? It works!”
This is the communist using this “crisis” to implement communism, to keep the elephant virus away by ringing the communist bell of handing everything over to the government.
Phase 1 was gaslighting the sheeple into thinking they will die without government intervention.
Phase 2 is control the people and shutdown of their businesses.
Phase 3 is government providing payment for business rents and payroll.
Phase 4 is the government simply stating that since the government already pays for everything that the government now owns the businesses.
Communism complete: Total control of the sheeple and a complete takeover of commerce.
The liberal States of Washington, Pennsylvania, California, Colorado, and New Jersey have implemented martial law, selecting which businesses must close and that the people must stay indoors. This isn’t a quarantine; this is martial law. Just because the communists are using the virus as an excuse doesn’t mean it is not martial law. When the government can tell you to stay home, implement curfews, and shut down businesses, it is martial law. Trump is in on this communist takeover. He is encouraging States to go into martial law and shut down businesses and lock everyone into their homes.
To get the people’s cooperation, the government is buying their cooperation. Each adult gets $1,000; $2,000 per couple but only if they make under $150k. Great, huh? Get taxed to give other people free money. Colorado is giving people a pass on parking tickets as though people can no longer seem to properly park.
Just as we were moving manufacturing back to America, the communists are closing those businesses making us rely on foreign imports again. Since Trump has surrounded himself with the communist healthcare workers, he is pushing the narrative and supporting “free” money which means both conservatives and liberals, alike, support him and this effort to take over the country by the communists.
We are past the tipping point. Americans are fully endorsing any and all measures. They actually want more closures. The drama queens are begging to have all their liberties taken away in the name of safety. They are begging for their businesses to close, thinking somehow Uncle Sugar will hand them money to live on instead of having to work.
For those of us not so stupid as to fall for this communism propaganda, we have the right to take on jobs and visit businesses of our own free will. This is the liberals taking away our right to choose.
The WHO estimates between 250,000 and 500,000 die worldwide from the flu. China had 81,000 infected of a population of 1.4 billion and have now lifted their quarantines and claim to have no new cases. South Korea with 8,600 cases likewise has seen a tremendous drop in new cases.
This virus so far is the typical flu level symptoms and treatment. Nothing to be taken lightly, but nothing to go and shut down the country for either.
Hillary only needs to wait until the July democrap convention to show up and say, “See? I told you Trump would screw things up! I’m here to save you from that idiot!” She has been preparing to enter the race (notice new face lift, makeup, hair, clothing), and she can win when 30+% of the country is unemployed, a million small businesses have been closed by government dictators, the people are living under martial law and cannot travel, and basic necessities are no longer found and people are wiping their butts with anything they can find.
Anyone feel stupid yet?
Thank you for restoring my faith.
;)
Prior to going to WV, I was up io my dad’s family turf, Big Cove Tannery, PA.
Seriously rural mountains.
The guy who worked on my car said his wife saw county sheriffs running off people who were trying to go to church.
This will not last much longer there.
*in
The Baptist church down the road from me almost the regular attendance level today.
After a few of these tyrants are killed off I think their weak hands will have played out and they’ll quit. But it is going to take that.
Notice that -- by far -- the most stringent measures have been enacted by rat governors. They are TRYING to crash the economy.
“the most stringent measures have been enacted by rat governors. They are TRYING to crash the economy.”
Yes! Thank you for noticing! Primarily the Rat politicians are overreacting and pushing for communism by calling for the “control of production”, the very definition of communism.
Gentle..jeez auto typo fixer guy...
Had to get it out. The Great State of Texas is closing our business down for a month. Not happy.
11 years doesn't seem to be so much of a newbie either - starting to sound like one of them liberal colleges where all forms of thought are oh-so-not-welcome around here...because of some of the same folks who would slam them for not tolerating another's input....
I've gotten dinged for my own 2 cents worth over the last month:
“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.” ― William Pitt the Younger
Kind of ironic - we know that the Deep State and others use fear as a way to steer and control the people - we had the commie/nuke war threat until the Berlin Wall came down then it wasn’t viable anymore and up pops Globull Warming, which has many in fear that we’re gonna destroy the Earth even as we do less harm than past generations and none of the data actually supports anything but the earth’s climate and Mother Nature do not now, and never did have a “balance” and even if they did, we have no idea of how to maintain one or ‘fix’ things...all our efforts end up causing more harm....the coronavirus scare is no different - the panic-induced knee-jerking will cause more harm than the virus.
Folks who would be up in arms if the government decided to tell them they could not move freely are now begging that same government to lock them, and everyone else, down....I’d wager if, after doing that, the story ‘evolved” they would also go meekly to barb-wire surrounded camps/tent cities because the “latest info” said that’s the only way to stop it. Even though we know that they use fear to guide and control us, so many can’t see it through the red haze of insane panic....they not only welcome the government controls, they beg for them...
And the fear mongers will try to leverage it...
Reminds me of a saying that many FReepers, who are now acting insane, used to showcase:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Ben Franklin
What are you going on about? I was just having a little fun over a misspelling. A tried and true FR tradition.
Uhhhhh. Yes. That was the whole point. It is what people who were born with a sense of humor call a joke.
Oh. One other thing. By virtue of the fact that he felt the need to aks for gentileness, indicates he or she was aware that there are asshats out there ready to pounce at the slightest opportunity. So, lighten up, eh, Snowflake?
Don't know about you, but many here will go nuts over a headline w/o reading any of the story.
OK - at any rate, I guess it ain’t a hugh and series thing...
I'm the king of that.
But it's funny how often the content of the story doesn't bear any resemblance to the headline. Sometimes they're a hook to get you to read the story. I spit the hook out.
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