Posted on 03/15/2020 6:22:49 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- Can science lead to dumb panic? It's a question I've been asking as the stock market cannibalized itself in response to the coronavirus outbreak, academia shuttered classrooms and other interests did their utmost to convince their customers that they could get along just fine without them.
There is no question the coronavirus is a health threat to millions of Americans, especially the elderly and people with chronic illnesses. We have to protect them.
What's disconcerting, though, is how many enterprises with no reported cases in towns with no community spreading were so fearful that they shut everything down.
Even when nothing really happens, it's a huge story -- which is why many Americans hate the news media.
In February, the American Conservative Union held its Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. After the event, Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union that sponsors CPAC, learned that he had direct contact with an individual who at the time did not know he was infected.
Because Schlapp shook hands with President Donald Trump on Leap Day, there is a lot of speculation about the risk to the president. Ditto Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who also spoke at CPAC.
It didn't help that two GOP congressmen who attended CPAC events with the COVID-19 carrier then traveled with Trump over the weekend.
After learning about the case on March 7, Schlapp decided to work at home for the time left in the recommended 14-day isolation period. According to ACU, he's feeling fine.
As for CPAC, "We are getting hammered," ACU communications director Ian Walters told me. One individual had the virus and didn't know it. They know of no confirmation that any other attendee contracted the virus at CPAC.
They probably got more grief than a university that closed its doors even though it had experienced no known cases or community spreading.
Of course, reporters wanted to know if Trump had been tested after his (truly) secondhand exposure. The answer, Pence told us, is no. Neither had Pence.
It was a good question to ask, but it seems a tad ironic coming from reporters standing in the packed briefing room feet away from the noses of Trump and Pence.
I covered Trump's Feb. 29 speech at CPAC. A week later, when I learned of the COVID-19 guy, I saw no reason to self-quarantine because we didn't meet and I showed no symptoms. After I developed a fever Wednesday, I found out I have a viral infection.
I doubt it's the coronavirus, but I am staying home. (Despite Trump's claim that anyone who wanted a test could get one, I did not qualify for a test under CDC rules.)
My husband, who already was stuck at home with me, got an email Thursday -- that's how one gets this news inside the beltway -- informing him that he, too, had attended a meeting with an infected person.
The health care folks with whom I've talked are calm. They said I did the right thing. It's good not to panic.
On TV, I've seen people say that we have to listen to the science, but then they speculate about how bad a worst-case scenario can get. They encourage people to shut down, as if following the CDC guidelines aren't enough, even for healthy people.
A lot of people are going to lose their wages, their livelihoods and their homes because business leaders have overreacted. Be clear on this: Being poor can be hazardous to your health.
The media led to the dumb panic.
Because?
1. They define dumb.
2. Science is NOT their friend.
Why the heck do you think they majored in journalism?
Yep - the Science of Using Fear as a means of controlling a People....they are fine-tuning it.
No. Ignorance of science and rejection of science can result in panic
Basic laziness and refusal to learn are the panic inducers.
lack of science and lack of information and objective knowledge leads to dumb panic
The spread of CV in Iran because of the failure to quaranteen ground 0 the holy city of Qom.
The necessity for quarantine, social distancing, etc. is real as are the economic consequences. The alternative is the total breakdown in Italy and Iran and those are still in early stages. I pray for Italy. I really do.
That is an excellent question,
“Yep - the Science of Using Fear as a means of controlling a People....they are fine-tuning it.”
Absolutely. Interesting coincidence that this circus is happening just as the Demoncrats are realizing they have no chance to win this Presidential election. Also, just heard a “prediction” that this “could last until September”. How convenient.
Even when nothing really happens, it’s a huge story — which is why many Americans hate the news media.
**************
The media hypes and sensationalizes EVERYTHING. They exaggerate, dramatize and breathelessly cover each story beyond the saturation point. Whatever it takes to drive ratings.
When there is little news to report they turn the ordinary and mundane into “top of the hour stories”. Every second of air time must be filled with “compelling” stories.
The newscasters all make huge salaries doing this so the con job is working for them.
Science has nothing to do with dumb panic. The question has no meaning.
Dumb panic is an emotional action.
The media feed the public stories at the maximum level possible. When something is repeated 24/7 and is on every media outlet, and is the lead story, the public gets the message that this is very important. There is very little the public can do. It does what it can, and does a lot of dumb things.
Hoarding toilet paper is not panic.
Give it two weeks. Two weeks of not working, of no paycheck, of not going out to eat, of no school, of no child day care, of closed public offices, of the elderly rotting away without any human contact other than their caregivers, and of enforced confinement to home, and there will be emotional reactions to all this $hit. There will be fights over the last can of Lysol. Tempers will flare. But that’s not panic.
Not dumb science as much as dumb, ideologue scientists
The curse of our age is computer modeling. It requires dumb faith in the numbers used to produce the resulting projections, and in our politically polluted age, the numbers cannot be trusted.
However, science prophets confidently tell us what the temperature will be a hundred years from now, based on computer models. Others predict that tens of thousands of people will die of the coronavirus based on their computer models, when common sense tells us this will not happen because too many people are surviving.
So our economy can be destroyed by bogus scientific models, but the originators remain anonymous, ironically supported by billions of dollars of taxpayer funding to scientific agencies.
Can Science Lead to Dumb Panic?
Can panic lead to Dumb Science?
Bears repeating, over and over and over again.
Maybe near-instantaneous global mis-information leads to panic?
Too late. The media and democrat political twisting of science has created a panic that is far beyond reason.
What the administration is saying about normal precautions, hand washing, avoiding large crowds for the time being is the rightful message. The chicken little stock market turds and the public have taken us to the verge of idiocracy. Orson Wells War of the Worlds broadcast was a fairytale read to kids by comparison.
Even “quarantine” has its limits unless one maintains full control over every case...people are idiots and you can’t fix stupid - but you can get fascist and draconian with normal people trying to contain the idiots.
I’m now spending all my time researching Project 201. Why is Bill Gates so involved? Why was this Project happening just five months before the Coronavirus outbreak? How could this epidemic lead to a One World Order? Please everyone help me put this all together.
Evidently.
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