Yesterday’s piece led to a lot of reactions and comments, mostly from people who’ve observed the same things… and yet, there continue to be people stuck on the “it’s a hoax” or “it’s totally overblown” thing…
Two things that appeared elsewhere in the news yesterday… one guy’s Facebook postings, starting in April… a whole progression of Pro-Trump/anti-mask… it’s hype, it’s a hoax, it’s all BS, I have some symptoms, I’m getting tested, I have it COVID, I feel awful, this sucks, etc. Poor guy died two days after testing positive.
The other one was the person who died after going to a COVID party… his last words, to his nurse, were… “ I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not”. Yup… well, at least he immortalized his last words… though probably not the ones he’d have wanted to go out on… and correct on both counts. He made a mistake, and it’s not a hoax.
There is a big difference between ignorance and stupidity, but self-imposed brainwashed ignorance falls into stupidity. Especially when otherwise intelligent people are drinking this Kool-Aid and falling for this nonsense.
I had thought we were done with exponential curves. The ones you see below have all flattened out… but that’s because I’m not charting things like Florida. They are setting records every day, and not the sort one would be proud of it. I think it’s beyond stupid, to be honest. So easily preventable if one just takes a step back and looks at the big picture. Agh. Frustrating.
On the flip-side, that’s just my opinion and I know not everyone agrees with it. In fact, here’s a word… with a bit of a long-winded definition:
Occhiolism (noun): the awareness of the smallness of your perspective, by which you couldn’t possibly draw any meaningful conclusions at all, about the world or the past or the complexities of culture, because although your life is an epic and unrepeatable anecdote, it still only has a sample size of one, and may end up being the control for a much wilder experiment happening in the next room.
There’s an expression I really dislike, but it seems to be accurate for so much these days… and it’s not an excuse, just an explanation… and not a very good one: It is what it is.
Well done!
https://www.maxnewstoday.com/post/virus-of-stupidity?fbclid=IwAR3wYRy0m_d6bYnZuQgFkXsybeHF8_3PvjkoLc6JgGeIqXUIBgPN2qmWD-Y
Maybe it was always going to be like this but I’d also guess that governments everywhere “allowing” (or not suppressing) the race riots was the turning point. It was a big “F-you” to all of us who had been vigilant (even if we were skeptical of the narrative) and I’m convinced that it has led to today’s relaxed attitude towards precautions. IMO it’s gone so far now that it’s time to “soldier on” and deal with what comes.
Boy did you ever nail it today. So many idiots in the world.
Once again, I really enjoy your perspective. Thank you.
I’m so frustrated. One of our closest friends is in Oregon and has been pretty much staying home since all this began and not seeing anyone. She comes to camp in our yard for two months every late summer and even though she is following all the rules she can’t come. We miss her so much. She is so depressed and sick of the polarization and crisis of truth. Ugh, ugh, ugh.
The phrase ‘the worst ignorance is the ignorance of ignorance ‘ has never been truer.
I was just saying to Dale the other when we were talking about what’s going on in this world right now “it’s just my humble opinion which doesn’t really matter in these cases” I’m glad there’s a word for it ‘occhiolism’ (even though I can’t pronounce it) ????????
Can.. you say, Holy Occhiolism?
I guess I’m staying home a while longer. I don’t want to get sick or spread it to vulnerable family members. I’m so sick of idiots that lack critical thinking skills.
Once again, you nailed it. I cannot tell you how many times I have tried to explain to my friends and relatives in the South that this is not just some hoax invented by “the media” to discredit Trump, but is in fact a WORLDWIDE pandemic, and that I don’t think that the BBC, CBC, of other non-American news source really has any skin in the game of American politics. People around the world are getting sick and dying, and they are not doing it in the name of making DJT look bad.
Just the other day, I responded to a comment on a friends post, where someone claimed that “Texas was actually doing pretty well”. I pointed out that compared to Canada, Texas was currently reporting new infections and deaths at rates close to 40 times what Canada was reporting, and the response was “Oh, I haven’t looked at the numbers”.
The same people who will tell you this is all a hoax, will blame the current rising numbers in parts of the US on the BLM protests of last month. But they will IGNORE the fact that similar protests happened in other parts of the US (and the world) WITHOUT the subsequent increase in cases that we are seeing in some places.
They are not aware enough to look outside their own immediate surroundings to gain some perspective.
Personally, I think a lot of the reason for that can be tied to their general lack of awareness of the rest of the world (look at the history of the % of US citizens who have passports compared to the rest of the world).