https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/30/we-cant-get-back-to-normal-if-people-think-spreading-covid-equals-murder/
“…we must also return responsibility to individuals for their own wellbeing, understanding that sometimes tragedy strikes, and death and heartache are part of life. There is no “normal” until we do.”

It struck me that this conclusion is the crux of the battle between the Left and the Right, not only over Covid restrictions but everything else the author used as an example: it states the core of the conservative & religious position, which is diametrically opposite to the progressive & atheist/secularist position, which is that nothing they do has any consequences, especially negative ones; that tragedy should be non-existent in the world; and that their “heartaches” are always someone else’s fault. The death part is your fault too.

None of those progressive propositions are “normal” — that is, applicable to the situations of most people at most times in the history of the world. They are not the norm; they are not even in the far tail of the life-situations distribution.
They don’t even exist in some alternative-universe, because they are intrinsically impossible.

“Can anyone doubt that, with the ideology of “progressivism” becoming increasingly intolerant, ever-larger numbers of people will be denied jobs, promotions, college admissions, based on opinions that they have expressed in a Facebook post or a blog post at some point in their lives?”

https://thefederalist.com/2020/12/29/the-new-york-times-using-its-reporting-resources-to-weaponize-teen-drama-is-a-scary-trend/
“At 15, Mimi Groves said the n-word word in an attempt to be ‘cool,’ and the video sat for years. It wasn’t until it was weaponized against her that anyone cared at all.”

I was relieved to see Artfldgr surface after a hiatus; perhaps parker will also.

Things are so crazy now, maybe it’s a good idea to take a break from time to time.
This is my “New Year’s Eve” card – may the coming year see us breaking out of the Venn Diagram of Dystopias!

https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2020/12/image051.jpg?w=557&ssl=1

Artfldgr has been commenting much less frequently, but he has still been commenting.

I think most of this is known, but some medical professionals, politicians and journalists don’t like what is known, so it is obfuscated or muddled. The data indicate there is almost no risk of mortality or morbidity to the young (under 40) and healthy. Yet young and healthy are locked down and masked along with at risk groups.

What data supports that?

There’s a lot of unknown quantities in there: x, q, y, j, z, d, h, f, p, i, u.

In principle, given enough research-hours, possibly knowable. But once this situation is finally resolved, if it ever is, will those research-hours then be devoted (diverted?) to the next crisis? If so, will what’s “knowable” in principle end up being left to guesstimates from “experts”? — which is exactly where we are right now.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with this thread and responding. And no offense taken at all! (Medical / biological subject matter is one of my weak points.)