Thanks for this. Interesting piece (all of them have been), but I don't at all agree with your quite strong criticism of conservatives in their reaction to the virus.
"Ignoring the pandemic isn’t like smoking or not wearing your seatbelt. It’s more like driving drunk." The people who are at risk are the very old, the very sick, and the very fat; most others are not seriously at risk. The virus mostly spreads within fairly narrow circumstances: close contact indoors for multiple consecutive minutes.
It's hardly selfish to think that the self-imposed depression (which has hurt the poor the most) was not consonant with the science. The vulnerable minority should have taken extra precautions and stayed home, and the rest of us could have (with precautions) continued our lives and kept the economy going and prevented so much economic carnage.
Good piece, and I echo a lot of your thoughts. I too really appreciated Rod's approach to this pandemic and my wife and I approached it in a similar manner. We're very thankful now that we're vaccinated that life is close to getting back to normal.
"the notion that attending church is an entitlement"
I do take issue with this though - it is. Letting folks practice their religion is fundamental to our country. A week or three of no services (not state imposed) because we're still learning about the virus is fine, but to expect them to not have services for months, with no end in sight, is not ok. They are not "entitled" for simply wanting to worship together. Even more so if one is Orthodox, Catholic, or Anglican and believes they are partaking in the Eucharist - it cannot be transmitted via Zoom.
Thanks for this. Interesting piece (all of them have been), but I don't at all agree with your quite strong criticism of conservatives in their reaction to the virus.
"Ignoring the pandemic isn’t like smoking or not wearing your seatbelt. It’s more like driving drunk." The people who are at risk are the very old, the very sick, and the very fat; most others are not seriously at risk. The virus mostly spreads within fairly narrow circumstances: close contact indoors for multiple consecutive minutes.
It's hardly selfish to think that the self-imposed depression (which has hurt the poor the most) was not consonant with the science. The vulnerable minority should have taken extra precautions and stayed home, and the rest of us could have (with precautions) continued our lives and kept the economy going and prevented so much economic carnage.
Good piece, and I echo a lot of your thoughts. I too really appreciated Rod's approach to this pandemic and my wife and I approached it in a similar manner. We're very thankful now that we're vaccinated that life is close to getting back to normal.
"the notion that attending church is an entitlement"
I do take issue with this though - it is. Letting folks practice their religion is fundamental to our country. A week or three of no services (not state imposed) because we're still learning about the virus is fine, but to expect them to not have services for months, with no end in sight, is not ok. They are not "entitled" for simply wanting to worship together. Even more so if one is Orthodox, Catholic, or Anglican and believes they are partaking in the Eucharist - it cannot be transmitted via Zoom.
Rid thought the pandemic was going to lead to societal collapse. He thought the same thing at y2k. He thought the same thing at peak oil.