[mindslight]

It's going to take the people not getting distracted by red herrings. So much outrage has been channeled into destructive memes like denying that Covid is a problem and rebelling against simple measures to stop the spread.

The real problem is the unsustainable structure of the economy. I don't think this woman is being driven to tears because she really wants to be running her restaurant right now, but rather because she's going to lose it completely when she falls off the debt treadmill. Instead of small businesses and individuals getting recurring stimulus and suspended rent/mortgages/taxes, we got peanuts. Meanwhile trillions of dollars were given to Wall St to make sure the magic Line keeps going up. That was a massive theft from the public to the plutocrats. But until the outrage stops getting divided and derailed by distractions, I'm afraid it will only continue.

[thrwaway2day]

> So much outrage has been channeled into destructive memes like denying that Covid is a problem and rebelling against simple measures to stop the spread.

Here's the problem, it has been a do as I say not as I do attitude from the leadership in this country and even people who were supposed to remain non-political made moves that were suspect. For example early on when Fauci was asked if we should limit the BLM protests, he refused to make a recommendation. Now keep in mind during that same hearing he made recommendations about all kinds of other things from restaurants to sporting events. If you agree with him it's easy to overlook that, however take a moment and walk a bit in someone elses shoes, someone who has spent the past decade working to build a business or trying to support a family and was impacted by those measures and if you are honest you'll admit that it would probably piss you off to see that.

Leaders need to understand that people react on a emotional level to things and if you are asking for someone to make great personal sacrifices you need to be above reproach when making those requests.

To illustrate it from the other side there is a new anti-vax movement that popped up among progressives due to the fact that these new covid vaccines are being produced under a Trump presidency. When I read about the concerns they tend to have more to due with Trumps personality than the science. Again if Trump conducted himself in a more socially acceptable way and spent more time considering how his words and choices appeared to others, I suspect this new vaccine would encounter less resistance.

In the scheme of history much of the suffering caused by covid can be placed squarely on a lack of leadership. It has been a long time since the United States has had a threat like this to deal with and we have learned that our leadership is woefully unprepared. If we were smart they wouldn't be our leadership for much longer.

[mindslight]

> take a moment and walk a bit in someone elses shoes, someone who has spent the past decade working to build a business or trying to support a family and was impacted by those measures and if you are honest you'll admit that it would probably piss you off to see that

Obviously that would piss anybody off. Which is why it was pumped in their face 24/7 to keep them angry at the other group of plebs, and distracted from the professional looting. The proper response was to demand a pause to the finance that was actually responsible for threatening their businesses and families. Instead they fell right into the trap of thinking that being unable to pay rent is a character flaw.

> Leaders need to understand that people react on a emotional level to things and if you are asking for someone to make great personal sacrifices you need to be above reproach when making those requests.

Ends meet should have never been a sacrifice anyone was asked to make. This isn't a failure of leadership, but rather outright corruption by the plutocrats. Continually lowering interest rates over the past two decades to keep The Line going up, and then no relief for people squeezed in the debt vice when a hiccup occurred and the calls came due.

> Again if Trump conducted himself in a more socially acceptable way and spent more time considering how his words and choices appeared to others, I suspect this new vaccine would encounter less resistance.

The problem with Trump isn't just a lack of presentation, but that he's an empty conman. Covid is back with urgency and yet he's focused on his latest con of "stop the steal". Given his constant politicking and general rejection of expertise, being skeptical of corruption at the FDA is completely understandable. The problem runs much deeper than a lack of leadership - it's a failure of institutions.

[nickthemagicman]

There's only been around 20,000 Covid deaths this year in the under 55 age group this year. The under 55 age group is 80% of the population. That's less than car accidents. So this is a disease that is very low risk for 80% of the American population.

If the vulnerable 20% of the population can't stay in quarantine, this is not societies problem anymore.. this is that minority 20%'s problem.

And these crushing social restrictions destroying lives, jobs, businesses, enslaving people to debt, and putting people into poverty need to stop.