| JWeinCom said: So... we don't need Covid restrictions... yet we're also going to criticize states for easing Covid restrictions. O_o... Alright then. If new data was coming out, then one would expect mandates to be dropped at similar times. But damned if you do, damned if you don't. |
First of all, let me just say that I find it altogether appropriate that it's you, one of this forum's most ban-happy contributors, who has emerged as the thread's principal champion of indefinite Covid restrictions. There's a fitting consistency of logic to the fact that one of the most controlling people on this entire message board is also the most passionate and popular enthusiast for restricting other people's lives in other ways as well. I guess it just takes a more authoritarian mindset than I possess.
That said, a lot's been added to this thread since my visit yesterday, but since you seem to have emerged as the principal champion of indefinite Covid restrictions, and seeing as this was your most popular reply, and seeing as it was directed at me, I think I'll just reply to this first post you made here. I'll divide it up into chunks for ease of reading.
So to respond to the part quoted above...what the hell are you even talking about? I've done nothing but voice relief that 11 U.S. states have announced plans to ease their masking requirements since Monday. How do you get duplicitousness out of that? You're just fabricating a contradictory position that I'm not taking.
(How did this idiotic post get 9 up-votes? Just for being hostile?)
| JWeinCom said:
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...You know, one could conclude that your response here didn't exactly epitomize calm, sobriety, or rationality itself. I mean why do I feel like you might slit the throat of the next maskless person you see in the name of saving lives?
I think I'll skip the absurd detours involving 9/11 and the Jaws shark (to both of which I think we could also say there was a national overreaction) and just point out and focus on the part where you explain how I don't have the right to disagree with you or to be upset because January 6th happened and so forth.
Look, when the science around masking was unclear, I was okay with lockdowns. Not happy, but okay, because I didn't know what else could be done to mitigate the virus' spread. As the science around masking became clear, I favored that as an alternative. Once vaccines became available, I favored those as an alternative to compulsory masking. That has been the evolution of my thought pattern on Covid measures over time. You make it sound as though I'm a mask-burning anti-vaxxer who believes in Dr. Joe Rogan medical science and doesn't care how many people die. You can treat me like I'm an intelligent human being with a soul for a change. Thanks.
There has been a very real and serious human cost stemming not only from this goddamn virus, but also from the mitigation measures imposed to control it. I think getting a visual of that cost might help put matters more in perspective for you. Nevada lifted their indoor masking requirements the other day. Here's a glimpse of what the response looked like inside one school room in Las Vegas:
Look at all those divided opinions! Those are human beings too. I don't see how one can look at that and feel like the wrong decision was made here.
97% of American teachers report that their students have experienced learning loss. From May 2020 to April 2021, the U.S. recorded over 100,000 drug overdose deaths, a 28.5% increase from the 78,000 deaths that were recorded in the previous 12-month period, according to CDC data, which I believe is also an all-time record. Domestic violence jumped 8.1% during the lockdown period in 2020, which saw many women in particular effectively trapped at home with abusive partners. Also, we shut the economy down, displacing at least 15% of our workforce and exacerbating supply chain disruptions in the process, in turn partly yielding the current 40-year high price inflation rate! (Another part of that is corporate price gouging, but that is another issue for another time.) The most worrisome human cost though has been the emergence of a major mental health crisis resulting from both the pandemic itself but considerably exacerbated by related restrictions on life. (Also, I can't recommend that last article enough. The New York Times really is the best...when they want to be.) That, the mental health crisis, is the big one in my opinion, as its victims are far more numerous than those of the coronavirus itself and include me. People cannot live on high alert for years and remain unscathed. I think it would just be nice to see topics other than Covid in the news more often, frankly. That would help people's mental well-being. And no, it's not "just" a mask. It's a symbol, and a constant reminder, of a traumatizing era that I very much need to be in the past, speaking of which. If to add just one more statistic to all this that helps to concentrate the magnitude of the current mental health crisis facing this country, nay the world, suicide attempts by American teenage girls have risen 50% since the pandemic began.
Anyway, you act like that's all nothing; as though these measures stopped nearly a million people from dying or something. That even mitigation as brutal and costly as this has proven insufficient to yield a better outcome is a testament to exactly how important it really is for triple-vaxxed people like yours truly to go on masking at work every day: not very. And frankly, my company's masking policy isn't about public health anyway, it's about public relations. Albersons policy is to follow CDC guidelines. Masking is required for employees because the CDC recommends it. The CDC is currently controlled by the Biden Administration. You can see my political relationship to these calls hence. Anyway, you can tell it's not about public health because if it were then our customers, who are far less likely to be vaccinated than we are (nearly all of us who work in the store are vaxxed), would have to mask as well, or even perhaps instead. That's what gets to me about it; that it's clearly not about public health. I mean our store managers are maskless half the day, like every time they're out of plain view of customers practically. When that winter storm hit last last week and only a few people came in, none of us wore masks, including the management. We are past that stage of this psychologically. It's just done for show so that people like you won't go off like this on us and physically assault somebody.
P.S. If you are indeed using "cloth" masks, you might as well not bother because they provide almost no protection anyway.
P.P.S. Actually, you'd be surprised by how Republican politics have evolved in recent years when it comes to gay rights. Gay rights used to be one of my biggest, most strongly felt reasons for opposing the GOP, but according to Gallup's most recent survey on the subject, which was released last summer, 55% of Republicans today support same-sex marriage. I can feel the cultural shift even in my very conservative area too, as I finally felt safe enough to come out last year in an offline capacity. These days I would say my biggest political differences with the right when it comes to cultural issues are abortion (which doesn't directly affect me as a lesbian) and gun policy (while I'm a gun-owning non-fanatic about this issue, I think the current context of rising violent crime shows that stricter gun laws are needed now more than ever). Well that and criminal justice reform, which I do actually support despite how I may come off sometimes; just not in all the ways it's currently being pursued.
| JWeinCom said: Edit: Since the subject of bail came up, I invite anyone who thinks bail reform is a bad thing to go to https://finesandfeesjusticecenter.org/. It's obviously a biased source, but it contains litigation. Look at the court cases, and the scenarious where bail has been used basically as extortion for minor offenses like driving without registration. It's fucking gross beyond belief. If the bail system was functioning as intended, there would be no need for reform. Unfortunately, it has been used in many localities to extort money from those least able to pay, without informing them of their rights, or providing them with any legal counsel. Bail reform is not because people are being big ol' softees who want to let violent criminals rape your children, it's because the people in charge have turned it into a for-profit enterprise, and that municipalities are being sued and losing a fuck ton of money. |
It would be entirely too easy to respond to this. I would just challenge you to find a place where broad-based bail reduction policies or policies eliminating bail have met with something other than a spike in crime rates, including violent crime, because it seems like I really could just name any major city in this country to make my case on that, as well as vis-a-vis so many newly-elected progressive district attorneys' penchant for systematically refusing to enforce many, many laws and more.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 14 February 2022
