The Coronavirus (Chicom Lurgy Variant) - A voice of sanity.

[scritchwuff]

I like Doctor Mike's video on this subject.  Much more level-headed than the scare-mongering click-bait crap coming out of pretty much all of the media right now.

https://youtu.be/5CRxyHU9Oxo

Click to view

Comments

[whitetail]

I dunno, I got real mixed messages from that. First of all, you don't get people to calm down by speaking in a histrionic tone of voice. The guy was borderline freaking out the whole time. And why on earth did he give a detailed review of that horrible National Geographic article? OK, ostensibly to point out how horrible it was, but he just repeated it for everybody to hear all the grisly details. That somehow helped?

Here's the thing. The virus is likely here to stay now. Which means eventually, we're all going to get it. And it doesn't sound like anything to really worry about. Most actual cases I've heard reported on say it is a relative mild disease, like a cold or flu, and in some people, it's completely asymptomatic, which means it's not even pathogenic in all cases. And the overall mortality rate is <1%, which is less than the flu. Moreover, I haven't heard of any fatalities where the person who died was <60 years old and already weakened by some other health condition. Which means the vast, vast majority of people don't have

[scritchwuff]

If you look at his videos leading up to this, he's been trying to get people to calm down and stop with the panic. I can see his frustration on the subject. I think he was even trying to point out that even a source as respected and "reputable" as NatGeo is joining in with the clickbait scaremongering. To me it's just another sign that pretty much all online (and traditional) media has been becoming pure sensationalist tabloid crap for some time. Because that's what sells

[whitetail]

None of this warrants rushing out and buying up every roll of toilet paper at Costco. I don't even know where that came from.

It's simply the herd mentality. There doesn't have to be any sense to it. We hear about or see others doing it, so we do it, too, reflexively, instinctively, without even thinking about it. As if I didn't need another example of humans not really being intelligent life

[sabotlours]

You're a deer! I hope you know something about herd mentality! ;oP

I frankly don't see any right answer to this. If someone like the president says "remain calm" then he's underplaying the situation. If he say's "stay in your home and lock your doors for 3 weeks!" then he's fear mongering. So of course he just goes on Twitter and posts random stupid shit. Status quo.

I think the best answer is to just go about your life, take normal precautions like you would with any disease, and, most importantly, either turn off the news completely or read/watch everything with an extremely biased eye looking for histrionics, fake news, or bias towards fear.

Fortunately I have someone like Scritch who I can get together with and drink bourbon and laugh at all of this shit.