lcamtuf :verified: :verified: :verified: on Nostr: I generally try to stay away from COVID debates, but there's one thing that irks me: ...
I generally try to stay away from COVID debates, but there's one thing that irks me: the popular assertion that our response to COVID proves that we wouldn't be able to handle a more deadly disease.
The problem with COVID was precisely that from the perspective of most people, it was akin to a flu. I don't need to be schooled about the differences; I'm talking about perception. Flu is deadly, but also familiar and mundane - and we go about our lives without re-litigating the trade-offs.
This is why I think that any attempts to reshape the society in response to the disease were more or less doomed to fail, even if you took weird politics and conspiracy theories out of the equation. Again, I'm not asserting this was right or wrong - just that it didn't surprise me at all.
It doesn't follow that we'd respond the same way to a more frightening and unfamiliar disease. In fact, there are examples - such as the response to HIV - that suggest we can get our stuff together when the risk appears more dire.
The problem with COVID was precisely that from the perspective of most people, it was akin to a flu. I don't need to be schooled about the differences; I'm talking about perception. Flu is deadly, but also familiar and mundane - and we go about our lives without re-litigating the trade-offs.
This is why I think that any attempts to reshape the society in response to the disease were more or less doomed to fail, even if you took weird politics and conspiracy theories out of the equation. Again, I'm not asserting this was right or wrong - just that it didn't surprise me at all.
It doesn't follow that we'd respond the same way to a more frightening and unfamiliar disease. In fact, there are examples - such as the response to HIV - that suggest we can get our stuff together when the risk appears more dire.