General Politics Discussion VIII [ARCHIVED] • Page 888

Am i going crazy or are people equating lockdown with going to work and not with leisure activities/social gatherings/etc? I mean I know some people list working from home as one of the things they've been doing but I'm finding it really weird that because they're saying that, they're somehow dinging people who can't work from home. And maybe it's just me personally,but I don't consider myself on "lockdown" because I'm currently working from home, I'm on "lockdown" because I'm not going out to bars and restaurants, hanging out with friends or family, avoiding walking to stores to buy things any possible way, etc. Likewise, when I'm presumably forced back into my school building in a couple of weeks, I'll still consider myself "on lockdown", even if my state government/school district is making the shitty decision to force me into work. The whole rest of my life will continue to look the same in terms of self-lockdown despite my work status.

I don't think anyone out there is faulting people for being forced to go into work by their companies and/or the government, nor looking down their nose at those people for being 'non-lockdowners' or whatever. And anyone that is wouldn't be worth the time or energy because they're obviously complete morons. It's relatively clear (at least I think it is) that it's an expression of frustration from people who are doing all the things they've been told are right to do, and the folks choosing purposely not to do those things are fucking it up and making their efforts all for naught.

 

I’ve seen people bemoan that the only person they’ve interacted with in months is their roommate/pet and they can’t believe others aren’t doing the same. I’m over blaming individuals, as infuriating as anti-maskers and people going to bars are, but it’s like with climate change: pointing fingers at people while federal leadership does less than nothing misses the point

 

This lady is fkin nuts. If I didn't know who she was, I could easily assume she's the one on the right because of how batshit she sounds

 

I’ve been back in our office since August and am just counting the days until there’s an outbreak and we’re all WFH again. The numbers in our area are skyrocketing.

That said, I also get very jealous at west coast podcasters who talk about how they’re still wfh.

 

Planning on coming home to STJ/KC area for Christmas but that’s looking less and less likely now. It’s so bad there

 

Yeah but this is a bit different than climate change, in which individual actions literally make virtually no difference in how much the temperature is going to rise.

If you're choosing to go out and be social and gather socially indoors, our outdoors without masks, etc...we know just from basic epidemiology that those choices could kill a few people and infect possibly hundreds (See: Maine wedding). Like, an airborne virus where all you're being asked to do is stay home and stay away from people, your individual actions very much do matter. How many people choose to do the right thing is the difference between an R0 of 1 and a R0 of 2.5. That's hundreds (thousands?) of infections prevented just based on individual action of "Not doing thing that aren't required of me right now to survive and pay the bills, and not dramatically altering my lifestyle". I don't know that there's anything in the climate change calculous that changes THAT much on people taking some simple actions like that. You'd need massive individual buy in on life altering choices (using less heat and AC to cut energy costs, cutting meat out of their diets, etc) to even come close to that type of impact IMO. One person recycling their plastic does nothing. One asymptomatic person staying home instead of going to get that drink with their friend possibly prevents dozens or hundreds of infections.

And, I think it should go without saying that acknowledging all of that is not the same thing as absolving government leaders both at the state and national levels from blame. They're all cowards who caved to pressure about "the economy" and then didn't actually do enough to save the economy and keep people's livelihoods intact. And their half measures with virtually no enforcement are a joke. They're begging 23 year olds to not go to the bars while leaving the bars open and then trusting those bars to adhere to capacity limits. Sometimes people need to be saved from themselves, as much as right wingers hate to hear that about government.
But, still...people could still choose not to go out to bars and restaurants. I'm not really going to absolve them 100% of any blame just because I don't expect much better from young adults who think "it's no big deal"....or really anyone of any age choosing to go to weddings or etc. The government's actions or lack thereof didn't make them do that.

 

I largely agree, but I don’t think shaming (for lack of a better word) is useful in this scenario. If people are expected to go to their job where they have to be around people all day, you just can’t expect them to then be like “okay I won’t go to the bar after” or whatever if the bar is open, or not have a Holiday gathering of like, 10-12 people, because that’s likely way less risk than they’re exposed to at work every day so I think a lot of people are going to justify it that way. And it stems from insufficient leadership at multiple levels of government. We’re asking servers and retail workers to risk their lives but not enjoy their lives.

 

Yep. It’s really awful here. Starting to see more people not wearing masks indoors or wearing them at the entrance and pulling them down.

It sucks and one of the not-so-covered aspects of COVID fatigue is the fatigue of enforcing masks inside stores by low-wage workers who didn’t sign up to for that. Stores here used to have people at the entrance sanitizing carts, counting customers and checking for masks. Now, they’ve all given up.

 

nothing but respect for my president

 

I've been here almost 2 months and I hate this guy so much

 

Everyone is leery of anything coming close to militarization of American streets but...not using the resources of the National Guard and FEMA to do simple things like conduct temperature/mask checks at grocery store entrances, regulate flow into said stores, hand out supplies of things in the parking lots, etc seems like such a stupid miss to me.

Like, this is a natural disaster that isn't being treated like a natural disaster. Does FEMA even have funding after Trump tried to take their funding for his wall or whatever?

 

Ah that's awesome that you guys have a dealer you can trust! Really cool they did the overnight for you. Thanks!

I'm not totally sure what I'm looking for . I haven't bought a new car since sophomore year of college when I could only afford a cheap car from the 90s, so now that I have a more stable job I'm thinking I'll invest in something that'll last a while. I'm not picky, I just want something comfortable and reliable with good gas mileage, but prefer a sedan, and FWD or AWD are a must here in the north east. Probably gonna start by looking at some Hondas, Toyotas or Subarus, but it's definitely stressful!

 

ftfy

Honestly, I hate them but get a crv. Affordable, reliable, plenty of space and features without breaking the bank.

 

Yeah we would have went Honda CRV most likely if I hadn't found a subaru that was within our monthly payment budget. Ultimately the Outback's higher towing capacity put it over the edge since we may want to tow a cheap pop up camper someday.

 

XD I think that's fair for the most part, though it's more being unable to back out of a parking spot when there's maybe a quarter inch of ice on the ground that really drives me nuts

Yeah I've been considering a CRV too. My dad has a newer one and loves it. Says the only thing he doesn't love is that it's very basic. He misses being able to set a specific temperature for his thermostat. I don't love SUVs but it might be worth it just for the winter convenience.

 

If we could have gotten our Fusion Hybrid with AWD that would have been the perfect car for us. The mileage is fantastic I just hate driving it in the snow here. We ended up adding a Ford Escape AWD so thats been so much better for me.

 

I'm thinking of a Subaru Legacy actually if I can find a good deal .. really love AWD but haaaate big cars

 

Crosstrek is an option too.

 

He’s getting it!