Political Discussion Thread

General Discussion Off-Topic
#8287

Well, you guys have done your duty on giving me something to read at least.

Anyways, in response to Mike - I’ve said it before, but stopping epidemics doesn’t just happen. Perhaps more to the point, to paraphrase here - if it seems like we’re overreacting, we’re probably doing roughly the right thing.

Now in regards to a recession, I’m less sure. The problem actually isn’t the Coronavirus recession itself strangely enough. That was almost inevitable, and was likely to be short and sharp due to lack of productivity. Unfortunately, this is hitting around when we were expecting to be going into a recession anyways, which brings up a more worrisome point. Namely that this might trigger the bigger one we were due for. In that case, it may not be so short. We don’t know if that’s happened yet though, and probably won’t for some time. So there’s not a lot of point in borrowing trouble.

Apart from all this, people are more worried about COVID19 than H1N1 because one, it kills more people who get it, and two it infects people more easily.

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#8288

No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.

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#8289

Two things I’ve been thinking about today on this topic are that one, even by the standards of epidemics we’re unlikely to know anytime soon how many cases there were of this (particularly in the US and China). And two, America rejecting the WHO testkits is now looking like it might have a death toll more usually associated with a minor war. Frankly, this is making Katrina look like it was handled well.

In particular in relation to the testkits, we’re now seeing not one, but multiple problems with the US’. With difficulty procuring some of the necessary chemicals for the tests, lack of supply, and inaccuracy.

As far as the first, I can’t even find much information on what’s going on in China anymore. It seems to have slipped peoples mind entirely, and somehow even numbers of people tested are no longer coming out. I did find some coverage from Thailand claiming they’re performing treatment without testing, but I don’t know how much to trust it.

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#8290

:angry: For the hoard hoax…?

Sounds like he’s worried.
#8291

Honestly, having read World War Z, my assumption is we won’t hear anything until the Three Gorges dam breaks.

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#8292

At least we’re not exactly on “Resident Evil: Degeneration”. Or given that we kinda are with “Resident Evil: Revelations” for the cruise ship, we kinda are since we evacced a powerful of people to the States directly from Wuhan, China. I can ad a few more…should I?

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#8293

Is it weird at this point one of my bigger worries is just the mental strain of hearing about imminent doom 24 hours a day?

I keep hearing ■■■■ like “our society is fundamentally changing” and I feel like I’m the weirdo for going “people are staying inside not to get sick for awhile. This isn’t the coke boom of the 80s”.

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#8294

Nah, you’re right. Maybe it’s because it doesn’t really change my behavior much, but I do think people are largely getting too upset over avoiding big groups for a bit. To be fair I guess, people might establish new habits if it lasts long enough, but really it’s not that much of a precaution. Honestly, I feel worse for the restaurants and such.

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#8295

In my own little world, a big group getting squeezed (falling under the banner of small business) is local game stores. They might see a spike in people buying board games, but a lot of these places (especially now, with WOTC’s stupid policies) rely a lot on tournaments and events. My LGS has cancelled weekly DnD sessions on top of Friday Night Magic, and they have a prerelease tourney (historically one of their better business days) coming up in a week or two that’s probably going to get bumped.

I’ve stated what I think the likelyhood of anyone in my area contracting it is, but they’re still doing it to err on the side of smarts, which has changed since last friday morning when our dnd group chat asked about it.

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#8296

Not just you.


#8297

Wasn’t there something about an election? Primaries, right? The old guy and the other old guy?

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#8298

Effectively over for a while. Though the last debate was interesting. No crowd due to Coronavirus, only two candidates… Unfortunately, it was mostly Biden trying to prove he could remain awake and Sanders’ pulling him left in between rehashing legislative histories. Really though, the debates were a mess. Should’ve been crowdless in the first place, and shrank much faster. Also should’ve been more right before major contests.

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#8299

First read that as “The old guy an the older guy?”
Which is about right!

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#8300

Yep, America at the moment firmly believes in ‘White Grampa Will Solve It’. If said grampa survives his term of office. If not, @MickityMike can still hope that Tulsi becomes Vice President and gets the chance to take over when old age strikes…

Meanwhile, Germany tasked Neil Gaiman’s cousin with battling corona.

Jokes aside, the Neil Gaiman lookalike is Christian Drosten, head of the Institute of Virology at the Charité in Berlin, co-discoverer of SARS and part of the research group that developed the coronavirus test. And what fascinates me, person who besides advising the government keeps up a near daily podcast in which he calmly informs anyone who wants to listen about the plague. I may be falling in love…

Apart from that, schools and kindergartens remained closed this morning. And this will stay that way til April 20th.

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#8301

Hitler’s birthday, eh… :thinking:

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#8302

Jawohl, mein Liebchen!

Download

Though others know it as the day after the easter holidays…

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#8303

Ha!

Side interrogative: @Curmudge0n how do German people, very generally, view Hitler? I mean, of course I’m assuming all but the most extreme members of the German far right do not enjoy. But what I mean is, do y’all make jokes about him? Curse his name? How’s that work over there? Here we mostly remember Hitler through angry cat memes. Same in Deutschland or nah?

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#8304

As evil, of course.

Yes.

As in both, actually. Joking about Hitler and the Nazi Regime isn’t something that will fly in any company, since especially elder people will consider it a matter too serious. On the other hand I did grow up listening to Hitler jokes. So it’s a generational thing at least in part. I make jokes about nearly anything, but many of those I wouldn’t have told my late grandma, if that makes sense to you.

The joke question, by the way, is @Hattie 's chance to promote ‘Look Who’s Back’, a hilarious book based on the premise that Hitler survived and wakes up in present day Berlin.

But to add a joke from ye olde times:

How shall the German Aryan look like?

Blond as Hitler, tall like Goebbels and lean as Göring

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#8305

Makes perfect sense to me. This was my base assumption of how it likely worked, but ya know, thought I’d ask.

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#8306

I never mind an honest question and I’m curious enough myself :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

Though for the really evil 3rd Reich jokes, let me ping an expert @paulothead

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