Wuhan Killer Sneeze (thanks Tea)

[IdleRich]

Right now we must have one of the strictest situations. It's nuts to go from somewhere where basically you could normally drink and go clubbing until 6 or 7am pretty much any night of the week, to a situation where you can't buy a can of beer from the supermarket after 8pm. No wonder everyone is taking so many drugs I've heard.

 

[Mr. Tea]

*playground chant*
Biscuits done a ver-sion!
Biscuits done a ver-sion!

 

[mixed_biscuits]

 

[Mr. Tea]

So you now accept the 45,000 figure, and not 30-odd thousand that you were peddling a while back?

 

[mixed_biscuits]

That's referring to the US

 

[luka]

 

[yyaldrin]

there was a huge demonstration in berlin last weekend, all sorts of people protesting against all sorts of things. unfortunately there were also quite a lot of neo-nazi's and reichsburgers. there was an antifascist counter protest as well.

what i don't understand though is, why is there no left wing protest against the corona measurements different governments are taking? there's so much to protest against, there are so many legitimate reasons to bring in question what is happening. but instead it is exactly the people on the left who are following orders and saying yes boss yes please mask on keep distance. why????

 

[luka]

Interesting isn't it. The left has become completely credulous and aligns itself to power/global capital

 

[luka]

The rise of the populists made the left decide they were neoliberal globalists all along. Mental.

 

[Leo]

maybe the increased profits of those major online retailers is because more and more people are lazy fuckers who prefer to buy online, usually at better prices.

 

[Murphy]

Hear hear.

Add scared.

 

[Leo]

sometimes it's just a matter of consumer preference. even well before corona and lockdown, people would say they support small local independent businesses but often didn't act that way.

 

[Mr. Tea]

what i don't understand though is, why is there no left wing protest against the corona measurements different governments are taking?

I'm a bit surprised that anyone is surprised that it's the right who are leading protests against lockdowns, masks etc. I mean, if being right-wing is defined by any single element of ideology, it's the pursuit of personal liberty above all else, isn't it? Whereas it's supposed to be the left who give a shit about other people and society in general. And if you accept that social distancing and so on are about keeping not only ourselves safe, but each other safe too, then it's a natural thing for progressives to support.

Of course, that is a massive 'if', because as our friend @mixed_biscuits never tires of point out, the science of social distancing and all that stuff is far from settled, which is hardly surprising as this particular virus came to the attention of science less than a year ago. (Well actually that's a simplification, because MB is convinced that any science that backs up his claims is 100% rock solid, and any science that goes against it is blatant nonsense.)

But if you do accept it, then the left/right divide between those supportive of anti-virus policies and those opposed to them is fairly intuitive.

 

[yyaldrin]

I'm a bit surprised that anyone is surprised that it's the right who are leading protests against lockdowns, masks etc. I mean, if being right-wing is defined by any single element of ideology, it's the pursuit of personal liberty above all else, isn't it? Whereas it's supposed to be the left who give a shit about other people and society in general. And if you accept that social distancing and so on are about keeping not only ourselves safe, but each other safe too, then it's a natural thing for progressives to support.

Of course, that is a massive 'if', because as our friend @mixed_biscuits never tires of point out, the science of social distancing and all that stuff is far from settled, which is hardly surprising as this particular virus came to the attention of science less than a year ago. (Well actually that's a simplification, because MB is convinced that any science that backs up his claims is 100% rock solid, and any science that goes against it is blatant nonsense.)

But if you do accept it, then the left/right divide between those supportive of anti-virus policies and those opposed to them is fairly intuitive.

except i feel that this lockdown is disproportionally affecting the poor.

 

[Mr. Tea]

except i feel that this lockdown is disproportionally affecting the poor.

Unfortunately, pretty much all negative social phenomena disproportionately affect the poor, including the virus itself - the main reason the death rate has been so high among black people in the UK is that they're more likely to live in crowded inner-city areas, more likely to work in public-facing service-sector jobs and more likely to have pre-existing health conditions, all of which are associated with poor, obviously.

To me it would make sense if progressives were protesting in favour of greater government assistance to help poorer people cope with the effects of lockdowns, rather than saying "The poor must be allowed to work to support themselves, and if they therefore catch the virus, well then we've all gotta die of something."

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Nowadays it's the right that distrusts Big Pharma, reads conniving intrigue into international relations and sees bias and self-interest distorting all human action.

This is because the right is the material underdog.

Leftists are forever in the self-regarding business of asserting their moral or intellectual superiority: it's more impressive to help the poor by doing something rather than doing nothing. Especially impressive if doing something involves some sort of self-abnegation, like locking down or wearing an uncomfortable mask because you have to be strong to put up with the pain. As the leftists have more power, they're better able to withstand the ill effects of these acts of martyrdom, which makes them feel even more superior...if any of their sacred cows falls under the bus, they claim the real cause was austerity etc.

Leftists despise the populists because populists follow the opinion of the uncultured masses: conceding to the masses doesn't make sense if one is superior to them.

Tying anti-corona measure differences to political affiliation can be overstated:

- the Swedish far right were in favour of lockdown
- the 'right-wing' Conservatives enacted lockdown here
- anti-lockdown support has a broad political base; the govt/media calls it 'far-right' in order to put off the majority conformists
- although masks are a bone of contention (because the evidence is equivocal), I'm quite sure that everyone accepts hand-washing, closure of large events and the vast majority, some measure of distancing - narcissism of small differences

 

[Leo]

Leftists despise the populists because populists follow the opinion of the uncultured masses

I don't think that's true. it's more accurate to say "Leftists don't understand why populists follow the opinion of the uncultured masses as opposed to scientists, medical experts (or any experts) and facts."

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Yes, leftists will align themselves with scientists, experts, facts but only superficially so; they're not actually interested in the truth, only in feeling superior.

eg. When the objectively top virologist Raoult echoed Trump's endorsement of HcQ, the left set about smearing the expert rather than conceding their point and thereby agreeing with the archetypal idiot (in their eyes), Trump.

This narcissism is the reason for the left being forever behind the curve when it comes to the coronavirus crisis, as any change in scientific consensus is preceded by novel scientific opinion that is low status because not widely held.

What leftists do is 'scientism' - parroting of opinion from what they take to be high status newspapers and online mags.

 

[mixed_biscuits]

Come Christmas, their dinner parties will be resounding with, 'How could those people have been so stupid as to lock down' and none of them will notice the irony - that's because there is no irony when it comes to the most important thing to them, which is echoing high-status opinion; they're being perfectly consistent.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I don't think that's true. it's more accurate to say "Leftists don't understand why populists follow the opinion of the uncultured masses as opposed to scientists, medical experts (or any experts) and facts."

Hush your elitist mouth, you! Everyone knows The Sun just says what The Man In The Street is already thinking.