Everyone's out of step but me - Cactus's Covid Appreciation Thread

Yah I was the original sucker that said heck yah I want to shame you if you are doing dumb things that might kill my mom, and the retort was that shaming people just made them dig in.

But honestly, it has to be vanishingly rare to run into someone that does something racist or selfish or dumb enough to warrant shaming that would have responded well to a polite ask to be less racist.

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Cause you can still learn

I was referring more to Demsā€™ strategy of using identity politics as a substitute for actual policy change

I was asking for an example.

He basically told tens of millions of Americans, hey lookā€¦ You no longer have to feel like shameful idiots because Iā€™m the biggest shameful idiot of all. And was able to galvanize a 70+ million strong base out of it

PC culture and the pros and cons of shaming is a much longer and more nuanced conversation

Right you are talking in generalities and im interested in the nuance. You say the dems use identity politics and they should not. Can you give an example.

I gave a few where they pushed back at trump.

Iā€™m not saying we, the people, shouldnā€™t use identity politics (if I did, I misspoke). Iā€™m saying politicians shouldnā€™t use it in lieu of policy change, which in my opinion, is exactly what the Democratic establishment does. When I say Dems, Iā€™m usually referring to politicians

Again, we can have a more nuanced conversation about why I donā€™t think shaming works on the ignorant and uneducated, but thatā€™s a very different topic than this thread. In a nutshell, itā€™s precisely because they are ignorant and/or uneducated about LGBTQ and racial issues. They are walled off in their environment and lack exposure to people different than themselves. It is my opinion that shaming them for that, gets us nowhere and only causes them to dig in on being wrong all the more. It is much more productive to try and educate first

You can take this thread (and most of my interactions with people on this forum) as a case study. Any ground Iā€™ve gained on covid has come thru those that have calmly pointed out facts and data, which showed my actions were more harmful than I had realized. The people who jumped in with one liner quips or gifs making fun of my age or calling me an idiot only caused me to think theyā€™re much bigger idiots for not having the capacity to engage me using meaningful dialogue. The fact they may have been correct about the subject matter, to me, was an accident. And Iā€™ll never take advice, or even listen to people I donā€™t respect or consider drooling self righteous morons. So no ground can be gained on either side.

I think the same holds true across the entire political spectrum. Iā€™m forever calling anyone who still supports Trump an idiot and moron, but only those who I feel should know better. Those who have already calmly been pointed to all the pertinent facts and data and are still too dumb to recognize the mistake they are making. I think the same holds true be it a Trump supporter, or those ignorant about race or LGBTQ, etc. First, try to calmly educate with shaming being a last resort reserved only for those who are simply intolerant of other points of view (in my opinion)

What Trump was able to do was corral all those who werenā€™t properly educated/enlightened and didnā€™t see why they were being ostracized by the left for not understanding what all the fuss was about over calling a physical him a she, so on down the tolerance line to blacks, Muslims, immigrants, etc. Depending on the environment you were brought up or still live in, it can be hard to see over your own walls

I was asking for an example of dems in politics using identity politics.

But I wonā€™t ask againā€¦

And she should probably not be in quotes there if you want to show respect.

Unquoted she. Was just trying to emphasize the way they are thinking

Iā€™ll try to think of a specific example, but Iā€™m mainly referring to the Dems use of identity politics to keep the focus off of other harmful policies. For example, Non-Discrimination in Housing and Community Development Programs do little if youā€™re not going to also invest in education of low income communities, stick with our current crime bills, allow for profit prisons, etc. The former is just lip service on paper. Of course, itā€™s better than nothing, but it doesnā€™t effect meaningful change

Alright.

I donā€™t leave the house to go anywhere but the grocery store and the driving range. My partner is a mortician who had to bring in a refrigerated truck to deal with the overwhelming number of bodies they are dealing with. So I basically play homemaker for her so she can come home and not be overwhelmed with the burdens of cooking dinner, cleaning, etc. My mental health is suffering. The lack of gym access is negatively impacting my physical health. But I know itā€™s all temporary and Iā€™m an adult so I do my part to have the least impact possible on the spread.

But go ahead and both sides the argument and tell me how you working out maskless in a gym and going into work after exposure is the same thing.

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Stop right there. You donā€™t have to go to the grocery store. Your partner can do it, so itā€™s one less person being exposed that can give it to someone else. My point is, and always was, that there are varying degrees of risk and unless you literally never leave the house and disinfect every single thing that comes into your house, you can always take another measure to reduce risk.

Youā€™ll never convince me to blame the population for +3k people a day dying in the U.S. This is a complete and utter failure by our government and leadership

But good luck on your mental health. Itā€™s tough on everyone. I recently started yoga. Itā€™s a good indoor activity and a surprisingly (to me) good workout. Also good for mental health

Pretty sure me going during the day (off peak hours) and wearing an N95 is lower risk than my partner going after a day of shoveling covid+ bodies into the crematory. But go off kid.

Letā€™s go play golf. Just donā€™t judge me when I drink 8 beers and play bad music.

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Iā€™m down. Itā€™ll be just like golfing with anyone else re: beers and bad music. My game is pretty off right now. Looks like Iā€™m a 23.8 atm

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Very strongly agree.

I just donā€™t understand this kind of thinkingā€¦and especially from someone who ostensibly carries a gun to defend people from the police. You will go to the gym or grocery store or whatever, but you want the government to send people with guns out to stop you from doing that.

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Iā€™m a 86-98 ish golfer at OKC public courses(so not too far off). Iā€™ll send you a pm once we get some good weather.

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I want the leaders and people in top positions to set an example and stop blaming citizens.

Watching the basketball game tonight I saw like 5 commercials showing holiday gatherings or situational modern times circumstances like itā€™s just another day. Tomorrow Iā€™ll watch 22 maskless men playing a game of physical contact and bodily fluids spraying all over the place. If our president reappears from the WH basement Iā€™m sure Iā€™ll see him setting a poor example by not wearing a mask. It just pisses me off to no end that people here are gonna blame some dumb kid or old fart because theyā€™re not living their life like you think they should be over leaders and those in high positions of power who not leading by example and are doing NOTHING to help those suffering from the devastation this pandemic is causing

Do you want them to close the gyms?