I don’t know how other people react. I took the epidemic fairly seriously but my initial reaction to the meme was one of reassurance/complacency—OK so I can’t avoid eventual exposure anymore, but at least things will proceed in a somewhat orderly fashion if we cancel big events, wash hands, stop touching our face, etc. I feel like this is the sort of attitude that contributes to, and allows the public to accept, decisions like the capitulation in Sacramento. The mental image of mitigation is “basically trying to mitigate the risk to those who are most at risk: the elderly and those with chronic underlying conditions”. The reality is that we’ll be forced to let all the old and sick die in hospital parking lots.
It seems to me fairly likely that the public will ultimately accept the Hubei-style lockdowns that will result in containment, but this meme probably is responsible for delaying that moment by at least a few days :(
I saw the meme as mostly targeting people who were currently even more complacent “eh, there’s nothing we can do, so fuck it”, and getting them to instead go “okay, there’s stuff that’s actually worth doing.”
I don’t know how other people react. I took the epidemic fairly seriously but my initial reaction to the meme was one of reassurance/complacency—OK so I can’t avoid eventual exposure anymore, but at least things will proceed in a somewhat orderly fashion if we cancel big events, wash hands, stop touching our face, etc. I feel like this is the sort of attitude that contributes to, and allows the public to accept, decisions like the capitulation in Sacramento. The mental image of mitigation is “basically trying to mitigate the risk to those who are most at risk: the elderly and those with chronic underlying conditions”. The reality is that we’ll be forced to let all the old and sick die in hospital parking lots.
It seems to me fairly likely that the public will ultimately accept the Hubei-style lockdowns that will result in containment, but this meme probably is responsible for delaying that moment by at least a few days :(
I saw the meme as mostly targeting people who were currently even more complacent “eh, there’s nothing we can do, so fuck it”, and getting them to instead go “okay, there’s stuff that’s actually worth doing.”
You’re probably right.