outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

2020 summed up in a url
https://gothamist.com/news/verizon-karen-video-racist-anti-mask-no-data-rage-covid

lol

thanks, the AQI is like 600 here and there is still a pandemic and I needed a chuckle

that's an utterly appalling video in that link btw, approach with caution

uk covid cases heatmap

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eh25tnRXsAAwUdU.png

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eh25tnRXsAAwUdU.png (because that will fail to embed)

someone is trying to stop coronavirus. the proud patriots of michigan won't let that happen.

Group says it has topped 400K signatures, in 2 months, to repeal Whitmer's unilateral emergency powers to curb virus; GOP-backed maneuver lets Legislature rescind 1945 law & sidestep veto; Unlock Michigan wants 500K signatures, may submit in Sept #mileg https://t.co/TPIG4VUJtb

— David Eggert (@DavidEggert00) September 14, 2020

This has to be an SNL skit. It just has to be. pic.twitter.com/HURtVSr9DL

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) September 14, 2020

oh my god, the 6-year-old saying "the flu kills more than coronavirus"

as i shut that off, someone was making an important point about george floyd not being able to breathe, as compared to masks for covid19.

great job, local news

Brought to you by the species responsible for the Children's Crusade, among other historical hits.

that means you missed the old lady who hates masks because "child molesters love em"

Weird to see people passing that video around on Twitter for laffs, i thought I had a pretty dark sense of humor but that shit is legit terrifying and sad

yeah. it's enraging. that 6-year-old was make to perform a rehearsed lie to make his parents proud.

the flu does kill more people than coronavirus....if we count 5 years of flu stats, and we move some numbers around here, carry the 2, rinse, repeat

^i'm sure one of the other kids in his 1st grade zoom chat will kindly set him straight on that

SLC_patriot2014: mommy says the flu killded more people than the coronavirus
GokuAlexIam6: actually my dad says that it's not an apples to apples comparison
TimmySunshine: poooooooooooooooooooop :P

TimmySunshine: poooooooooooooooooooop :P

new thread/board/everything title

Weird to see people passing that video around on Twitter for laffs, i thought I had a pretty dark sense of humor but that shit is legit terrifying and sad

have u seen the movie Joker

That's one way to do it:

https://nypost.com/2020/09/14/anti-maskers-forced-to-dig-graves-for-covid-19-victims-in-indonesia

incredible byline on that

In my big college town all the frats and sororities (shockingly) voted to not worry and to just keep partying as usual despite the recent massive uptick in cases in the 18-25 year old range. So the county health department issued an emergency order for mandatory quarantine of 30 off campus residences for two weeks, (23 of which are fraternities and sororities) and is actually affixing quarantine notices to the buildings like ye olden times.

I got a kind of hilariously worded text from the campus emergency notification system that very consciously avoided any indication that the school has any control over what happens in off-campus private residences BUT they really really want you to know this order exists.

PLAGUE HOUSE
THOU SHALT ENTER NOT

I was teaching Foucault and the Panopticon to freshmen right before everything got wild in March. It was...more than a little eerie.

Wow joygoat

re that news report - how did you guys reach that state

most of them probably already live there, they're used to it

I'm just going to be perfectly frank and say that despite my knowledge that much of what was happening in that video is the result of an education system decimated by conservatives and skewed toward the needs of a shrinking number of middle class whites, I am also more and more convinced that about half of this country is filled with the dumbest, most selfish, myopic idiot fucks of any population anywhere else on the planet. And to be cruel, I wish ill on all of them.

I am also more and more convinced that about half of this country is filled with the dumbest, most selfish, myopic idiot fucks of any population anywhere else on the planet. And to be cruel, I wish ill on all of them.

I'm pretty much here as well. At this point it's hard to see otherwise. We can blame education, conservative news overload, fear, "economic anxiety" all to some degree, but at the base of it all there is a not insignificant percentage of this country that is just plain fucking stupid and selfish and, worse, extremely proud of being so.

Sounds about right! That's the "innocence" of the 1950s that these dummies want to return to, a time when everyone was at least a little bit stupid but you could still achieve a lot and make a good living despite it. (And also, I suspect, it was still a smarter stupid than where we are now, at least by standards of literacy, math, science, etc.)

I mean, there's also the obvious racial, sexual, and gendered connotations of such a return.

It's all just infuriating!

xp JiC - Don't fall for it. People were just as dumb back then. but at an even lower scientific and technological level than today. Remember "Duck and Cover"?

Ethics are taught. Generosity has to be cultivated. It's a social issue.

fwiw i agree 100% table. the thing that pushes me over the edge, with that kind of ignorance, is when it starts hurting other people

tracer otm

Tracer otm. There’s nothing natural about being good.

the dumbest, most selfish, myopic idiot fucks of any population anywhere else on the planet. And to be cruel, I wish ill on all of them.

i could have written that myself, and it's not a fun feeling.

at least the dumbfucks of the 1950s had lead in their water and gasoline to blame. the current generation has had 50+ years of relief (for the most part) from lead-related mental health issues, and can easily look up almost any fact on the internet. and in fact, they take the most valuable tool in the world, the ability to look up almost any fact on the internet, and then decided to watch joe rogan or whatever with it

it's a social issue, like almost anything, but i think it's a lot of other things too. without turning this into a barely-related diatribe against white evangelicals again like i always do, all i can say is that "ethics" and "generosity" are very much central to the same households that teach little timmy poopmonster to say "flu kills more people than coroanvirus" to the lamestream media cameras

i should probably especially avoid the white evangelicals diatribe since we're talking about SLC, lol

PLAGUE HOUSE
THOU SHALT ENTER NOT

― sleeve, Tuesday, September 15, 2020 12:36 AM (fourteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/s0mXq6WJSJc"; frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Ahhh! Damn.

https://youtu.be/s0mXq6WJSJc

Anyway the joke is ruined now and clearly I don't know how to embed videos.

Short URLs don't get embedded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0mXq6WJSJc

there we go :)

Yeah, my point was that ignorant people in the '50s had lots of excuses for their ignorance, and they weren't alone, because people were just, well, more ignorant. Duck and Cover (for example) was absolutely stupid, but in its (dumb) defense, those were early days of nuclear weapons and panic and also the threat of global nuclear war was actually possible/plausible, so there was a reason to at least be afraid. Right now, though, we're 50 years down the line, and we've come so far in terms of public health, science, general knowledge, all literally free to anyone with a phone more powerful than almost every computer that has come before it, and as comprehensive as a library. And yet here were are, willingly choosing stupid again and again even when there are better choices. Like being "pro coal" in 2020.

FWIW, as I understand it Americans are actually more generous than most, in terms of charity and the like. Ethics and morality, otoh, have been corrupted and degraded by selfishness and shortsightedness, which can't be unique to Americans, but we seem to do it louder and more obnoxiously than many others despite being awash in economic stability and luxury compared to huge hunks of the world.

Countries with a dysfunctional tax system come across as more generous on paper if charities are your sole yardstick.

Seriously. The prominence/importance of charitable donations is a symptom of a problem. And they are also antidemocratic at scale.

I agree. But I've got to assume it's got to be all the churches, too. People there are giving not for the tax benefit. They're giving for the right reasons, which admittedly in many cases means "stepping in where the system is not doing a good job."

Eh, I can confirm from personal experience that people in churches are NOT typically giving for the right reasons. At least not the small town Lutheran churches I attended as a kid. Remember many post-service meetings where they discussed how to distribute charity money and they would literally name the families they wanted to help out. Funnily (read: not at all funny) enough the non church going, non-white families NEVER came up in those discussions.