How to deal with a friend who thinks COVID 19 is a hoax

[Lacewing]

Lacewing, I know that you were just trying to point things out to me, but it was like I refused to look. So thanks a lot. I see what you were trying to do now.

I'm glad. We'll see how long it takes before we're calling each other names again. As I've said, it's all in good fun from my perspective. I wish you (and everyone) well.

[RCSaunders]

Most people are so afraid of dying (which they mistake for a love of life), they willingly, even enthusiastically, obey anyone who promises them safety and ease and protection for their squalid miserable little lives. I certainly do not care if that is how they choose to live, and I wish them well. What I don't understand is why they cannot bear that some people do not live in perpetual fear or in doubt their own ability to deal with life and make something of it without the fear-mongers agreement or approval.

Because, as I'm sure you already know, many people NEED others to agree with them in order to feel validated.

Yes, that's apparently true, and if you don't agree with them they accuse you of being arrogant, or perhaps of being angry or worse. Happens to me all the time. If they only knew how little I cared.

[Lacewing]

...they accuse you of being arrogant, or perhaps of being angry or worse. Happens to me all the time.

Maybe it's because you are and people can see it.

If they only knew how little I cared.

Why would they care if you care?

[RCSaunders]

Why would they care if you care?

I have no idea, but they apparently do. They keep asking me questions, like, "Why would they care if you care?" when they aren't the least bit interested in the answer. Isn't that odd? But I wish them well, whatever their motives are.

[gaffo]

Saw this and immediately thought of a couple of people here.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/maga ... -hoax.html

What do you care? If you choose to swallow the popular view that we're all going to die unless we all wear a half-bra on our face and never hug anyone we love,

Childish exaggeration does not become you. No one is saying that; no one beleives it.

There are some of us who are likely to die were they to become infected - me for one.

yes age and general health are determinates, but not all so. my GF cousin's 12 yr old kid got it last month - fully healthy kid - and was in the hospital for a 2 weeks.

so there is a genetic factor, and if your genes are "bad" per Covid you either die or nearly die - be you a kid or young adult in otherwise full health.

its a crap shoot per one's genes WRt to this thing.

its that simple, some get invected and have no syptoms, others just die!

[Sculptor]

What do you care? If you choose to swallow the popular view that we're all going to die unless we all wear a half-bra on our face and never hug anyone we love,

Childish exaggeration does not become you. No one is saying that; no one beleives it.

There are some of us who are likely to die were they to become infected - me for one.

yes age and general health are determinates, but not all so. my GF cousin's 12 yr old kid got it last month - fully healthy kid - and was in the hospital for a 2 weeks.

so there is a genetic factor, and if your genes are "bad" per Covid you either die or nearly die - be you a kid or young adult in otherwise full health.

its a crap shoot per one's genes WRt to this thing.

its that simple, some get invected and have no syptoms, others just die!

It might be genetic. There is little we can do about that. It seems to be more to do with general health.
Low numbers from China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand might relfect an almost complete absence of obesity, and a tendancy to eat a more nutritious diet.

But it looks like the death rates are going to be determined, by far, by type of government.

I think we can assume that genetic factors are similar for New Zealand, Australia and Finland, compared to Spain, UK, and US. But the death rates seem to be showing that an effective govenment willing to do the right thing gets results.
Australia, with very low death rates has not shied away from taking the action needed to slow down the infection. The US is sleepwalking into the highest rates on the planet. As each state falls they are making record rates of death. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts are higher than San Marino the most badly affected state on earth. Connecticut is catching up.

[gaffo]

Childish exaggeration does not become you. No one is saying that; no one beleives it.

There are some of us who are likely to die were they to become infected - me for one.

yes age and general health are determinates, but not all so. my GF cousin's 12 yr old kid got it last month - fully healthy kid - and was in the hospital for a 2 weeks.

so there is a genetic factor, and if your genes are "bad" per Covid you either die or nearly die - be you a kid or young adult in otherwise full health.

its a crap shoot per one's genes WRt to this thing.

its that simple, some get invected and have no syptoms, others just die!

It might be genetic. There is little we can do about that. It seems to be more to do with general health.
Low numbers from China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand might relfect an almost complete absence of obesity, and a tendancy to eat a more nutritious diet.

But it looks like the death rates are going to be determined, by far, by type of government.

I think we can assume that genetic factors are similar for New Zealand, Australia and Finland, compared to Spain, UK, and US. But the death rates seem to be showing that an effective govenment willing to do the right thing gets results.
Australia, with very low death rates has not shied away from taking the action needed to slow down the infection. The US is sleepwalking into the highest rates on the planet. As each state falls they are making record rates of death. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts are higher than San Marino the most badly affected state on earth. Connecticut is catching up.

ya, to contain the virus America should have shut down - not for 6 weeks as we did - but for 6 months. We did not, and now will have to go through another shutdown eventually - and a longer one. and the economic cost will be 4 times what it would have been had we done it right the first time last March - shutdown for 6 months. instead we will now be stuck with parital shutdowns via the many states - for the next 2 years!, unlike we have a vacine.

and ya Trump's lack of leadership is to blaime - and why his pole numbers are in the toilet today.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

yes age and general health are determinates, but not all so. my GF cousin's 12 yr old kid got it last month - fully healthy kid - and was in the hospital for a 2 weeks.

so there is a genetic factor, and if your genes are "bad" per Covid you either die or nearly die - be you a kid or young adult in otherwise full health.

its a crap shoot per one's genes WRt to this thing.

its that simple, some get invected and have no syptoms, others just die!

It might be genetic. There is little we can do about that. It seems to be more to do with general health.
Low numbers from China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand might relfect an almost complete absence of obesity, and a tendancy to eat a more nutritious diet.

But it looks like the death rates are going to be determined, by far, by type of government.

I think we can assume that genetic factors are similar for New Zealand, Australia and Finland, compared to Spain, UK, and US. But the death rates seem to be showing that an effective govenment willing to do the right thing gets results.
Australia, with very low death rates has not shied away from taking the action needed to slow down the infection. The US is sleepwalking into the highest rates on the planet. As each state falls they are making record rates of death. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts are higher than San Marino the most badly affected state on earth. Connecticut is catching up.

ya, to contain the virus America should have shut down - not for 6 weeks as we did - but for 6 months. We did not, and now will have to go through another shutdown eventually - and a longer one. and the economic cost will be 4 times what it would have been had we done it right the first time last March - shutdown for 6 months. instead we will now be stuck with parital shutdowns via the many states - for the next 2 years!, unlike we have a vacine.

and ya Trump's lack of leadership is to blaime - and why his pole numbers are in the toilet today.

Why lock down at all? When you look at the figures it really does work out to be a very similar death rate to the flu--and the flu is much worse because it kills children. Covid kills mainly old people in rest homes who are at death's door anyway. Why are we shutting down the whole planet to save some old people who could die from a cold? It makes no sense.

[Belinda]

It might be genetic. There is little we can do about that. It seems to be more to do with general health.
Low numbers from China, Vietnam, India, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand might relfect an almost complete absence of obesity, and a tendancy to eat a more nutritious diet.

But it looks like the death rates are going to be determined, by far, by type of government.

I think we can assume that genetic factors are similar for New Zealand, Australia and Finland, compared to Spain, UK, and US. But the death rates seem to be showing that an effective govenment willing to do the right thing gets results.
Australia, with very low death rates has not shied away from taking the action needed to slow down the infection. The US is sleepwalking into the highest rates on the planet. As each state falls they are making record rates of death. New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts are higher than San Marino the most badly affected state on earth. Connecticut is catching up.

ya, to contain the virus America should have shut down - not for 6 weeks as we did - but for 6 months. We did not, and now will have to go through another shutdown eventually - and a longer one. and the economic cost will be 4 times what it would have been had we done it right the first time last March - shutdown for 6 months. instead we will now be stuck with parital shutdowns via the many states - for the next 2 years!, unlike we have a vacine.

and ya Trump's lack of leadership is to blaime - and why his pole numbers are in the toilet today.

Why lock down at all? When you look at the figures it really does work out to be a very similar death rate to the flu--and the flu is much worse because it kills children. Covid kills mainly old people in rest homes who are at death's door anyway. Why are we shutting down the whole planet to save some old people who could die from a cold? It makes no sense.

I am old , 88 , and although I don't specially want to die right now I am more concerned for my sons in theirs 60s than for myself. I think the pain of bereavement is worse than one's own dying and that is why old people who are near the end of their lives are not sacrificed.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

ya, to contain the virus America should have shut down - not for 6 weeks as we did - but for 6 months. We did not, and now will have to go through another shutdown eventually - and a longer one. and the economic cost will be 4 times what it would have been had we done it right the first time last March - shutdown for 6 months. instead we will now be stuck with parital shutdowns via the many states - for the next 2 years!, unlike we have a vacine.

and ya Trump's lack of leadership is to blaime - and why his pole numbers are in the toilet today.

Why lock down at all? When you look at the figures it really does work out to be a very similar death rate to the flu--and the flu is much worse because it kills children. Covid kills mainly old people in rest homes who are at death's door anyway. Why are we shutting down the whole planet to save some old people who could die from a cold? It makes no sense.

I am old , 88 , and although I don't specially want to die right now I am more concerned for my sons in theirs 60s than for myself. I think the pain of bereavement is worse than one's own dying and that is why old people who are near the end of their lives are not sacrificed.

It's only one more thing the very old can die of. Death is part of life. It's hardly 'sacrificing' them. Being in an aged care facility barely qualifies as 'living'. It's a future for the young that is being sacrificed. And who grieves for the very old? You assume a lot. It's children and the young who matter--not old farts. It seems to me that the older people get the more self-absorbed and unlikeable they are. Besides, there are also quite a large percentage of the old who recover from the virus--it's not as if a (slightly sooner) demise is a foregone conclusion. As long as they don't have any serious pre-existing conditions they can recover just as nearly everyone else does.

ps. Aged care facilities are a huge and growing industry. Perhaps that has something to do with the 'concern' for the very old.
What we really need is euthanasia, so at least there is no pointless suffering involved.

[Belinda]

Why lock down at all? When you look at the figures it really does work out to be a very similar death rate to the flu--and the flu is much worse because it kills children. Covid kills mainly old people in rest homes who are at death's door anyway. Why are we shutting down the whole planet to save some old people who could die from a cold? It makes no sense.

I am old , 88 , and although I don't specially want to die right now I am more concerned for my sons in theirs 60s than for myself. I think the pain of bereavement is worse than one's own dying and that is why old people who are near the end of their lives are not sacrificed.

It's only one more thing the very old can die of. Death is part of life. It's hardly 'sacrificing' them. Being in an aged care facility barely qualifies as 'living'. It's a future for the young that is being sacrificed. And who grieves for the very old? You assume a lot. It's children and the young who matter--not old farts. It seems to me that the older people get the more self-absorbed and unlikeable they are. Besides, there are also quite a large percentage of the old who recover from the virus--it's not as if a (slightly sooner) demise is a foregone conclusion. As long as they don't have any serious pre-existing conditions they can recover just as nearly everyone else does.

ps. Aged care facilities are a huge and growing industry. Perhaps that has something to do with the 'concern' for the very old.
What we really need is euthanasia, so at least there is no pointless suffering involved.

Doctor assisted dying would please most people.
Actually, care home assistants feel for the old people in their care.

[henry quirk]

Doctor assisted dying would please most people.

the hell you say!

[vegetariantaxidermy]

Doctor assisted dying would please most people.

the hell you say!

No one is forcing you to do it. Funny how your 'every man is an island free to do as he pleases' stance only applies when it suits you.

[Belinda]

Doctor assisted dying would please most people.

the hell you say!

Yes, I have seen statistics show most people in favour of doctor assisted dying . It is not always needed of course as many people die peacefully, quickly, and not too painfully.

[Belinda]

Doctor assisted dying would please most people.

the hell you say!

No one is forcing you to do it. Funny how your 'every man is an island free to do as he pleases' stance only applies when it suits you.

Good point I wish I had said that.