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Culture War Roundup for the week of July 15, 2024

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That would be really a weak tea excuse…

Basically in need to quit because I have the cold.

"I need to be 100% to campaign because of How Important This Election Is For America. If I'm not absolutely 100% because of Long COVID (which is totally a thing) I can't in good conscience take my party's nomination."

Even a months long cold should lead to a candidate dropping out.

It has the advantage over using senescence as a reason that he can get better later on, he can go to live another 6-10 years and not have admitted dementia.

Covid is actually a danger to octogenarians.

Is it though? Because excess death statistics in most countries don't seem to reflect that.

So is a cold…

You're thinking of the flu, which kills quite a few old people. And covid is worse than the flu. I don't know why right wingers want to downplay covid. Still sore about lockdowns impinging on freedoms in order to save lives, I guess. (Though I don't deny that lockdown regulations were often dumb and ham-handed).

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No im not. Colds can easily turn into pneumonia which is dangerous for someone in Biden’s state.

Covid after the omni variant significantly reduced its danger.

Also lockdowns didn’t save lives. Covid response was massively disproportionate to the actual disease.

It's a bit strange how well Sweden and Florida did so well without lockdowns. Especially given Florida's disproportionately old population. I would have naively thought lockdowns would have some measurable impact on infection rates.

Lockdowns decrease activity, increase isolation, and drive fear. Humans need to move and be social.

For general health and wellbeing yes. But for specifically a respiratory virus that's deadly to old people, no.

I don’t know if that is true. If you are isolated for months at a time, that probably has a bigger impact compared to being out and about.

I’d agree with you if we are talking about weeks. But for many it wasn’t weeks.

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Still sore about lockdowns impinging on freedoms in order to save lives, I guess.

Yeah, sure, the lockdowns were about saving lives — unless we’re talking about Black Lives, in which case lockdowns no longer work, since The Science said that mass gatherings in order to protest/riot (but only to do those things!) are A-okay.

I will never stop being “sore” about this.

(Edited to expand/clarify: after the shitshow of contradictory statements and lies that our experts subjected us to during 2020 (e.g. masks don’t work, until they do, oh wait only KN95s do but; mass gatherings are bad, unless you’re going to have a BLM march; the vaccine prevents transmission, until it doesn’t), many right-wingers adopted a stance of epistemic learned helplessness, and decided that they wouldn’t believe anything that comes out of these experts’ mouths. Yeah, this leads to dumb conclusions occasionally like “COVID doesn’t exist”. But it’s only a rational response to the maleficence of the adults in the room.)

I’m not saying covid doesn’t exist for the record. I’m saying its potency especially after numerous variants is low.

Not really, its more like getting the flu.

Regardless, if something simple as getting the flu or covid poses a serious risk to you, you have no business being the president or presidential candidate.

Blue Tribe still believe in the power of COVID, though.

No, not really, from what I’ve seen. A small subsection that is in the process of forming itseld into a tribe of its own does.

He's also 81 and obviously in poor health already.