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  1. The AtlanticYascha Mounk12/22/216 min
    42 reads9 comments
    8.6
    The Atlantic
    42 reads
    8.6
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • Plum
      Reading streak
      2 years ago

      “The United States now seems poised to respond to future waves with a collective sigh and a shrug.” I hope we don’t do the same thing with climate change although it looks like our human ability to change and sacrifice for others overwhelms the common good

      • sjwoo2 years ago

        Oh, I'm afraid we will be doing EXACTLY the same thing, sad to say...

        At this point, I'm putting my faith in tech -- carbon capture and the like. We humans are as smart as they come, but we are also as lazy as they come. My hope is that our ingenuity will stay two steps ahead of our sloth.

        If we're lucky, that'll come true and we won't burn/freeze/starve ourselves out of existence...

        • Plum
          Reading streak
          2 years ago

          Well said! I really like your hope that our ingenuity will outpace our sloth....thanks

          I

    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      2 years ago

      Yay! The thing to celebrate (that we can all celebrate) is that we beat the dang thing! RIP COVID.

      We did flatten the curve, back in 2020 (the author gets that part wrong) when we didn’t know how deadly OR ‘spready’ the virus would be. And we didn’t know whether or not the hospitals could handle it. Now we know all of this stuff. At this point, hospitals and pharma have had more than enough time (and $) to do their thang.

      PUBLIC life can begin again! Most restrictions should disappear soon.

      And here’s to a new and improved definition of health in 2022: eat well, exercise, lots of sleep, lots of outside time, love. This COVID shit ain’t got nothin’ on us. The stress and fear is killing us, but we can lift each other out. Go team human! 💪

    • DellwoodBarker2 years ago

      Is our drive to live life and socialize in the face of such dangers foolhardy? Or is it inspiring?

      My vote: Inspiring

      • bill
        Top reader of all time
        2 years ago

        Upvote. Especially when the dangers are so low.

    • TripleG
      Top reader this weekTop reader of all timeReading streakScoutScribe
      2 years ago

      It’s obvious that we are willing to accept any risk of Covid for such normal or trivial pleasures. Look at events like sports. 80,000 people packed into a football stadium.

      • Alexa2 years ago

        That blows my mind! And it's not even an open air thing, they are shoulder to shoulder.

        I empathize with the need to escape from how painful reality is right now, but feel baffled by a seemingly chronic inability to understand or care for other people's lower risk tolerance.

        A thinker I respect said we'd likely act very differently if the outcome was more sudden and visible. Like it would be really hard to just go about "business as usual" if, when your decision caused someones death, it was as visible as the person next to you bursting into flames.

    • Alexa2 years ago

      Interesting concept, but for all the emotional musing (which tbh I'm kind of here for depending on the day) it misses one point…sure the pandemic may be "ending" but that's thanks to the virus becoming endemic.

      This "new normal" that includes covid and throw-your-hands-up folks is just saying this is what it is now, no?

      John Hopkins med said a few months ago covid was pretty much endemic. Maybe it's time to start shifting the narrative to how we live with that…maybe time to mourn that this is how it is now and then find ways to do it safely? idk.