Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ's left nut
My worry is how quickly this overton window is shifting and how obviously that kind of thinking yields an even faster shift.
We have people in this very thread advocating martial law. Literal boots on the ground and ordering people back into their homes (and folks, the implication in that is gunpoint because how else does one compel adherence in a situation that dire?)
And it's worse on social media. People requesting genuinely authoritarian measures. And the problem with that is you have maybe 4-6 weeks of runway before this population (which is absolutely more defiant of...everyone...than pretty much any population in the world) looks around and says "y'know what, 80% of us aren't going to be impacted by this at all and we suddenly have troops in the streets ordering us into our homes? ****. This."
We can't just say "there's no such things as 'too much'" because it ignores the relatively near-term consequences. People will burn out on it. Yes, you CAN do too much here. And to sit there and say "oh well, if it turns out we overreacted I guess we'll never know..." is to pre-emptively insulate yourself from ANY criticisms for decisions made that absolutely could've been hugely damaging to this nation. When concede that type of thinking, it gives decisionmakers a pass and again, leads to the decision-lens ratcheting in only a single direction, towards ever increasing draconion measures. The overton window just continues to slide and slide and slide until 'normal' is "well at least they aren't making us execute our pets like Chernobyl. This is fine...."
I'm not saying that we should err on the side of caution, but we damn sure shouldn't just accept leaders going out there and saying "if we overreact...oh well...."
That's not acceptable either.
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Who on here advocated martial law?
I don't see how shutting down certain businesses that are not essential to human survival is not worth saving lives. But hey if you think getting drunk and partying at bars and restaurants is more important than saving people's lives and stopping the spread of the virus then maybe your priorities are a little off to say the least.