Coronavirus

[sd123223]

No probs Melbourne here

[Stavros]

Oh boy, the memes are coming next.

Sky News Australia, presumaby another cog in Murdoch's propaganda machine. If reporting the truth was the basis of journalism, Fox News would not exist.

[Stavros]

Unfortunately, we seem to be incapable of taking decisive action to head off a crisis that requires people to make sacrifices until the crisis is already here.

This is the key point, and we are suffering as a result of fear, when what politicians fear most is losing their seats, or the next election.

[african1]

This is the key point, and we are suffering as a result of fear, when what politicians fear most is losing their seats, or the next election.

How so? How are we suffering? Could you elaborate?

[broncofan]

This is the key point, and we are suffering as a result of fear, when what politicians fear most is losing their seats, or the next election.

Part of it is a lack of courage but part of it is a failure to understand how exponential growth works. If people weren't paying any attention they couldn't see the inevitability of 7-800% growth rates per week when they do nothing. They also might not make the attribution when the curve bends and doubling time is suddenly a week or more after two weeks of distancing.

As Filghy's post said, it is probably unreasonable to hold countries to the same standard as countries that have dealt with previous infectious disease outbreaks like Sars and even Ebola. We might not have the expertise to perform the contact tracing of South Korea and it's unreasonable to expect the compliance with lockdowns before there's any kind of discernible outbreak. But that shouldn't blind us to the difference between the results Canada and Australia have gotten versus the United States and Britain. Or one could compare Norway and Sweden, who have had very different approaches and different outcomes. Had we shut down two weeks earlier in many places in the U.S. we'd be talking about thousands fewer deaths.

In the U.S. we can even see the results of different governors decisions since we've had very little federal leadership. We can see the kind of inertia it creates in a federated system to have a leader who does not act, does not marshal resources, does not deliver on promises about testing, and who makes it difficult for governors to act because he's feeding their citizens inconsistent messages.

[african1]

Sky News Australia, presumaby another cog in Murdoch's propaganda machine. If reporting the truth was the basis of journalism, Fox News would not exist.

It's very interesting that many are still using the oldest tool in propaganda itself. Shooting the messenger instead of focusing on the message itself. The Nazis did it to destroy everything Jewish. People are still using the same intellectual prostitution tool until today. Yea, this was on Fox News, therefore everything they say must not be true. Tell me, how is that different from let's say a Trump supporter calling your lovely media that you read and cherish so much: FAKE NEWS. I sit in he middle, yet I watch so many Lefties take the so-called high moral ground yet they will character assassinate anything and everything that disagrees with their own narrow views.

[Stavros]

The point that is relevant here is how Fox News began this crisis by claiming their is no crisis. What their information was based on I do not know, as the signs and messages that were emerging from China and the WHO made it clear this was a serious infection and that the potential for it to be pandemic rather than a localized epidemic was very strong. Denying the facts in front of them means that Fake News in this context is the deliberate distortion of those facts.

My recollection is that the sub-culture of fake news became a marked feature of the Republican Campaign in 2016 and that it was a deliberate tactic to avoid debating issues, because it is easier to dismiss what you find uncomfortable as 'fake news' and shut down debate, it is a means whereby a serious topic can be treated as if it was without merit. We have seen over the last three months how many people in public life refused to take Covid 19 as seriously as they should have and this is true of diverse politicians not just Republicans.

Your problem is that there is a National Crisis in the USA, with a President who refuses to lead it. It is no good shrugging one's shoulders and saying the States must do what they want, because in this crisis, what was needed was a campaign coordinated by the President that created a framework every town, city and state could refer to and act upon with Federal assistance across the board and not just confined to a monumental Act of Congress pledging to spend another trillion or two. You can't deal with Covid 18 just by throwing money at it.

Had Fox News from the start based its news on real facts derived from the science, its viewers may have accepted, even demanded more action from the President. They have changed their tune now, because it transpires Lachlan Murdoch who is supposed to run Fox News had not been seen in the office in New York with the assumption he wasn't bothered, whereas even his dad could see how damaging their coverage has been, to the extent it was reported the Murdoch's are hiring a battery of lawyers to deal with any legal cases that arise from their shoddy coverage. For Murdoch, money is everything, and I guess Fox News will survive, but its reputation, such as it was, has suffered greatly.

Left or right doesn't matter right now, whereas the stark realization is that the President has abdicated his responsibilities, to host a TV show in whch he is the main act. And there he is, alllowing Fauci and Birx their moment, and then flipping the advice they give as if it were irrelevant. Indeed, the lectern is set high so that when Fauci stands in front of it, he looks small, the coded message being: unimportant.
And what is the point of receiving advice on the science and the medicine when this TV Host claiming to be the President describes Covid 19 as a 'germ'?

Your President is an idiot. And that is not fake news.

[filghy2]

It's very interesting that many are still using the oldest tool in propaganda itself. Shooting the messenger instead of focusing on the message itself.

If you don't believe in shooting the messenger then why are you down-voting people's posts just because they've disagreed with you? You've down-voted my recent posts in this thread just because I criticised something you wrote in another thread. You even down-voted my reply on where I live! A bit childish, don't you think?

[african1]

If you don't believe in shooting the messenger then why are you down-voting people's posts just because they've disagreed with you? You've down-voted my recent posts in this thread just because I criticised something you wrote in another thread. You even down-voted my reply on where I live! A bit childish, don't you think?

Here is another one. All right.

First, do you have a proof I downvoted your posts? Did you get a confirmation message stating: "African1 downvoted your post"?
That was a rhetorical question by the way.

Second, and most importantly, I can downvote whatever post I like, and I can upvote whatever post I like. It is my right to do so. The button exists there for me to click it. Since I am an American and proud to be so, I see this voting issue as a First Amendment issue.

Finally, what is truly childish, is you giving weight to downvotes and upvotes in an online forum where each one of us hides behind fake usernames. It shouldn't matter in any kind of forum, let alone a pornographic one.

[filghy2]

Here is another one. All right.

First, do you have a proof I downvoted your posts?

Yes I do, which is how I know you didn't actually do what you just said you did. I also know which drongo upvoted your post