Maggie's Farm

Broken Record time. Restaurants are always vulnerable. The moment people freely decided of their own accord, without anyone mandating anything or even offering guidelines, that they were going to curtail a lot of going into close quarters at indoor spaces, a lot more restaurants were going to go under. Bars were going to be especially hard hit. While it would be interesting to discuss how much additional pressure guidelines and mandates put on the industry, we apparently are never going to be able to have that discussion, because too many articles start with the assumption that it was all because of "covid insanity," and government response or people panicking.

The disease was the problem. Tot up the cost of that first. Everyone who does not start there loses me very quickly. Come back when the possibility of objectivity occurs to you.

As long as people cannot differentiate between obvious things, no one is going to take them seriously. Then they will complain that no one is listening and others don't care and are just telling them what to do for no reason. And you will get lots of pats on the back from people telling you how right you are, and how brave.

@ Just Me - it is not remotely apparent. Saying it repeatedly doesn't make it so. Explain how different states have such different outcomes if those things have no effect.

@ B Hammer - I said nothing here about the hypocrisy and inconsistencies. Those are indeed legitimate topics for discussion. But they are minor. The hypocrisy is mostly annoying, not dangerous. It lets you know who to watch closely and go looking for opponents in the primary. I have mentioned previously that masks have some effect when they are good masks worn properly and by a large percentage of the population. I don't like fake masking either. Liquor stores sell a product you can't easily and quickly make at home, and a percentage of people cut off from ETOH will get DT's and die, so that kept them open. It is ironic, but it's not crazy.

I'm not sure why you say the double standards need to be discussed, as if they weren't a daily news item, even though they are not the main drivers of either safety or keeping businesses open. They are discussed all the time. What I seldom see discussed, because it is largely overlooked and forgotten, is that many people are angry at their government and their fellow citizens who created the smaller portion of the economic damage while ignoring the effects of the disease, which would still be considerable on businesses, supply chains, and medical facilities even if the government had done zip. It's big and we don't talk about it.

I don't get why people prefer to talk about how furious they are at symbolic things rather than address the actual issues in hopes of figuring out what would be better next time.