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Book Plunge: The Price of Panic

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  • Book Plunge: The Price of Panic

    Was the hysteria needed?

    Link

    -------

    I’ve had a tendency to go against the grain and not go with the crowd. I remember when I first heard about the Coronavirus and what I heard did not frightened me. Then all around me, people were going into a panic. Businesses were being shut down and schools were being closed. Church services were cancelled.

    On the positive side, so were professional sports. Then when churches opened, greeting time was cancelled as well and still is at churches. That’s one change I can live with.

    Never had I seen anything like this. People I knew were in an absolute panic. It was like death was waiting right outside the door if you dared step out.

    This book has been written to deal with what happened. The bad news is that we did indeed panic and that panic cost us greatly. Now the moment I mention this, someone will say “Well, I guess those people who had family members who died shouldn’t have panicked then!” The reality is, any disease that comes across will kill some people. Flu season comes every year and kills some. We don’t shut down for that. We realize this happens.

    Anything being said here then is not to diminish the loss of those who did die and their family members who are left behind, but it is a call to look soberly at the issue. Are we letting our fear drive us and are the experts leading us really aware of what they’re talking about?

    Now I am not one to downplay experts, but this problem is multi-faceted. Someone who is a doctor is not an expert in every area of medicine. Doctors are also not normally experts in economics and what effect a lockdown will have on society. There is also the question of what happens to people like farmers and others who supply our food for businesses.

    What were factors that caused the Coronavirus scare to be greater than others? Many possibilities are mentioned. One is that it was the Trump administration and some people could have wanted this to be on his head. Another is that social media was extremely active and panic spreads on social media.

    What constantly amazed the authors of the book is that not only were Americans told to give up their freedoms, they did so willingly and easily. Not only that, they were willing often to snitch on their neighbors. Many people who were doing regular activities could often be arrested.

    The authors look at where the virus started. They do not hold to any theories that the virus was intentionally engineered to be used as a sort of weapon. (Having said that, I don’t see any reason why an enemy nation might not try the same thing on us.) However, what happened next was a number of experts spoke on what would happen based on their models.

    Not only were these models extremely off, but they had a history of being extremely off. Hundreds of thousands could be predicted to die from diseases that kill, well, hundreds. Despite that, we still listened to these experts and took advice that devastated our economy.

    That’s the economy so that’s no big deal. Right? You can’t replace human lives with money. Right? No one is saying that, but people faced extreme financial hardship that resulted in mental health crises and in some cases, suicide. Not only that, some people with diseases that were serious did not go to the hospital to get treatment because they feared getting the virus and so they died from treatable, though serious, problems.

    Let’s look at those numbers as well. The writers say that the numbers were being played with in that if someone died from a condition that might have possibly been Covid, it was listed as a Covid death. The doctors would rarely do an autopsy as that is timely and expensive. Some of these people might not have even had Covid. This would also help with funding for the hospitals.

    We can also question if the lockdowns themselves worked. We could compare to nations like Sweden, Taiwan, and Japan that did not have lockdowns and did not see the mass death that was expected. Again, sometimes, reporters played with the numbers to make it sound worse than it was, but it was never consistent.

    What about masks? Odds are, the masks we often get don’t really work and could actually be helping to spread the virus. Why? People could go out who have it thinking that they are safe and some people could take riskier behavior wearing one.

    Why do we need to know all of this? Because there will be another pandemic and we don’t need to panic over that one most likely either. The cost to this has been too great and we don’t need to see a new normal. We need to return to normal.

    Anyone who is scared of the Coronavirus needs to read this book. It is extensively researched and well-argued. If more people could read this, perhaps we could return to sanity.

    In Christ,
    Nick Peters
    (And I affirm the virgin birth)
    Support my Patreon here.

  • #2
    As noted numerous other places on Tweb, because I'm the pastor of a church where there are quite a few older people, we have constantly looked at and considered the impact of "Rona" on our Church.
    We never closed.
    We have never missed a service.
    We have encouraged social distancing - every other pew is 'roped off'.
    We have encouraged the use of masks for those who want to wear them, but have not required them.
    We have encouraged our people to STAY HOME if they feel uneasy about coming to church - no shame, no blame.
    I missed ONE SUNDAY because I had tested positive, but had ZERO symptoms after only a mild fever.
    We have stressed "no fear - but exercise caution".
    So far, I think we've hit all the right notes.

    Good article, Nick.
    The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

    Comment


    • #3
      I sometimes wish I had lived in Australia or New Zealand. They "panicked" even more than we did, and now they seem to be pretty much back to normal.

      I guess one man's panic is another man's prudent response to a threat.

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Stoic View Post
        I sometimes wish I had lived in Australia or New Zealand. They "panicked" even more than we did, and now they seem to be pretty much back to normal.

        I guess one man's panic is another man's prudent response to a threat.
        Don't you think that a major factor would be the lack of densities of populations? (just asking)
        The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

        Comment


        • #5
          Saying that something that has killed over two million is not such a big deal is an awful look for Christians.
          "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post

            Don't you think that a major factor would be the lack of densities of populations? (just asking)
            I don't think that would explain it alone because North Dakota got hit very hard a couple months ago.
            "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post

              I don't think that would explain it alone because North Dakota got hit very hard a couple months ago.
              Of course not "alone", but it certainly stands to reason that things like mass public transit and mass densities of population events would be more likely to cause more transmission.
              Hence the term "superspreader".
              The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                Don't you think that a major factor would be the lack of densities of populations? (just asking)
                With a much greater population density, you'd think we'd have been much more worried about it.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Stoic View Post

                  With a much greater population density, you'd think we'd have been much more worried about it.
                  I don't worry - I plan.
                  The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Cow Poke View Post
                    I don't worry - I plan.
                    Some planning on the part of the federal government would have been welcome.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Stoic View Post

                      Some planning on the part of the federal government would have been welcome.
                      They don't report to me. I wish they did.
                      The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                      Comment

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