So I went back to Quora, because I’ve been bored and a bit antsy. Recently, I came across this answer by Steven Burton for a question that asked, “Do you personally know someone who has contracted COVID-19? Has this changed how you feel about the vaccine?” To summarize his long answer with statistical deaths of other more deadly ailments, he basically tried to diminish the urgency of battling Covid-19, on the pretense that this is really just a Democratic Party reelection talking point. He didn’t say the Democratic Party in his answer, but looking through his other answers, you can clearly see which side of the fence he sleeps on.
Originally, I was typing up a response to his answer, but decided to just add it here instead. People who has the tenacity to diminish 640,000 American deaths because it’s less than 2% of the US population, are truly out of touch with reality. We’re not talking about 6 deaths that happened because of their extraordinary compromised immune systems. We’re talking about 640,000 people. I don’t care whether they are 1%, or 0.1% of the population. 640,000 people is the size of some countries on the planet! In fact, that’s more than the population size of Vancouver!
So here is what my response would have been, to his asinine answer:
You’re comparing celery sticks with tire irons.
The statistical deaths of other ailments do not justify the statistical deaths of another. In other words, let’s pretend Virus-A killed 10 million people globally when it happened. Then someone comes along and says, “So what?! Drunk drivers killed 300 million people!” What does one thing have to do with another? 10 million people is still 10 million people.
Furthermore, there is treatment for cancer and cancer doesn’t spread from person to person. Heart disease is treatable and can be prevented. It also doesn’t jump from person to person. Robberies are a problem on the social level that can be mitigated by programs invested by the government via education, health care, and job incentives. Covid-19 is a virus that can spread from person to person. On top of that, it’s preventable when people do their part to stop spreading it. It didn’t spread as badly as the Black Death or Smallpox, because even though the world governments were slow to respond, they responded as quickly as they did with the abilities they have. History teaches. Unfortunately, not everyone is literate in history.
In short, making comparisons in one type of death over another is an unnecessary tool in trying to diminish the importance battling Covid-19. You might as well be honest and just tell you rather risk the lives of other people, us you want to make money, pretend you’re pro-life when convenient to you, and chant freedom is more important than the health of the nation as a whole. In other words, socialism is evil because that’s what it all alludes to right?
In short, just because someone has it worst, it should never diminish the problems someone else might have. What others have went through are relative to their own life situations. What you have gone through is relative to your own life. Just because someone else was poorer, and was abused, doesn’t diminish your own problems. It’s too easy, too often for other people to condemn people for their ‘small problems’, when in fact, each individual has to experience it on their own. You don’t get a say in it, because you’re not having the same problems as this person is having. So the best you could do is either shut up or support that person. Just as battling Covid-19, if you refuse to help others, then at least let others help others. Don’t stand in their way. Don’t spread misinformation to justify your political rhetoric. Don’t be that asshole.
