Shocking article

I agree Grannyjay

Bags I agree with your comment. Just shows how articles read can easily be taken out of context.

The problem is the press / media / social media / overtly politically biased blogs and sites who do not report factually and ' twist ' or take things ' out of context ' rely on willing fools to pass on their message.

The equivalent of Lord Haw Haw.

I am getting just a little pee'd off with the press and media who latch on to something out of context which just adds to anxiety. There is a very good article of this on the Times today. Whilst I would not wish to gag the press I wish some of the papers would stop politizing the current situation and help reinforce the government line in simple messaging. Rightly we are concerned and want good information and clarifications.

Indeed - at least here in the UK we know that there is a health system (however over-stretched) that will be there when we need help. I dread to think about the poor souls in the US who are not covered by insurance.

I think the use of the word 'cull', as the author has admitted, was perhaps somewhat crass, but as he was writing as an economist there is a stark reality to what he said. I'm also not sure from the article whether the author took into account the economic benefits of the older age population in his reckonings, which I think is the point that M0nica was making.

The article linked by Baggs was very similar to others I've read and the point was well made that adults who stand to get seriously ill if infected by schoolchildren must be well protected—through surveillance and medical support.

The author also goes on to say, and this holds true also for the UK: But, and it’s a fundamentally important but, in the United States, this plan demands a wholesale shoring-up of our medical-care system. It cannot be the case that the poor, the undocumented, or the otherwise uninsured are unable to get testing, treatment, and care if they are sick with COVID-19. It cannot be the case that that affording care to the ill becomes grounds for their apprehension by ICE. And not only on humanitarian grounds (although those should be sufficient), also because if the medical system can’t take care of everybody, it will allow the outbreak to progress. That’s the thing with contagion: unless you protect everybody, you’ve protected nobody.

Now,

By the way - I do think that the word pandemic leads to confusion in some minds and ramps up the panic - the word refers to the spread of the virus and its geographical extent, rather than its seriousness as a virus.

Baggs - thank you for interesting link.

All we can do is behave with common sense. There is a new virus that is doing the rounds and has the potential to be serious for vulnerable people; so those people and their families and friends need to behave sensibly and avoid taking unnecessary risks by following the guidelines we have been given. There is nothing more to be done.

It is sometimes hard to know exactly what the sensible thing to do is: for example, shall I pick my 2 primary aged GC up from school tomorrow and bring them home for tea as I normally do? Or is that a risk too far? I simply do not know. I make them gel their hands when they arrive; and I do not sit and hug them (as I would like to!) - but is that enough for someone like me who is in an at-risk group? Who knows?

I do not like the responses of politicians - making political capital and reinforcing prejudices about other nations. I just want clear information please with no underlying agendas, or fears of vote-losing.

I feel that I am doubly vulnerable as I am at a low emotional ebb, having just lost my OH - and I know that this can compromise the immune system.

Yes. What ARE GNHQ doing sending us a link to a link? It's rather stupid to not give us the actual article, which, if you can manage to read it, as POGS has said is not about culling older people, per se, but about global economics.

Oops! I have BEEN criticised.

Monica

Thank you for replying and in such a manner.

I think the problem was GNHQ had started the thread in what I consider to be a biased opinion against a newspaper and was prepared to use another papers opinion to do so. To be fare I was extremely surprised the thread originated from GNHQ and equally surprised they fired the bullet but did not return to engage with posters.

It backfired a bit when some posters took the opportunity to read the article in question in it's entirety and made an assessment that did not rely on prejudice or indeed did not make a deliberate attempt to twist the ' context' of the article.

Cheers.

I have criticised for making the same economic point as the original article in the DT did. Trying to lighten the atmosphere by referring to Swift's "modest proposal" concerning famine in Ireland did not help.

I shall be interested to see how the actual population mortality statistics for the first quarter of 2020 compare with previous years.

POGS. I only saw link in OP. I think the best thing to do is consider my posts as unsent.

So much has happened since.

Baggs

Just read your link. Thanks, I concur with everything said.

Thank goodness for pragmatic voices.

Baggs
What a great piece. I loved the quote The story began not with the outbreak, the story began with the story
How true.
Everyone worrying should read this.

Oh, I see. Thanks, greymar.

Culling is a deliberate action to promote the survival of the fittest, whereas this would not be deliberate.

At least, we don't believe it is!!

A time delay Baggs, I tend to go away and think about things.

"Blah, blah, blah. It's vile to talk of culling" when everyone had stopped talking of culling doesn't help either, greymar. It's puzzling, which is why I commented.

I hope your son gets better soon.

Baggs, I have tried my damnest to be pleasant but " we've got the point" doesn't help.

I think this thing is very challenging and frightening. The language used is important. Talk of culling and herd ,is not kind to me. But never mind. I don't have the energy for a scrap. Son is unwell.

*Alcabes

Oops. I think you've seen it. The blah, blah, blah comment confused me.

Greymar, it's a different article people are talking about now and we've got the point about you disapproving of the word culling. The new link is not the Telegraph article where the word culling was used. BTW, would killing have been any more acceptable? If I remember rightly, Werner had already used the word killing (killing is what the virus is doing to some, remember).

The newer link. How to think about the coronavirus: a primer by Philip Aleabes in American Scholar.

I sent you a pm trisher

I can't see anythng wrong with discussing the effects of the virus on our economy, and part of that would be the deaths of the elderly and infirm. It may not be palatable but some facts aren't. However I think it might have been wiser to consider the possible further effects. If the virus does not only cull the elderly using the care and health systems but extends into the slightly younger section of older people, those responsible for child care, volunteering and general unpaid support the the economy could be seriously damaged as families struggle to cope.