Downplaying the COVID-19 threat has become a formulaic cognitive trigger dismissal. Perhaps wise but there have been disasters in the past by such wise-ass downplaying: plague, VD, smallpox, polio, measles, mental illness, genocide, AIDS, opiods, suicide, environmental damage, sexual predation, et al. The worst are intolerant religion and war-making, this two-backed beast is widely blessed and boosted by profit-making adherents no matter the great harm the cause, both sensationalized to the maximum. Their leaders wear funny-looking garments and jewelry, are obsessed with rank, ceremony, public displays and above all fund-raising by scaring the shit out of people with endless murdering onslaughts supported by extorted tithes and taxes. No surprise that journalism sucks up to them, that's its purpose. This befouling message is behind a paywall, privacy guaranteed by TOS. At 11:13 AM 2/27/2020, you wrote:
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="wQo7VCexvkCLBNE0vSTK1iIzwarPt4zkk"; protected-headers="v1" From: Razer <g2s@riseup.net> To: cypherpunks@lists.cpunks.org Message-ID: <1edcd351-7569-8b13-777c-a9cfa9bcd81c@riseup.net> Subject: WhooHoo FluMongering: CJR just comes right out and says it
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"Why COVID-19 is not the problem" (but the sensationalized reporting and ignorant reactionary humans sure are!)
"So why is so much attention being paid to COVID-19? First, because itâs new, and spreading. But as Max Fisher wrote in the New York Times, COVID-19 âhits nearly every cognitive trigger we have.â Its novelty and the uncertainty around it override the recognition that other diseases, including flu, are far more endemic and dangerous.
He likens the reaction to that after a plane crash, when people shun flying even though a crash is an anomaly and flying is overwhelmingly safe.
And social media spreads the rumors, fake cures, and other untruths that we wonât link to, but include words like âgenocideâ and âZionist conspiracy.â
Journalists have the responsibility to put things in context. Cover COVID-19 and its effects, be they economic, physical, or social. But acknowledge its place in the pantheon of disease. Reporting as if it were the end of the world is an epidemic of a different kind."
 https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/covid-19-coronavirus.php