It’s official: We are a nation of idiots


A group of massless people invaded a Target store and marched through it shouting “Freedom!” and “This is America!” and also, inexplicably,”Library Card!” (At least, that is what that last one sounded like.)

I can understand a person feeling, however wrongly, that wearing a mask is an infringement of their rights. But to care so much about it that they go out and recruit other people to engage in such an absurd stunt is to display idiocy of a high order

Can we all agree that the very lowest priority for getting the vaccines should be people like those in the Target store who are deliberately flouting the guidelines and needlessly putting other people at risk just to make a silly political point?

Seth Meyers makes the case for others who should be on the bottom of the list.

Comments

  1. Rob Grigjanis says

    richardelguru @1: That almost worked. The W+, W- and Z (mediating the weak interaction) are massive gauge bosons.

  2. John Morales says

    We are a nation of idiots

    Obviously not, since you are part of the nation.

    What you are is a nation with idiots.

    … that noted, you sure have a lot of them — and they sure have a lot of influence.

    Can we all agree that the very lowest priority for getting the vaccines should be people like those in the Target store who are deliberately flouting the guidelines and needlessly putting other people at risk just to make a silly political point?

    Hm. Seems to me that they should be a higher priority than those who don’t willingly undertake risky activities, since they are thereby at higher risk.

    Medically-speaking, that is.

    Possibly even ethically-speaking, though I rarely bother with that sort of stuff.

    Still, the circumstance where an individual who was offered a vaccine and refuses it then gets infected due to wilful risky activity would be even more delicious, no?

  3. Rob Grigjanis says

    John @5:

    Still, the circumstance where an individual who was offered a vaccine and refuses it then gets infected due to wilful risky activity would be even more delicious, no?

    If they’re guaranteed to not infect anyone else, maybe. But that’s not guaranteed, is it?

  4. John Morales says

    Rob, no. But then, your objection equally (arguably, more so) applies to Mano’s contention, no?

  5. komarov says

    I guess none of them noticed that a black and white Gadsen flag , when it’s not fully unfurled, could be mistaken for an ISIL flag.* Storming a public place in the US with an ISIL flag could have tragic consequences. But then so could storming a public place in the middle of an out-of-control pandemic with the intent of protesting protective measures; the tragedy would just be a lot slower with fewer dramatic pictures and headlines.

    *My first guess on its first appearance was actually skull and crossbones which could have been a tasteless joke or someone trolling the protestors but the shapes didn’t fit. That left the other black and white flag with a blobby centre and stuff around the edges…

  6. StonedRanger says

    The last one was not yelling library card, they were yelling ‘bye retard’. I think you are being overly kind when you say its just now official about being a nation of idiots. Im pretty sure that was official on january 20th of 2017. But good on ya for being optimistic this long.

  7. Rob Grigjanis says

    John, my objection was about your delighting in the suffering of others without apparent regard for innocents who may also suffer as a consequence. Mano didn’t use words like “delicious”. But as you say, you rarely bother with that sort of stuff.

  8. flex says

    #5. John Morales, wrote,

    Seems to me that they should be a higher priority than those who don’t willingly undertake risky activities, since they are thereby at higher risk.

    I would add, “Of passing it along to others.”

    Not that I would seriously suggest it, but maybe these are people who need to be rounded up and branded, I mean vaccinated, forcibly. They are the most likely people to spread it. We could sate their desire to be persecuted at the same time.

    “What did you do in the COVID wars, Daddy?”
    “I helped establish herd immunity by shooting miss-guided dupes with vaccination darts.”

  9. John Morales says

    Rob @11, your objection is misguided.

    John, my objection was about your delighting in the suffering of others without apparent regard for innocents who may also suffer as a consequence.

    And yet I pointed out it would be better to offer them the vaccine, rather than to deny it to them. Only the ones who then refused it and then got infected are the target.

    Mano didn’t use words like “delicious”.

    I did use these words: “even more delicious”.

    See, the comparative applies to those who would have the vaccine offered yet refuse it in comparison to those who were denied the vaccine and so had no opportunity to refuse it.

    A smaller cardinality.

    But as you say, you rarely bother with that sort of stuff.

    Indeed — I’m opining they should have preferential access, rather than being denied access.

    Win-win, even: if they partake, they are shown as hypocrites, but do reduce community exposure; if they don’t, it’s the very same as if they had been denied, but they’d be fewer.

    Looks like I’m on the side of the angels, whatever my reasons. 😉

    (But then, it’s not intent that matters, right?)

  10. Holms says

    These ‘don’t tread on me’ nutters are often the same people that think businesses should be left to do as they please without the government being able to tell them otherwise. In many cases, these are the people that would defend a business that chose not to serve a same sex couple, because the business gets to have any entry condition without the government telling them otherwise.

    …And yet here they are getting angry over a business having an entry condition.

  11. John Morales says

    Rob, that which you call misdirection is my clarification of #5, which itself contained the response to what I quoted therein to which you objected.

    So, succinctly: No, we cannot all agree, inasmuch as I disagree.

    I can’t help it that the virtuous and also pragmatic thing to do is such a source of deliciousness, nor can you. Want to deny yourself the pleasure, I can’t help that, either — but you can.

  12. says

    I can understand a person feeling, however wrongly, that wearing a mask is an infringement of their rights.

    The same conservative people who don’t want to wear masks also enforce modesty norms and dress codes upon others. What if I wanted to swim naked or without a covered chest in some beach? They’d be the first to say that dress codes do not infringe my rights. (In fact, I do think that I have a legitimate grievance. The average male sumo wrestler has bigger boobs than me, yet he is allowed to walk around with a naked chest. Meanwhile I get the pesky problem of finding some swimwear that covers a person’s chest without looking like women’s swimwear.)

    The point is, these people who yell about freedom and individual rights are more than happy to limit other people’s choices in different situations.

    Holms @#14

    In many cases, these are the people that would defend a business that chose not to serve a same sex couple, because the business gets to have any entry condition without the government telling them otherwise.

    …And yet here they are getting angry over a business having an entry condition.

    Indeed, we can find plenty of examples where these people have double standards and are hypocritical.

    They do not value individual freedom as such. Instead they just want to tell others what to do without ever hearing anybody else telling them to do something they don’t like.

  13. says

    Rob Grigjanis #4
    Don’t make light of my joke, I was course thinking of thinking of the γ.
    Some Bosons are not massless is equivalent to some Bozos are not maskless.

  14. John Morales says

    enkidu. going Rabbinical?

    Sure.

    Spock says, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *