Americans And Sacrifice, Rather Than Just Self Concern

It is infuriating that so many Americans have such selfish, self centered needs, that nothing else matters to them, in the middle of a CoronaVirus Pandemic!

God forbid they cannot get their haircuts!

God forbid they cannot do workouts in gyms!

God forbid they have to be able to get tattoos, a dangerous practice, and really labels them for life as egomaniacs, who have mental issues!

God forbid that women cannot get their nails painted and their hair dyed in a desperate attempt to make themselves look better, as if only appearance matters, not character, intelligence, and decent behavior!

God forbid they cannot forego their urgent need to go bowling, or participate in other sports that will endanger them and others, as they cannot fill their time with such things as reading or music as more significant ways to improve their lives, and make them more interesting to others!

This self centeredness and lack of rational behavior is on full display this weekend in Georgia, and soon in other states, as inconvenience cannot be abided!

Yes, we all want to do what we wish to do, but in the middle of a pandemic that already has killed more than 50,000 Americans and many more coming, how about a sense of reality and common sense, and accept sacrifice in an environment of accepting that we are all in this together, and need to care about more than just ourselves?

37 comments on “Americans And Sacrifice, Rather Than Just Self Concern

  1. Ronald April 25, 2020 9:46 am

    Great, Rational Lefty, better than Georgia!

  2. D April 25, 2020 4:25 pm

    Ronald,

    It isn’t only as you have described.

    It is also denial.

    A lot of people cannot sincerely understand something that is devastating unless they actually go through it. That is, whether it is the person himself/herself—or someone who is close to that person.

  3. Ronald April 25, 2020 4:33 pm

    D, you are correct, and this is the Donald Trump Syndrome, inability to have empathy, compassion, concern for anyone but their own selfish selves!

    We have learned how many people in this nation have no respect or regard for anyone, and only think of their own comforts and demands!

  4. Jeffrey G Moebus April 25, 2020 5:39 pm

    RF: “It is infuriating that so many Americans have such selfish, self centered needs, that nothing else matters to them, in the middle of a CoronaVirus Pandemic!”

    Well, Doc; look at it this way: All those folks getting those haircuts, gym workouts, tattoos, nail and hair jobs, or going bowling, joining anti-lockdown protests, attending church services, walking on the beach, and so forth; all those folks provide perfect specimens for an experiment to see just what exactly, actually, really happens.

    Let’s check back in a couple of weeks and see exactly how many of these people actually get sick and/or die of COVID-19. And let’s not check just the individuals involved; let’s check back into the areas where these activities occurred to see if there are any upticks in C-19 Cases and Deaths, whether individual participants got sick and/or died or not. And not just the cities, but in the neighborhoods of those participants in question, as well.

    Has there been an increase in Cases and Deaths in those areas among those folks who observed Easter Sunday worship gatherings? [You had quite a few aspersions to cast their way, as well, as i recall.] It will be two weeks tomorrow since they all got together. How are they doing?

    The prediction ~ and hope ~ of many people is that there will be significant increase in infection and mortality rates among the Deplorables. Being able to say “I TOLD You SO!!!” can be so self-satisfying at times, eh?

    If You had to choose, which You rather see happen: That they all get sick and die? Or that no more of them get sick and die than the statistics show for their areas, ages, and general state of health?

    You concluded: “Yes, we all want to do what we wish to do, but in the middle of a pandemic that already has killed more than 50,000 Americans and many more coming, how about a sense of reality and common sense, and accept sacrifice in an environment of accepting that we are all in this together, and need to care about more than just ourselves?”

    Some of us are in this more than others: specifically, those 27+ million people who have lost their jobs and sources of income over the past month; and those business owners who are in danger of losing their and their employees’ [if they still have any] livelihoods.

    Let me ask You one, final question, Dr Feinmen; and then i will disturb Your reverie no more.

    Have You or any of Your colleagues at the university lost Your incomes? Have any of Your followers on this blog? Are You or any of Your followers in danger of losing Your own businesses? Or what is providing [or is planned to provide You with] financial security in retirement?

    i notice that Y’All got Your $1200 CARES check. How many people in this country have not received a check and ~ for one reason or another ~ never will? And when the $2000 per month per person for 12 months becomes the routine, how many people won’t get that either?

    Happy Ramadan.

  5. Ronald April 25, 2020 5:45 pm

    Jeffrey, I have no idea about my readers.

    I have continued to teach online remotely.

    Next fall, there are no guarantees, as student enrollment will likely decline.

    I am an adjunct professor at this point, so we will see what happens.

    I have earned after 48 years of dedicated teaching a state retirement plan and, of course, Social Security.

    If you leave it to the Republicans, however, and Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, they are out to destroy Social Security.

    So I am doing alright for the moment, but who knows long term?

    And that $1200, is not a gift, it is our money everyone is entitled to, including those who are being shafted!

    Ok, now, your court, what is your situation in this health disaster, since you asked me, so tell us all!

  6. Jeffrey G Moebus April 25, 2020 6:29 pm

    RF: “I have earned after 48 years of dedicated teaching a state retirement plan and, of course, Social Security.”

    What is the status of Florida’s state retirement/pension plan? If it’s like virtually every other State and Local government [and many private/union/corporate] retirement/pension plans, what it will be able to actually deliver in the future is murky at best, and in serious doubt, at worst. Especially given the expenses associated with dealing with COVID-19.

    RF: “If you leave it to the Republicans, however, and Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump, they are out to destroy Social Security.”

    Again: the destruction of Social Security began a long, long time before the Republicans, McConnell, and Trump. How long has the US government been drawing down on the SS Trust Fund so as to meet day-to-day expenses? Has that only happened since Trump assumed the throne? Or did his predecessor and his predecessor’s predecessors’ do exactly the same thing; Republocrat or Demican?

    RF: “And that $1200, is not a gift, it is our money everyone is entitled to, including those who are being shafted!”

    If that $1200 had come out of money that had been raised by the government thru taxation and other mandated sources of revenue, then Yes: That money would be “our money that we are entitled to” because it was taken from us by that government under threat of lawful force.

    But that money is coming from out of nowhere. It is created by accounting tricks at The Fed and the printing presses of the US Treasury. We had a $1.4 Trillion deficit built into the FY 2020 Federal Budget before C-19. So far, we have added $3+ Trillion to that Deficit, and the Boyz and Girls in Swampland are just getting started.

    So those $1200 checks are not “our money to which everyone is entitled.” They are money that is stolen from the future; the future of those who are going to have to pay for all this when the bills come due.

    RF: “Ok, now, your court, what is your situation in this health disaster, since you asked me, so tell us all!”

    If by “situation,” You mean my financial situation: My situation is that i get a monthly check as a retired US Army Master Sergeant with 28 years of service, and a SS Survivors Benefit check from my deceased Wife’s 34+ years working as a Registered Nurse.

    If the government goes bankrupt and can no longer meet its obligations to Military Retirees or SS Survivor beneficiaries, I will be completely without income.

    And i’ve yet to get my $1200 check; but when i do, i plan to return it to the US Treasury with instructions that it be used to reduce the Principal of the national, sovereign Debt of the government of the United States.

  7. Former Republican April 25, 2020 6:44 pm

    Rustbelt, Pragmatic, Leia, and I are all retired and on Social Security.

    Southern Liberal and Rational Lefty are secretaries. They’re both working remotely from home.

  8. Former Republican April 25, 2020 6:47 pm

    D – The rest of us second that.

  9. Pragmatic Progressive April 26, 2020 5:17 pm

    Part of our stimulus money we kept in our checking accounts, to help pay bills. And part of it we transferred to our savings accounts.

  10. Rustbelt Democrat April 26, 2020 6:50 pm

    If you get your tax refund through direct deposit, you will get your stimulus money faster.

  11. Princess Leia April 27, 2020 5:24 pm

    Bristol, Virginia has an interesting situation. Part of the town is in Virginia and part of it is in Tennessee. If Tennessee reopens before Virginia does, then Bristol will have to reopen before the rest of the state does.

  12. Ronald April 27, 2020 5:27 pm

    Princess Leia, that is weird, and I wonder if other states have the same situation with border communities shared with another state!

  13. Pragmatic Progressive April 27, 2020 5:29 pm

    That’s a good reason why Trump should have put a national lockdown in place. Instead, the states are doing everything piecemeal. There’s no coordination.

  14. Jeffrey G Moebus April 27, 2020 6:40 pm

    Short of a declaration of martial law, Trump has no authority to order a national lockdown.

    Apparently somebody pointed that out to him last week when he shifted from his claim of “total authority” to do whatever he wants to putting it where it belongs: on the governments of the States.

    Maybe somebody slipped a bit of the Constitution into his bedtime reading, eh? Like the 10th and 9th Amendments?

  15. Jeffrey G Moebus April 27, 2020 7:39 pm

    Like i said: Let the Governors handle it.

    Colorado and Nevada join Western States Pact as states work on unified coronavirus strategy

    (CNN)Colorado and Nevada on Monday became the latest states to join California, Oregon and Washington in the Western States Pact, a working group of Western state governors that will coordinate how to reopen from the stay-at-home orders each has issued to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus.

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/27/politics/colorado-nevada-western-states/index.html

  16. Jeffrey G Moebus April 27, 2020 10:01 pm

    They don’t need “leadership” at the federal level to run their own States and to deal with COVID-19. The federal government has a long history of failed programs it imposed with its “leadership” upon the States.

    They main thing they need from the federal government is for it to provide valid, science-based information about the virus and the pandemic.

    They could also use the federal government not spending $1 trillion per year on global empire building, national defense, and Fatherland security.

  17. Former Republican April 27, 2020 10:07 pm

    Seconded, Rational Lefty. The troll is totally wrong in his assessments. Ignore the fool.

  18. Jeffrey G Moebus April 28, 2020 1:01 am

    The Founding Fathers also built Slavery into the Constitution, and denied Women, People of Color, and White Males with insufficient Property the Right to Vote, among other mistakes.

    One thing they did get right was the 9th and 10th Amendments to that Constitution, which is what the issue is here.

  19. Ronald April 28, 2020 5:12 am

    Jeffrey, you love to attack the federal government, as if historically, state governments have been so outstanding in taking care of their states’ needs.

    As an historian, it is clear that if not for the federal government, we would not have had the great social advances that occurred under the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ!

    Neither was perfect, certainly not, but moved the nation forward!

  20. Jeffrey G Moebus April 29, 2020 12:43 am

    RF: “Jeffrey, you love to attack the federal government, ,,, ”

    Heh; that i do, Doc. As Joe Walsh once put it: “I’m just lookin’ for clues at the scene of the crime… .”

    And, how can i NOT attack Swampland when it is such ~ what the folks in the close tactical artillery, air, and naval gunfire support business call ~ such “a target-rich environment’?

    RF: “… as if historically, state governments have been so outstanding in taking care of their states’ needs.”

    Is that how You frame it in Your American History classes, Professor? Well, since You asked the question: HAVE State governments been “outstanding” in taking care of their State’s [note the singular, not the plural] “needs”?

    i will be delighted to answer that question when You first define exactly what You mean by the words “outstanding” and “needs.” And clarify “outstanding” as compared to What? The federal government? Or something else?

    And i will not volunteer to hold my breath until You provide those definitions or that clarification.

    Were You, nonetheless and ~ quite frankly, quite unanticipatedly ~ do actually do that [provide Your definitions and Your standards of comparison], then i would invite You to provide real world data and statistics to verify and justify Your assertions and subsequent judgement. Nor will i volunteer to hold my breath until that happens, either.

    RF: “As an historian, it is clear that if not for the federal government, we would not have had the great social advances that occurred under the New Deal of FDR and the Great Society of LBJ!”

    It is my guess, Doctor Feinman, that there are a number of equally credentialed and qualified “historians” who would ask You: “‘Clear’ to Whom?” And, they would continue: “And How, Professor Feinman, exactly, is that ‘clear’? And on what basis?”

    As Dylan/Hendricks once put it: “You and I have been thru that, and this is not our fate…. .”

    If You are asserting that those “great social advances under FDR’s New Deal” means ending the Great Depression, we have already agreed that the only reason The Great Depression ended was because of World War II. To what other “great social advances” under FDR do You refer?

    And that, by no means, is not to not give credit to FDR for “ending the Great Depression.” Rather, that is to give him ]and his owners, operators, handlers, and script writers] credit for making World War II happen, in the first [expletive deleted]ing place.

    As regards LBJ’s “Great Society”: What did that grand Crusade actually, really accomplish? And at how much cost? And to Whom? And to Whom’s actual, real benefit? Or, as we put it in the IG business: Cui Malo? And Cui Bono?

    What is the official Poverty Rate in the United States today, 55 years later?

    According to https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/visualizations/2019/demo/p60-266/Figure7.pdf : The official Poverty Rate in the United States in 1965 was 17%; in 2019, that official Rate was 13%.

    Given how many hundreds of Billions if not multiples of Trillions of dollars that have been spent on LBJ’s so-called “Great Society” [including, particularly, his “War On Poverty,” in all its various and sundry manifestations], just exactly how successful would You say LBJ’s Crusade has turned out?

    A mere 4% reduction of a problem in a shareholder-owned corporation over the course of 54 years would have gotten the entire executive office and board of directors fired several times, starting long, long ago.

    And more importantly: Given how much money the Federal, State, and Local governments have spent in money [can You provide even a preliminary estimate? How many Trillions do You figure?] ~ let alone the time, energy, effort, life force, political capital, and opportunity cost ~ what has been the “return on investment” to America and ~ more importantly, to America’s Taxpayers ~ on LBJ’s Grand Scheme?

    Or is that not a worthy and worthwhile question?

    You concluded: “Neither was perfect, certainly not, but moved the nation forward!”

    The only possible response to that is: “Ahhh Yes. FORWARD!!!! “But, But, but…..,” asked the Little Boy wandering into the middle of a movie: “in what direction ‘forward’? And forward toward What?”

    Dylan/Hendricks concluded: “Let us stop talking falsely now, for the hour is getting late.”

  21. Ronald April 29, 2020 5:42 am

    Jeffrey, you are truly a troll, just looking to argue and fight!

    I can assure you that much more than 90 percent of scholars agree that the New Deal and Great Society did a lot of good, and that state governments in much of the nation, if left to do what they want, would be denying their citizens basic rights and freedoms, without the Civil Rights laws, and labor, consumer, environmental and other laws!

    This is particularly true in the South, Great Plains, and Mountain states, who do not wish to protect their citizens even from the Virus raging across our nation! And realize they happen to be Republicans, not a coincidence!

    But go ahead and deny reality, as you are very good at that, and no one who is serious accepts your take on our history!

  22. Jeffrey G Moebus April 30, 2020 1:53 am

    RF: “Jeffrey, you are truly a troll, just looking to argue and fight!”

    That seems to be the working definition of a “troll” these days all over the blogosphere, Left, Right, and Muddled Middle: “Troll: Somebody who disagrees with the received knowledge and wisdom from the resident or guest “scholar” or “expert” or mouthpiece, and challenges him to justify ~ with data and statistics from economic, political, and social history ~ his blanket assertions about just about everything.”

    I’m sorry You perceive all this as “arguing and fighting,” Professor. That is neither my intent nor my desire. i am merely trying to separate the Myths, Lies, and Bullpuck from what has happened and is happening in the Real World.

    RF: “I can assure you that much more than 90 percent of scholars agree that the New Deal and Great Society did a lot of good, and that state governments in much of the nation, if left to do what they want, would be denying their citizens basic rights and freedoms, without the Civil Rights laws, and labor, consumer, environmental and other laws!”

    “More than 90%,”eh? At one point, i am sure that 90% of certain groups of scholars also assured us that Soviet-style communism was the wave of the future for the entire planet. And are still trying to figure out what happened in 1991 when the USSR and European communism self-destructed by falling apart at the seams, and was consigned to the ashbins of history.

    And when You say “scholars,” exactly to whom do You refer? Historians? Sociologists? Political Philosophers? Others? How about Economists? Or don’t they count as “scholars”? And I won’t even bother to ask where You got Your “90%” number from.

    And the New Deal and Great Society “did a great deal of good” for exactly whom? Why was the only way The New Deal got America out of the Great Depression was World War II? And do You have an answer to my question about the Poverty Rate and the Return On Investment to the American Taxpayer for that so-called Great Society’s “War On Poverty”? Is it any higher than the ROI from the Wars On Drugs and Terrorism? Or the ROI on the whole “Cold War” boondoggle? Or are those just more of those trollish questions real scholars can’t be bothered to bother themselves with?

    RF: “This is particularly true in the South, Great Plains, and Mountain states, who do not wish to protect their citizens even from the Virus raging across our nation! And realize they happen to be Republicans, not a coincidence!”

    Well, Doc: They certainly can’t do a worse job of protecting their citizens from the Virus than those States on the East and West Coasts and Mid-West have done: Where the Case and Death numbers have been and remain the highest. And how many of those States where 83% of the Deaths have occurred are not run by Republicans?

    RF: “But go ahead and deny reality, as you are very good at that, and no one who is serious accepts your take on our history!”

    i’m not denying “reality,” Professor. i am trying to figure out exactly what that Reality is. And i’m not worried about people who are “serious” about this like You accepting my “take on our history.” i’m not doing it for Y’All’s benefit, in the least.

  23. Former Republican April 30, 2020 1:10 pm

    Definition of a troll from Wikipedia –

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

    In internet slang, a troll is a person who starts quarrels or upsets people on the Internet to distract by posting inflammatory and digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses and normalizing tangential discussion, whether for the troll’s amusement or a specific gain.

  24. Jeffrey G Moebus April 30, 2020 1:18 pm

    Hey Thanks, FR, for the “formal” definition of a “troll.”

    But like i said, i was offering a working definition as manifest throught Blogolandia.

  25. Rustbelt Democrat April 30, 2020 1:20 pm

    Thanks for giving us the correct definition, which he fits perfectly, as all he wants to do here is get us emotionally upset. Some blogs would consider it harassment and kick him out for that.

  26. Jeffrey G Moebus April 30, 2020 3:00 pm

    No, RD; i’m not trying to get Y’All “emotionally upset.”

    i’m just trying to see what Y’All think about different things, and why Y’All think that way.

    But, that meets my working definition of a “troll,” doesn’t it? As opposed to Wiki’s “formal” definition.

  27. Former Republican April 30, 2020 3:05 pm

    Rustbelt – The rest of us second that.

  28. Pragmatic Progressive April 30, 2020 3:12 pm

    Yeah. He ought to be glad the Professor is so lenient.

  29. Rational Lefty May 1, 2020 11:00 am

    Speaking of the New Deal, I recommend watching Ken Burns’ PBS series about the Roosevelts.

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