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BigmanPigman

(51,590 posts)
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 08:51 PM Mar 2020

What do you think the "silver linings" of this epidemic will be?

As we go through this and once it is over and we have the time to study and digest what we have experienced, what will we learn that ends up benefiting the planet, people and animals? How will we learn and and what may we alter in our behavior, economically, politically, socially, as consumers, medically, scientifically, nationally and internationally? Will we change our values, perceptions and perspectives?

60 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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What do you think the "silver linings" of this epidemic will be? (Original Post) BigmanPigman Mar 2020 OP
Reinforces the Idea that Elections and Votes Matter? TomCADem Mar 2020 #1
China has shut down the wildlife markets. nt Phoenix61 Mar 2020 #2
Have they? that would be good. I thought they just went underground Merlot Mar 2020 #5
I'm sure some have but there will be fewer. Phoenix61 Mar 2020 #9
We clearly saw that only a handful of people, infected and undetected, Blue_true Mar 2020 #47
I saw a Special Report and there are plenty in Thailand BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #17
I saw that as well...I'm not optimistic about these going away any time soon pecosbob Mar 2020 #24
Trump will be gone captain queeg Mar 2020 #3
That's the first thing customerserviceguy Mar 2020 #49
A break for the earth's air and water dalton99a Mar 2020 #4
See my post #13 snacker Mar 2020 #14
Ironically Northern Italy's air polution went right thru the floor.. nobody's driving.. mitch96 Mar 2020 #29
We may all realize that stuff we buy doesn't matter MissB Mar 2020 #6
I've never been into buying 'things' HarlanPepper Mar 2020 #10
My partner lives in England... a la izquierda Mar 2020 #55
+1. People don't need the latest device, car, doodads, etc. to live their lives. yonder Mar 2020 #20
I realized that decades ago. llmart Mar 2020 #32
trump will forever be known as the virus man! yortsed snacilbuper Mar 2020 #7
Hopefully, more people will realize you shouldn't elect a fucking moron as president. Flaleftist Mar 2020 #8
The silver lining Turin_C3PO Mar 2020 #11
Temporarily a decline in colds and seasonal flu. Ms. Toad Mar 2020 #12
Just saw on Twitter snacker Mar 2020 #13
A satellite showed how much pollution has been reduced BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #19
no one named dumpt or pants will ever be president ever again? demtenjeep Mar 2020 #15
Tamping the dirt onto the grave of "Government - BAD!! Business - GOOD!!" hatrack Mar 2020 #16
Austerity now exposed as socially irresponsible bull crap OhNo-Really Mar 2020 #31
Maybe we can tackle bamagal62 Mar 2020 #18
I hope so. nt Blue_true Mar 2020 #48
I might get a grandchild out of it! lindysalsagal Mar 2020 #21
You mean like after the black out in NYC in the 60s? BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #22
Here's hoping! lindysalsagal Mar 2020 #25
More bidets, less toilet paper. n/t zackymilly Mar 2020 #23
That never occurred to me. BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #28
I saw some retrofittable options ☺️ OhNo-Really Mar 2020 #34
Some tiny steps to improving health care in the US will likely occur including ... LonePirate Mar 2020 #26
I just read the article that this virus might actually end saving poeple LisaL Mar 2020 #27
One thing is for certain. there will be change. good?bad? I don't know but it WILL be different. nt mitch96 Mar 2020 #30
NEVER allow Republicans to ever mnhtnbb Mar 2020 #33
👆👆👆Winner OhNo-Really Mar 2020 #35
The education of the trump voter - hopefully empedocles Mar 2020 #36
Final nails in the coffin for "supply-side capitalism". . . DinahMoeHum Mar 2020 #37
It may well prove finally once and for all that the GOP can't do economics or math very well pecosbob Mar 2020 #38
My hope is more will work from home pandr32 Mar 2020 #39
Exactly Freddie Mar 2020 #41
+1 treestar Mar 2020 #54
None. People will suffer, die, lose jobs MaryMagdaline Mar 2020 #40
Nothing lasting. Regrettably. Arthur_Frain Mar 2020 #42
corporate rethinking... Trueblue Texan Mar 2020 #43
Fewer people with get and die from the regular flu this year and in several years to come 4139 Mar 2020 #44
Trump will lose all 50 states, and Americans will embrace universal healthcare nt Fiendish Thingy Mar 2020 #45
Maybe people will learn to not be so wasteful. Flaleftist Mar 2020 #46
Less faux viewers Ferryboat Mar 2020 #50
Parents will become reacquainted with their children, we will see what we truly need Squinch Mar 2020 #51
Stock buy backs are going to be scrutinized TheFarseer Mar 2020 #52
Like the airlines. BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #57
A few basics come to mind..... KY_EnviroGuy Mar 2020 #53
Always Keep A Nice RobinA Mar 2020 #56
I keep everything and had old wipes that were partially BigmanPigman Mar 2020 #59
Super markets will be fully refreshed. Renew Deal Mar 2020 #58
I just want my husband and I to live, and not be too ill. nt Maru Kitteh Mar 2020 #60

TomCADem

(17,387 posts)
1. Reinforces the Idea that Elections and Votes Matter?
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 08:54 PM
Mar 2020

And voting for a narcissistic idiot or not voting at all to flip the bird to the man is just screwing yourself?

Phoenix61

(17,003 posts)
9. I'm sure some have but there will be fewer.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:03 PM
Mar 2020

If they’re illegal fewer people will be exposed collaterally.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
47. We clearly saw that only a handful of people, infected and undetected,
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 10:43 PM
Mar 2020

can totally infect a nation. So underground and fewer won't be good enough, China must aggressively pursue shutting down the live animal trade everywhere.

One of the unfortunate circumstances is that we still have people in this country that eat live animals and get those animal's blood on their hands and breath in dust from their fur or feathers. The practice in our country is very isolated and low level, though.

BigmanPigman

(51,590 posts)
17. I saw a Special Report and there are plenty in Thailand
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:10 PM
Mar 2020

and other Asian countries, they are just more secret now. The poor animals are taken from all over the world...heartbreaking.

customerserviceguy

(25,183 posts)
49. That's the first thing
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 11:15 PM
Mar 2020

I thought of. I had my doubts that we could remove him a month ago, but I feel a bit more assured now.

mitch96

(13,895 posts)
29. Ironically Northern Italy's air polution went right thru the floor.. nobody's driving..
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:22 PM
Mar 2020

Hopefully this will give the air a break!!
m

MissB

(15,807 posts)
6. We may all realize that stuff we buy doesn't matter
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:00 PM
Mar 2020

Other than the basics.

Really though it’s gonna be a retail bloodbath.

 

HarlanPepper

(2,042 posts)
10. I've never been into buying 'things'
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:03 PM
Mar 2020

Travel was always my thing. Probably lost forever now. Ah well, i got to see a lot of cool places and meet a lot of cool people in the process. It was a good run.

a la izquierda

(11,794 posts)
55. My partner lives in England...
Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:37 AM
Mar 2020

And I’m in the States. The minute that ban is lifted, I’m out of here.
This has taught me love is what matters, not fear, and I shouldn’t have hesitated to fly last week while I had the chance.

yonder

(9,664 posts)
20. +1. People don't need the latest device, car, doodads, etc. to live their lives.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:11 PM
Mar 2020

Madison Avenue has been shoving crap before us for ages. A re-examination of that is way past due, IMO.

llmart

(15,536 posts)
32. I realized that decades ago.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:26 PM
Mar 2020

We heard these same prognostications after 9/11 and we all saw how that didn't happen. We heard them again after the mortgage meltdown and it didn't happen then either.

Those of us that are not recreational shoppers and not addicted to "stuff" will continue to be like that. I can only speak for myself, but I am so glad I've never been attached to things. It is sad to me how much of people's lives are spent pursuing the latest shiny object and then having to maintain those objects and then whining about how they never have any time for anything.

Turin_C3PO

(13,982 posts)
11. The silver lining
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:05 PM
Mar 2020

is that if there’s an economic downturn (not hoping for one) that Trump will likely lose in a landslide.

Ms. Toad

(34,069 posts)
12. Temporarily a decline in colds and seasonal flu.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:06 PM
Mar 2020

The current societal pressure to wash will likely create habits that will go beyone the current epidemic.

(I have habits I developed 10 years ago to avoid the plague my bosses insisted they were not infected with, in anticipation of surgery I didn't want to have to delay.)

snacker

(3,619 posts)
13. Just saw on Twitter
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:08 PM
Mar 2020

that the water flowing through the canals in Venice has cleared up. The fish are visible and the swans have returned.

hatrack

(59,585 posts)
16. Tamping the dirt onto the grave of "Government - BAD!! Business - GOOD!!"
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:10 PM
Mar 2020

The same GOP bullshit as manifested over 40 years of accelerating ineptitude and metastasizing venality can finally be dispensed with.

OhNo-Really

(3,985 posts)
31. Austerity now exposed as socially irresponsible bull crap
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:25 PM
Mar 2020

Disaster Capitalism is a cruel ruse to enrich the few at the expense of the many

LonePirate

(13,420 posts)
26. Some tiny steps to improving health care in the US will likely occur including ...
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:19 PM
Mar 2020

-- Some polling movement to universal health care in this country
-- Improved hospital preparedness for the next epidemic
-- Possible vast growth in medical research and technologies
-- Improved methods for safely fast-tracking the development, testing and implementation of vaccines
-- Increased demands for a national paid leave bill and some companies finally offering it
-- More global cooperation to handle future threats

Other possible ramifications include:
-- Increased long term work from home opportunities as companies realize they can continue with less office rent
-- More attention paid to the child care crisis in the US
-- More states adopting vote by mail
-- Improved supply chains of various types
-- Educational reform/improvements?

LisaL

(44,973 posts)
27. I just read the article that this virus might actually end saving poeple
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:20 PM
Mar 2020

because there is less pollution (from factories being closed in China).

mnhtnbb

(31,386 posts)
33. NEVER allow Republicans to ever
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:26 PM
Mar 2020

be in charge of the Executive or Legislative branches of the federal government.

DinahMoeHum

(21,786 posts)
37. Final nails in the coffin for "supply-side capitalism". . .
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:32 PM
Mar 2020

"Reaganomics" and Milton Friedman economics take their last breath.

Methinks we're going to have an economic/political shift like in 1932.

Just my 2 cents.

donkey::




#newrostrong

pandr32

(11,581 posts)
39. My hope is more will work from home
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:32 PM
Mar 2020

I see this as the future. Why should so many commute to work each day? It creates stress, adds to pollution and strains families.

Freddie

(9,265 posts)
41. Exactly
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:34 PM
Mar 2020

All jobs that can be done remotely should remain so! Maybe a monthly meeting or something.

MaryMagdaline

(6,854 posts)
40. None. People will suffer, die, lose jobs
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:33 PM
Mar 2020

Republicans will have total amnesia and will keep electing incompetent people

Arthur_Frain

(1,849 posts)
42. Nothing lasting. Regrettably.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 09:36 PM
Mar 2020

As much as I’d like to see a general pick up of the more basic public hygiene practices that people have been finally doing, that they should have been doing all along, the reality is that one of our most strongly developed mechanisms is denial. Before a year is out, everything will be back to “business as usual”.

Watched it happen to a friend who had a cardiac event at a very young age. I remarked when he was on the mend that every meal must seem like a banquet. He said “nah, you pretty much swing right back into the usual”.

Trueblue Texan

(2,429 posts)
43. corporate rethinking...
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 10:04 PM
Mar 2020

This morning my company had case conferences by phone. I know it saved them a lot of money, even while they are losing clients. The company had to pay no mileage to the meeting, no hourly wage for clinicians discussing cases and chatting after conference. They saved money. At the moment, they are hurting due to patients canceling visits for fear of exposure to coronavirus. But when the worst of it is over, the companies will have discovered ways to save money.

I hope, for myself, that I learn to use the home time in creative ways. Too often my evening hours were spent in default activities. Maybe now I'll be forced to consider what to do with myself instead of being drawn along by proximal currents.

4139

(1,893 posts)
44. Fewer people with get and die from the regular flu this year and in several years to come
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 10:10 PM
Mar 2020

... behavior has changed and with likely stay changed for a few years

Flaleftist

(3,473 posts)
46. Maybe people will learn to not be so wasteful.
Tue Mar 17, 2020, 10:26 PM
Mar 2020

It only takes so much TP to get the job done. Eat those leftovers in the fridge instead of leaving them there until they have to be tossed. etc. etc.

Squinch

(50,949 posts)
51. Parents will become reacquainted with their children, we will see what we truly need
Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:06 AM
Mar 2020

in terms of material things and distraction and action and find we need much less than we think, we will slow down our rate of pollution for a while and let the earth heal just a little, we will read and think be with ourselves more than usual.

TheFarseer

(9,322 posts)
52. Stock buy backs are going to be scrutinized
Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:17 AM
Mar 2020

I was just reading how lots of companies need a cash injection/bail out because they wasted their cash on stock buy backs.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,490 posts)
53. A few basics come to mind.....
Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:22 AM
Mar 2020

* Slowing down the madhouse pace of the world (which in the big picture of things is for naught).
* Allowing many young generations to observe the value and beauty of quiet solitude at home,
* Allow families and friends to reconnect and perhaps even reunite,
* Give the planet's atmospheric and water stores a slight break from pollution,
* Demonstrate to cultures around the globe the value of keeping things local and resisting rampant globalization, and..
* Shake us all into the clear realities and dangers of free, dirt-cheap globalized trade and travel.

and......

Force the world to recognize us introverts as real, valid people........

Just to name a few......

RobinA

(9,888 posts)
56. Always Keep A Nice
Wed Mar 18, 2020, 07:54 AM
Mar 2020

stock of nonperishable basics on hand in case of emergency. I used to buy wipes all the time. For no reason, I would just forget I already had them. One day about 6 months ago I said, What the hell do I need all these wipes for? So I started using them up. Never again.

BigmanPigman

(51,590 posts)
59. I keep everything and had old wipes that were partially
Thu Mar 19, 2020, 01:23 AM
Mar 2020

dried out. I poured some water in the container and use them to disinfect my car handles and steering wheel. YUK! When I used the first one on my steering wheel it turned brown. I hope everyone is remembering to do the stuff on their cars that they touch.

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