Is there ANY death count that will convince the protesters and science deniers?

[RiverStone]

The orange idiot keeps revising the projected death counts as his deranged sycophants (see Kushner) say we're done. It's a great success story. Nothing more to see here. Back to tRump rallies and baseball.

Meanwhile, the death count projections are rapidly rising in direct correlation with states (see Kemp in GA) relaxing social distancing and opening up bowling alleys.

I can't wrap my head around what some want to see as the new normal! Will they (the it's over) folks need to end up on a ventilator to be convinced that tRump is feeding them propaganda which could kill them?

[SoonerPride]

1. No.

sad but true.

they themselves have to die for them to think it is real.

[elleng]

2. Some 'big names' who succumb might do it.

[Squinch]

13. This. AIDS didn't make a dent in most people's minds till Rock Hudson got it and

Liz Taylor and Doris Day publicly supported him.

Or maybe Donnie Bodybags's death would do it.

[SoonerPride]

21. We missed our chance when he had close encounters of the COVID kind at mar a lardo

The Brazilians who were there and spreading the virus almost were national heroes.



almost

[rurallib]

17. Like Alex Jones or Scott Baio?

Jon Voight maybe? Are they big enough?

[guillaumeb]

3. Only their own.

Trump is telling people what they want to hear.

[leftieNanner]

4. I don't think they will believe any of it

Until their sister or spouse or child dies. And even then, they may still need to believe that The Donald is their King.

I wish only they could catch this illness, but they will take us all down with them.

[RiverStone]

11. Yep! We need our own states of blue sanity

Where we will NOT be taken down with them.

The virus is an opportunist, and will feed on tRump's huge stupidity and arrogance like a wild fire.

[sarisataka]

5. Yes. 1 death will convince a protester or denier,

unfortunately that number only applies to the individual who dies and will not extend to any cohorts. At least until their number comes up.

[iemitsu]

6. Only their own deaths or illness will keep these idiots from

endangering the rest of us.
Their goal is to overthrow the government and establish a whites only country.T
hey see this as their best chance to attain these goals.

[Wellstone ruled]

7. Only when it involves a

Spouse or Child. They will offer up their own parents just to save their beliefs.

[Celerity]

34. grandpa took one for the team

[Wellstone ruled]

35. No,he will blame

Obama.

[Celerity]

36. Trump will, yes, but some of the MAGATs are either looking for a speed-up of the will payout, or

actually think it is an honour for grandpa to die for Trump.

[Wellstone ruled]

38. Agree,there are Religous

Zealots who will go down that road.

So much for what Religion Stands for seems lost.

Quit that decades ago,not regret. Met a better class of people.

[Celerity]

39. Religion seems to me to be the same as it always was, a giant con used for power and control.

[Wellstone ruled]

43. History Books

are full of those Examples. Amazing how a Fuedal family could have their own Pope,Bishop,Cardinal or Priest as well as a Mystical Guru.

Opioid for the masses.

King Donnie has many fooled in the same way with his Bullshit.

[Celerity]

44. +1

[Thomas Hurt]

8. No, all part of God's plan and will...and their christofascist eugenisist fantasies come true.

[diva77]

9. Maybe more graphic footage of bodies going into refrigerator trucks, young people on ventilators,

young people gasping for air; gravestones of young people who succumbed to the virus should accompany the death count announcements.

Maybe some slogans like "pro-life means pro-mask and pro-social distancing" until there is adequate testing and isolation and/or a vaccine/cure.



Shut down Fux and Limberger and the rest of the hate-talk radio or at least make PSA's for social-distancing mandatory for these dangerous propaganda outlets.

[JenniferJuniper]

23. Fake News!

That's all they'd say.

There is no hope for these insipid clowns.

[Hekate]

10. Only the ones inside their own family. Very hard to break out of a cult.

[AleksS]

12. It only takes one, but a million don't matter

They wouldn’t care if the number was a billion dead, BUT the second it affects someone they know it’s a different story. Then it’s the worst thing in the world.

It’s another version of a he standard republican “screw you, I got mine!”

Nothing’s ever a problem until it affects them personally. Zero empathy or ability to extend their experience outside of themselves.

How many times have we heard that story? With hunger, unemployment, poverty, homelessness, abortion, etc. as long as something isn’t directly happening to them, republicans are happy to let the world burn. But if it touches their lives...

[RiverStone]

18. Zero empathy or ability to extend their experience outside of themselves.

Exactly!

[LizBeth]

14. No. They have to experience. Either get it or watch someone they love be in pain.

isolated and away from family, and or die.

[gratuitous]

15. The first born male child in every household?

Too Jewish?

[spanone]

16. Who knows, 70,000 is pretty F'ing impressive.

I find NO rationale with these aliens

[Newest Reality]

19. I can't

I can't put much stock in people who will not or cannot really manage to think for themselves. That also implies that they don't think very deeply or with much complexity and that is something that a democracy requires.

A dictator thinks for them and tells them what to think and do. It's a lazy, fast food kind of politics with a side of vapid and a supersized cup of ignorance. I am not even being partisan about this. Regardless of what kind of politics your confirmation bias demands, if your understanding of it is shallow and superficial then you are bound to gravitate towards a mutation like Trump.

The warning that the public needs to be well informed and vigilant still stands and that provides a basis for what kind of government we get collectively. We can see that RW media and Fox Pravda cater to, and exploit, what seems to be a form of arrested development and adolescent impulsiveness that can easily be poked and prodded with propaganda and blatant misinformation intended to subvert and redirect the will of the people who stare, trance-like, into the dark hole of Republican subversion meant for the sake of vested interests.

The consumer mentality is part of that. We can look at advertising and consider its long-term impact on a culture. We know that a certain segment of the population is going to be very prone to taking the superficiality of that to heart and living by it and acting on it. The solution to that requires a change in education, (critical thinking, logic, reason) and moving from a consumer model, (be brain dead and buy) back to a citizen model.

We have sacrificed a lot for the flashing, bright lights that tell us to buy what we don't need and more and more of it. I think that is one of the major cracks in the wall that we are seeing right now as the mask starts to shiver, shake and dislodge itself from the face of America. We have to pry it all the way off and look at what the facade has done to us collectively. Otherwise, why expect it to be much different? Fascism comes in several flavors.

[RiverStone]

22. Great response Newest Reality

Appreciate your perspective and sociological (mutant) explanation.

The intensely frustrating aspect of our situation right now is the by the time our new President Biden assumes power in January of 2021, how many blue, red, or purple citizens will have died?

It's one thing to know that elections have consequences. We knew in 2016 that electing this sociopathic POS would result in death and destruction (in nature and humanity), but his propaganda is threatening us personally and so many people we love.

What can we do today to stem the tide???

No easy answer.

[Newest Reality]

33. Thanks!

I also appreciate your comment.

I feel that if we probe around in this darkness and discover the right questions, we may then begin our trailblazing to the correct answers; ones that fit well within the context of our shared travails now.

If we all do our little bit to contemplate the difficult terrain we are traversing, (to each his own parcel) then, perhaps, that will filter into the mainstream more and illuminate the discourse for those who are willing and open to it. The collective is comprised of each of us, as drops of water comprise an ocean and when it comes to democracy itself, we are it.

[Jspur]

20. Even if they lose a friend or loved one

they still won't be convinced. These chodes will just blame the democrats if and when they lose somebody they are close to Covid-19. They could never blame Trump because that would be admitting to them indirectly killing their loved one since they voted for him. You have to remember they are now a cult and they are an irrational bunch.

[pnwest]

24. One. Just the number one. When one

of their kids gets it, or mom, or spouse....

[central scrutinizer]

25. 2.2 million

They cherry picked the most dire, worst case estimate as their benchmark. If only 1.5 million die, Drumpf will trumpet that he personally saved 700,000 Americans.

[Midnight Writer]

26. Maybe the entire FOX News front line? No, I doubt it.

[Celerity]

27. To sate the lust of power; more horrid still,

To sate the lust of power; more horrid still,
The foulest stain and scandal of our nature
Became its boast — One Murder made a Villain,
Millions a Hero. — Princes were privileg’d
To kill, and numbers sanctified the crime.
Ah! why will Kings forget that they are Men?

Death: A Poetical Essay

Beilby Porteus

ca. 1759

[totodeinhere]

28. I am disappointed that even Governor Cuomo plans to open up certain parts of his state.

Meanwhile the sheriff of the county I live in has said that his department will not enforce the governor's stay at home order. We are in for some horrific times I am afraid as if it's not bad enough already. It will get much worse.

[Salviati]

29. For some, their minds will change when it hits close to home...

but for some, the only thing that will change their minds is their own grave.

[Blue_true]

30. No. They will simply shift the focus of the debate. That is what they do. nt

[Midnight Writer]

31. Did "dick pic' Eric Bolling lighten up when his own son OD'ed?

Did Nancy Grace have an epiphany when an innocent woman she accused on air of murdering her child killed herself?

Did Steve Scalise change his attitude when he got shot by a gun nut?

Did Jim Bakker reform after he served a prison term for his chicanery?

Does Moscow Mitch see the light after a horrific mass shooting?

Did Alex Jones stop harassing Sandy Hook families when he saw the pain it caused?

Did Dick Cheney et al. apologize when no WMD was found in Iraq?

Does any conservative think twice when they see the progression from Nixon to Reagan to Bush to W to Trump?



I'm afraid it's the old "leopard doesn't change it's spots" adage come to life.

[Mariana]

32. No, because they also deny the death counts. nt.

[Celerity]

37. this too

[Brainfodder]

40. Going with yes, but the # is all inclusive, so technically YES?

Them there super stupids all dying from it though would be nicer for the rest of us?

[Caliman73]

41. Unless they experience a personal loss, they will not care.

This is part of conservative wiring with regards to information processing. I said in another post earlier today, that I am tired of being stuck at home, going out maybe once a week. I want to get back out into the community. I am not, however, willing to risk the lives of those around me, even people I do not know and will never meet in person. I would be upset that I was the vector of some disease that can potentially kill or seriously hurt people. THAT is the difference between many liberals and conservatives.

They usually do not get out of their own ideology or desires unless something happens to someone very close to them. We have seen it anecdotally where people are part of the rabble rousing, then one of theirs gets sick and now they realize they were wrong.

It is sad that it takes someone dying to make them realize they are wrong.

[caraher]

42. It's also instructive to compare with other events in US history

The daily death toll, at its worst, was nearing the ballpark of 9/11

It vastly outstrips US daily deaths in any war (the Civil War averaged about 500 dead each day; some projections have us near 1000 per day for an extended period (many weeks) if we relax restrictions as planned.

Wars, terror attacks and epidemics are very different things. But one should not take any of them lightly

[mnmoderatedem]

45. no, as long as it by and large affects certain populations

elderly, and those who have underlying conditions. As long as they are not part of those groups, they don't care.

Even though likely many of them have parents in the elderly age range. it has to smack them between the eyes before they catch on.