Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/5894634
Original link: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uk-pm-sunak-reportedly-said-just-let-people-die-covid-inquiry-hears-4590764
Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/5894634
Original link: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/uk-pm-sunak-reportedly-said-just-let-people-die-covid-inquiry-hears-4590764
I don’t know the guy but to be fair there is always a risk tradeoff. We also accept it to be OK if people die in car accidents. The alternative would be to forbid traveling by car.
No it’s not OK if people die in traffic accidents. And in fact we do our best to prevent it from happening, e.g. by passing laws making wearing seatbelts compulsory, lowering speed limits, discouraging drunk driving, etc.
It depends what you mean by “our best”. We try to reduce the risk without sacrificing too much. Wearing a seatbelt is trivial, because there are basically no downsides. We could also half all the speed limits - that would reduce the risk a ton. But we don’t do that because people like to drive fast because they (up too a risk balance) value their time more than their life (sounds rough but that’s basically what it is).
It’s the same with pandemics. Of course a lockdown prevents a lot of deaths, but at what cost? Is it worth it. We wouldn’t half all the speed limits to reduce risk?
I’m not against lockdowns in general, for example during the first covid wave because it bought us valuable time to figure out how we proceed, but a lockdown is (figuratively and literally) high cost.
We design roadways and construct expensive intersections for the exact purpose of pedestrian safety
appealing to existing harms being done in the world to justify more harms is not really a compelling argument. we have done a lot to mitigate the risk of car travel, and there are plenty of people who see the damage cars do to people and our environment and advocate for better transit solutions that are less likely to harm people. the reality is they could have done more, saved lives, by limiting the spread of the disease more than they did. they didn’t, and their failure to act responsibly can and should be criticized.
Absolutely. But most humans aren’t rational being and consider such statements unacceptable.
We definitely have ways to spend more money ok healthcare or charities, with obvious positive consequences. However we’re far from spending every last penny on it. This is because it isn’t our top priority.