Brin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
brin_bellway) wrote2020-03-15 10:41 am
brin_bellway) wrote2020-03-15 10:41 am
Remedy and wrong entwine
[cw: death, illness, arguably discourse]
I'm tired of people being like "if you care about GDP loss when there are *lives* at stake you have no soul".
I know it's a cliche to quote Discworld about every social ill, but I really do think he phrases this very well:
And that still holds if you do it out of necessity rather than for sport. GDP loss represents the impoverishment of a country, and that hastens its residents' deaths in myriad small ways.
Don't get me wrong: if anything, I think we should be doing *more* quarantining. But then, I *would* say that: (much as I wish this were the norm,) I care unusually strongly about disease, and while I am certainly not well-off I am also not living paycheque to paycheque. It's not me who starves, either.
Even though I don't agree, I do understand why the higher-ups are so reluctant to shut things down. This cost, too, is measured in lives.
I'm tired of people being like "if you care about GDP loss when there are *lives* at stake you have no soul".
I know it's a cliche to quote Discworld about every social ill, but I really do think he phrases this very well:
“Do you understand anything I’m saying?” shouted Moist. “You can’t just go around killing people!”
“Why Not? You Do.” The golem lowered his arm.
“What?” snapped Moist. “I do not! Who told you that?”
“I Worked It Out. You Have Killed Two Point Three Three Eight People,” said the golem calmly.
“I have never laid a finger on anyone in my life, Mr. Pump. I may be—all the things you know I am, but I am not a killer! I have never so much as drawn a sword!”
“No, You Have Not. But You Have Stolen, Embezzled, Defrauded, And Swindled Without Discrimination, Mr. Lipvig. You Have Ruined Businesses And Destroyed Jobs. When Banks Fail, It Is Seldom Bankers Who Starve. Your Actions Have Taken Money From Those Who Had Little Enough To Begin With. In A Myriad Small Ways You Have Hastened The Deaths Of Many. You Did Not Know Them. You Did Not See Them Bleed. But You Snatched Bread From Their Mouths And Tore Clothes From Their Backs. For Sport, Mr. Lipvig. For Sport. For The Joy Of The Game.”
And that still holds if you do it out of necessity rather than for sport. GDP loss represents the impoverishment of a country, and that hastens its residents' deaths in myriad small ways.
Don't get me wrong: if anything, I think we should be doing *more* quarantining. But then, I *would* say that: (much as I wish this were the norm,) I care unusually strongly about disease, and while I am certainly not well-off I am also not living paycheque to paycheque. It's not me who starves, either.
Even though I don't agree, I do understand why the higher-ups are so reluctant to shut things down. This cost, too, is measured in lives.