The numbers don’t mean much- the only number that means much is 1. When that 1, is someone you care about who could have been spared. Now multiply that 1 times the number of people who are effected by that one persons death or suffering. Now- factor in that these current numbers are with many VAST populations being under voluntary or mandatory shelter in place, travel restrictions, and other precautions.

Or.... not. But even if we were talking about the garden variety flu everyone likes to bring up... you wouldn’t see a problem with a siting President addressing the nation in the midst of a record breaking flu pandemic with record deaths saying: “your kids are basically immune to the flu...”?

Or.... not. But even if we were talking about the garden variety flu everyone likes to bring up... you wouldn’t see a problem with a sorting President addressing the nation in the midst of a record breaking flu pandemic with record deaths saying: “your kids are basically immune to the flu...”?

If you eat lead paint or are exposed to radiation and don’t die right away... if you are diagnosed with polio or syphilis or HIV and don’t die right away.... that’s probably the end though right? You didn’t die in the first 12 months so you’re likely fine with no impact from it....?

But here’s an important question- why do we have to boil it down to deaths? As stated earlier- AIDS and HIV aren’t really prolific killers in 2020. Syphilis hardly kills anyone. And here I am get polio vaccines- any idea what the death count is on polio deaths in America? Even without the vaccine if you’re infected there are treatments. But wait... diseases and sickness often have lingering effects or future health impacts. Studies have found possible links between Covid and long term harm, even brain damage.

Hell, we lost 15,000 people from HIV in 2019. Ask. Ask how many are kids? Why thanks for asking. Less that 150. WOW. HIV is less deadly than Covid. Why do we make such a big deal about HIV? Kids are practically immune to HIV- let’s get the president to broadcast that no? That sounds like a message that should be put forth by the commander and chief in the interest of the nation. Do you even know anyone with HIV? Anyone who’s died from it? And how do we know that the stats are right? They often record people who die from other causes as HIV or AIDS deaths no?

Sort of like- how many people are killed by self immolation every year? Well- “too many” but a relatively small number. Because people are well aware Fire is dangerous and lighting yourself on fire isn’t wise for your health. If we were telling people for centuries that you were probably almost completely immune to fire- we could surmise those numbers may be a little higher no? That’s obviously an exaggeration- but it illustrates the point. If a major thing keeping the number of deaths down is that people are cognizant of the risk- telling them there is effectively no risk- which science and data would say- yes. Yes there is- that’s not just irresponsible, it’s dumb.

But as I’ve mentioned before- a percent rate of fatality is a bit simplistic to use for a contagious pandemic- since a small percent of a big ass number is still a big ass number. It also doesn’t really work to say: “see? ‘Only’ so many people have died...” well... yes. We’ve had world wide quarantines and shit downs of schools and such- which have very likely- almost 100% likely- helped slow the spread of the virus and thus lower the number f infections and thusly- lower how many people have died from the virus.

The mortality rate of Covid in children so far is believed to be less than 1%. If you believe statistics, famousone is fond of questioning the Covid statistics as alluded to in his post in this thread-but so far seemingly only the ones that say the virus is dangerous and not the ones that say it is not dangerous.

You’re kids... are essentially immune to Covid. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States. I don’t care if you lean left or right or whatever- can we all just agree that this next round we might consider electing a person who seems capable of the job and not just whoever makes us nod the most or the voting equivalent of dating someone just because you know they’ll piss off the room mate you don’t like? You deserve better. Even if you don’t- most of us deserve better. If you want to live under a lunatic, move the southern states and elect a crazy governor as they like to do. You can have a little kingdom of like minded folks and no one is going to bother you in Arizona or Texas or whatever.

Now let’s be fair. Some people will say: “No! He obviously was referring to how children don’t seem to be effected as severely when they do get the disease!” Well... that’s not what he said is it? Not a big deal? Try this one on for size- what’s the difference if a President right now were to say: “If people are upset about police use of force they need to get out, form organized protests, and use legal and peaceful means to be heard in the system...” or “If your upset, raise hell. Riot. Get noticed and make them change the system...” we could say that “riot” there OBVIOUSLY doesn’t mean to riot- it just was a poor choice of words... but come on. That’s why we have words. That’s why presidents have fact checkers and speech writers and whole staffs to help them use the right words at the right time.

I can clear this up. It is an add for peach tea.

So a fun fact- a neat bit of musical history, and apt to put subject as both an example of trying to “stick it to the man” and “be a rebel”
(While ultimately being an instrument of commercialization and commerce- much like the Joker) but also as an example of art that was a cover of existing art, and the artist didn’t have the attraction to cover the original- but did so because it was of commercial interest.

When it was all finished... the studio put it on the album anyway. It became a classic of American metal of the period and went on to not only be a world wide hit, but to overshadow the Slade version in markets where it had done well. The gritty and raw sound of the track seemed to fit the spirit of the genre and inspired the works of others. It certainly helped cement the song and the genre as “not music your parents would listen to” and the core image of high volume, low fidelity. You didn’t need fancy speakers or even speakers in their range to just play it loud and have the distortion be a part of the music.

Either way- they had to record it as part of the deal. So they did. BUT- they reasoned they didn’t have to record it well- and that if they did a bad enough job, the studio wouldn’t put it on the album and would fill the space with one of the other tracks they recorded. So off the the booth went Quiet Riot and they decided instruments and vocals should be out of key or tune, that timing should be off, they needed a take that was too bad for a professional album but not so bad that it was obvious what they had done.

Slade recorded the song and it achieved popularity in the UK and elsewhere- but not the US. As part of Quiet Riots deal for their album the studio was insisting that they record a cover of the song. The one thing agreed on in present day is Riot didn’t want to do a cover of a song from the early 70’s. It was a 10 year old song. Other reports state there were other factors as well and they just didn’t like the song or feel it was “them.”

As a fun fact: the band Quiet Riot did not want to record their now classic RIAA Gold billboard hit version of the song “Cum on Feel the Noize.” This song not only was a major factor in bringing the LA heavy metal scene to a wider mainstream audience, but had also influenced the sound of artists of the day and since- with its harsh and discordant vocals. The success of the song also was the major catalyst to finally bring British band Slade (who originally performed the song) to the USA. And- Quiet Riot wanted nothing to do with it and it is all somewhat an accident caused by their disgust with having to do it.

So many of the “odd” things in the IS actually make pretty good sense of one knows their history (or is old enough to have been able to remember things from not so many decades ago), and the whole “why doesn’t The US use metric” thing takes a new dimension when we realize that it wasn’t until fairly recently that our parent did either.