Hacker News Reader

Comment by bpodgursky | Hacker News Reader

There are a lot of people on HN (and the internet at large) who view any statement adjusting-downward death rates as "COVID denialism", and will reflexively downvote attempts to correct in that direction.

In the most charitable reading, you could view them akin to the CDC and masks, trying to keep the public slightly misinformed for the greater good (preserve mask supplies for hospitals). In the least charitable reading, there are a lot of depressed and angry people on the internet, who want to believe that this disease is truly civilization-ending, and attack any opposing narrative.

Either way, I would not take it personally, or as a judgement on your actual quoted facts.

View on HN

Another interpretation is that a lot of people on the internet (HN, reddit) have actually seen net improvements to their life from the lockdown.

For the introverted tech worker that prefers to work from home, the quarantine hasn't really negatively impacted their routine that much, and it might have actually lifted any peer pressure to go out and socialize with friends/co-workers/family.

For someone in that situation, there's not much of a benefit to advocate for reopening, and the deadlier the virus seems, the longer the lockdown will continue.

I really hope you're wrong, because that would be implying that HNers are selfish assholes who don't care a dime about the rest of their community.

While I personally am comfortable working from home and my company is doing well, I'm sad that I couldn't visit my parents and my grandmother for Easter. And it particularly frustrates me that my grandmother has to sit at home and practice social distancing, where she cannot do anything much besides sitting in her chair and watching TV all day. (She doesn't have or want a smart device, and her chronic back pain keeps her from engaging in most other home activities.) And that's before I consider the people around me whose lifelihoods have been impacted or obliterated by the shutdown, or the essential workers who often have to work without adequate PPE.

I don't mean to imply that it's the majority of people here. People are complex and HNers aren't a monolithic group. But I do think the general pro-lockdown sentiment wouldn't be nearly as strong if the majority of posters were in the service or retail industry.

That's not to say people here are selfish, only that it's easier to advocate for safety when you yourself are in a position of relative stability.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com