From the battle ground of the ongoing corona crisis the question emerges what price Governments are willing to pay to save the lives of their citizens? They won't answer the dreaded query of course, but we can infer it from their actions. Because there is no cure or vaccination, politicians must choose between letting nature take its course, or fight it with the limited means at their disposal, at a very high price to the tax payer and the economy?
The Rush Limbaugh Show March 31, 2020.
Rush Limbaugh yesterday cracked the moral code of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He handed us the key with his observation that what separates this outbreak from any of the usual seasonal flus, is the fact we have no known cure or vaccination against COVID-19. In other words, we have no other means of combatting it than with A. so called "herd immunization" -- in fact laisser faire, taking the high price of the dizzying mortality rate for granted -- or B. fight it with the limited means that we have, such as (selectively) closing the borders, quarantine, testing testing testing, voluntary "shelter in place" type rules and "social distancing".
It has been observed that various parts of the world are dealing with the corona outbreak in very different ways (tweet). This should surprise no one. How a specific culture deals with an unavoidable and potentially deadly epidemic is determined by its moral code and its sense of life.
Communist China simply sacrificed its own citizens as well as all others to the outbreak while trying to conceal the event from the world. They certainly lied about it for the precious first weeks of the crisis, not in any way interfering with Chinese New Year or Spring Festival comparable in international traffic to the Western Christmas holidays. We may never learn how many Chinese succombed to the pandemic or how many people all over the world got infected this way.
When the virus came to Europe, there was more variation in the initial reaction. The wave came with such breakneck speed over Italy, they never knew what hit them until it was far too late to do anything meaningful. The Italians had to ride the demon virus and mitigate as best they could with belated quarantines and haphazard "shelter in place" regimes. The same basically goes for Spain.
While Germany and Sweden went for the South Korean option of mass testing and letting their excellent health care systems taking care of the epidemic, the exceptions were the UK and the Netherlands. Although both Governments were initially persuaded by their health advisors to opt for the herd immunization regime, Boris Johnson in time repented, throwing the infamous but ever so beloved National Health Service (NHS) to the demon virus.
While various European countries offered their citizens combinations of science (testing) and stretching the abilities of their (social) health care to the limit, the liberal Dutch Government had nothing to offer its patients but death and statistics pointing out that the ultimate goal was to "protect the health care system".
In the course of the first week it became apparent that the Government of Mark Rutte did not want to spend precious resources on extensive testing of its aging population that wasn't likely to make it through the epidemic anyway. They would have to ride it out, hoping to grow antibodies against the desease on the way. The Dutch were on their own.
Although PM Mark Rutte at various stages of the outbreak denied the laisser faire attitude towards the outbreak, it was clear that the Government Institute he was relying on to set out his policy (RIVM), was following the way of the herd.
This fits perfectly with the nihilism that characterizes the intellectual ruling class of Europe today, of which the present day Dutch Government is a typical exponent. Citizens are cattle to them, their countries petry dishes for social experiments. The nation's interests and those of their citizens are sacrificed to the Utopian vision of integrated globalism.
On the opposite end of the moral spectrum we see the Trump administration in the US bending over backwards and spending 2 trillion dollars and counting to save each and every human life possible. Snarkilly asked by a member of the opposition press during one of his iconic daily White House briefings "how many deaths would be acceptable to him", the President answered, "None, none!".
No less nihilistic than the Dutch Government are those that are comparing corona statistics with the usual seasonal outbreaks of the flu. Most flu epidemics end in more deaths than corona may ever do. But that misses the point. It's not how many people die, but what Governments are willing to do to save their population; in other words, what is the price of a human life?
The Dutch Government is calculating as an emotionally distant bookkeeper that throwing good money at what they call "fulfilled lives" is just prudent management.
Those who warned that the slippery slope of assisted suicide would tear at the nation's basic moral fabric, have been proved right with this health care crisis. Life and death can never be of equal value to a nation led by a culture of life.
The total cost of the "culling of the herd" will be made up a year from now, at the ballot box.
It has been observed that various parts of the world are dealing with the corona outbreak in very different ways (tweet). This should surprise no one. How a specific culture deals with an unavoidable and potentially deadly epidemic is determined by its moral code and its sense of life.
Communist China simply sacrificed its own citizens as well as all others to the outbreak while trying to conceal the event from the world. They certainly lied about it for the precious first weeks of the crisis, not in any way interfering with Chinese New Year or Spring Festival comparable in international traffic to the Western Christmas holidays. We may never learn how many Chinese succombed to the pandemic or how many people all over the world got infected this way.
When the virus came to Europe, there was more variation in the initial reaction. The wave came with such breakneck speed over Italy, they never knew what hit them until it was far too late to do anything meaningful. The Italians had to ride the demon virus and mitigate as best they could with belated quarantines and haphazard "shelter in place" regimes. The same basically goes for Spain.
While Germany and Sweden went for the South Korean option of mass testing and letting their excellent health care systems taking care of the epidemic, the exceptions were the UK and the Netherlands. Although both Governments were initially persuaded by their health advisors to opt for the herd immunization regime, Boris Johnson in time repented, throwing the infamous but ever so beloved National Health Service (NHS) to the demon virus.
While various European countries offered their citizens combinations of science (testing) and stretching the abilities of their (social) health care to the limit, the liberal Dutch Government had nothing to offer its patients but death and statistics pointing out that the ultimate goal was to "protect the health care system".
In the course of the first week it became apparent that the Government of Mark Rutte did not want to spend precious resources on extensive testing of its aging population that wasn't likely to make it through the epidemic anyway. They would have to ride it out, hoping to grow antibodies against the desease on the way. The Dutch were on their own.
Although PM Mark Rutte at various stages of the outbreak denied the laisser faire attitude towards the outbreak, it was clear that the Government Institute he was relying on to set out his policy (RIVM), was following the way of the herd.
This fits perfectly with the nihilism that characterizes the intellectual ruling class of Europe today, of which the present day Dutch Government is a typical exponent. Citizens are cattle to them, their countries petry dishes for social experiments. The nation's interests and those of their citizens are sacrificed to the Utopian vision of integrated globalism.
On the opposite end of the moral spectrum we see the Trump administration in the US bending over backwards and spending 2 trillion dollars and counting to save each and every human life possible. Snarkilly asked by a member of the opposition press during one of his iconic daily White House briefings "how many deaths would be acceptable to him", the President answered, "None, none!".
No less nihilistic than the Dutch Government are those that are comparing corona statistics with the usual seasonal outbreaks of the flu. Most flu epidemics end in more deaths than corona may ever do. But that misses the point. It's not how many people die, but what Governments are willing to do to save their population; in other words, what is the price of a human life?
The Dutch Government is calculating as an emotionally distant bookkeeper that throwing good money at what they call "fulfilled lives" is just prudent management.
Those who warned that the slippery slope of assisted suicide would tear at the nation's basic moral fabric, have been proved right with this health care crisis. Life and death can never be of equal value to a nation led by a culture of life.
The total cost of the "culling of the herd" will be made up a year from now, at the ballot box.
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