Life Is Cheap in America. That’s What Makes Us Exceptional.

"The American homeland has never been a modern wartime battlefield. That distinguishes us from all other major participants in two world wars.
And yet the homeland is now the scene of far greater human carnage on a
daily basis than any other rich nation would find tolerable—not just slaughter by guns, but by the misuse of drugs and the mismanagement of a
virus.

If you are looking for a real definition of American exceptionalism,
this is it.

Somehow we have become accustomed to living with a deadly trifecta. Just
look at the numbers.

In 2020 (the last year for which the CDC has complete data) more than
45,000 Americans died from gunfire, a 25 percent increase from 2010.

In 2019, according to the Department of Health and Human Services,
70,630 people died from a drug overdose, and more than 10 million people “misused” (a euphemism for overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal) opioid prescriptions.

Between June 2021 and March 2022, according to the Kaiser Family
Foundation, there were 234,000 preventable deaths from
COVID-19—representing 60 percent of the deaths since vaccines became available. “Preventable” includes many people who died because they
chose not to be vaccinated.

Each of these scourges has its own pathology. But what makes them egregious—on top of the numbers—is that together they represent a peculiarly American breakdown of what in other advanced democracies are considered norms of behavior.

If these were the numbers of deaths on a battlefield, witnessed and
recorded as such, the total of 349,000 over no more than a year, would
rank as horrific. (The total of American military deaths in four years
of World War II was 405,399, and that was drawn from a far smaller total population.)"
[snip]

TB

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On 6/1/2022 12:58 PM, Technobarbarian wrote:

Life Is Cheap in America. That’s What Makes Us Exceptional.

"The American homeland has never been a modern wartime battlefield. That distinguishes us from all other major participants in two world wars.
And yet the homeland is now the scene of far greater human carnage on a
daily basis than any other rich nation would find tolerable—not just slaughter by guns, but by the misuse of drugs and the mismanagement of a virus.

If you are looking for a real definition of American exceptionalism,
this is it.

Somehow we have become accustomed to living with a deadly trifecta. Just
look at the numbers.

In 2020 (the last year for which the CDC has complete data) more than
45,000 Americans died from gunfire, a 25 percent increase from 2010.

In 2019, according to the Department of Health and Human Services,
70,630 people died from a drug overdose, and more than 10 million people “misused” (a euphemism for overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal) opioid prescriptions.

Between June 2021 and March 2022, according to the Kaiser Family
Foundation, there were 234,000 preventable deaths from COVID-19—representing 60 percent of the deaths since vaccines became available. “Preventable” includes many people who died because they
chose not to be vaccinated.

Each of these scourges has its own pathology. But what makes them egregious—on top of the numbers—is that together they represent a peculiarly American breakdown of what in other advanced democracies are considered norms of behavior.

If these were the numbers of deaths on a battlefield, witnessed and
recorded as such, the total of 349,000 over no more than a year, would
rank as horrific. (The total of American military deaths in four years
of World War II was 405,399, and that was drawn from a far smaller total population.)"
[snip]

TB

I think I've finally figured out how the retrumplican mind "works". Here
are some examples that should make it clear to you, too.

1. We can't stop all gun violence so why try to stop any?

2. We can't make everyone wear a mask to slow Covid so why try?

3. We can't stop all speeders so why stop any?

4. We can't stop all abortions so why stop any? (Oh, wait. That's
different, isn't it?)

HawHawHaw!

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 6/1/2022 6:38 PM, kmiller wrote:

On 6/1/2022 12:58 PM, Technobarbarian wrote:

Life Is Cheap in America. That’s What Makes Us Exceptional.

"The American homeland has never been a modern wartime battlefield.
That distinguishes us from all other major participants in two world
wars. And yet the homeland is now the scene of far greater human
carnage on a daily basis than any other rich nation would find
tolerable—not just slaughter by guns, but by the misuse of drugs and
the mismanagement of a virus.

If you are looking for a real definition of American exceptionalism,
this is it.

Somehow we have become accustomed to living with a deadly trifecta.
Just look at the numbers.

In 2020 (the last year for which the CDC has complete data) more than
45,000 Americans died from gunfire, a 25 percent increase from 2010.

In 2019, according to the Department of Health and Human Services,
70,630 people died from a drug overdose, and more than 10 million
people “misused” (a euphemism for overdoses, both fatal and non-fatal) >> opioid prescriptions.

Between June 2021 and March 2022, according to the Kaiser Family
Foundation, there were 234,000 preventable deaths from
COVID-19—representing 60 percent of the deaths since vaccines became
available. “Preventable” includes many people who died because they
chose not to be vaccinated.

Each of these scourges has its own pathology. But what makes them
egregious—on top of the numbers—is that together they represent a
peculiarly American breakdown of what in other advanced democracies
are considered norms of behavior.

If these were the numbers of deaths on a battlefield, witnessed and
recorded as such, the total of 349,000 over no more than a year, would
rank as horrific. (The total of American military deaths in four years
of World War II was 405,399, and that was drawn from a far smaller
total population.)"
[snip]

TB

I think I've finally figured out how the retrumplican mind "works". Here
are some examples that should make it clear to you, too.

1. We can't stop all gun violence so why try to stop any?

2. We can't make everyone wear a mask to slow Covid so why try?

3. We can't stop all speeders so why stop any?

4. We can't stop all abortions so why stop any? (Oh, wait. That's
different, isn't it?)

HawHawHaw!

"
🖕🏻Aunt Crabby Calls Bullshit 🖕🏻
@DearAuntCrabby

So, during the pandemic, Republicans didn't want their kids wearing
masks because of their "Freedoms."

Now, they want to lock all kids in their classrooms and turn schools
into prisons because they want to protect THEIR 2nd Amendment Freedoms.

Is that about it?"

TB

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