Thread by @NjbBari3

A thread on an apparent extremist. 🧵

#COVIDCentrist
#TargetingZero🦠

I’m actually a generally well liked person normally (🤭). Prior to the pandemic and even during most of it my 360 feedback forms often stated my strong points at work are being very likeable, a team player, pleasant.

This is mainly because I listen carefully to others and negotiate to find solutions that are mutually beneficial. I usually deliver criticism with a great deal of care. I use a sense of humour to get through tough times. I notice when others are doing it tough.

So why have I taken such an apparent “extreme” view on COVID-19?

SARS-CoV-2 is not sentient.

I can’t listen to it.

I can’t negotiate with it.

I can’t find a middle ground to meet on.

SARS-CoV-2 is a fire. A simple mathematical problem, that burns through everything in it’s path.

When asked to find a “balanced” way of dealing with it, every pathway leads to the question…

Who do I leave behind to die?

Over the last few years I have seen people exhorting me to leave behind older people, disabled people, children, unborn babies, pregnant people, poor people, people disadvantaged by social inequalities and racism.

I have to find a balanced “right” number of people that it is “OK” to kill.

Historically we have allowed plenty of people to die from flu, and so this is held up as the standard of allowable killing.

Why would I accept this standard when I know that I can save lives from flu, COVID-19, and a lot of other respiratory diseases by doing things that are barely an inconvenience?

The COVID-19 centre is asking me to turn a blind eye to our ability to save lives.

The same, likeable team player that I was pre-pandemic is finding it impossible to move to the “centre” on COVID-19 issues, because the centre appears to be a callous place to be.

The centre is where you go when it’s no longer convenient and easy to care for others.

End.