Originally Posted by
Johnson85
Go tell everyone of the people's family that dies of the flu that the flu isn't that bad. It doesn't really matter how people die, it's tragic to the people involved.
But that's not really helpful for forming do reasonable public policy. The emergence of the Wuhan virus is a real tragedy for the country and the world. It won't be remembered like the Spanish flu unless we have some pretty bad future surprises, but it's going to remembered because it is a big tragedy, on the same scale as a major war. But that doesn't mean people are selfish for recognizing we have choices between bad options and other options that are still bad, but less bad. The people that wanted to intervene in WWII weren't selfish because it caused a lot of deaths. They thought it was the best option. The people that want to reduce the economic harms from the virus are not selfish; they think it's the best option.
Also, if you are going to insist on comparing pandemics and wars, it's worth noting that for public policy reasons, the death of a 25 year old is on average worse than the death of a 75 year old. Doesn't mean it's less personally tragic, but when you are trying to weigh harms in the context of public policy, the difference matters.
Something to put it in perspective for people to emotional to think clearly.