Of course it isn't a one issue matter. No one is disputing that; at least here but it was a nice strawman for your to play pinata with.
I said previously I don't know what the science will tell us when this thing is all said and done. You rattled off a ton of known concerns with the policies that have been implemented; those downsides were discussed from the onset. At the decision point there was no visible path without tradeoffs. Interesting side note being that much of what you listed would have been factors in even less strict policy options as hospitals were likely to undergo some period of stress (e.g., NYC).
Can you read Eric or are you too interested in trying to rough me up via the internet? We're both free and living as we choose. Of course I appreciate that. However, you do let the government dictate to you whether you care to admit it or not. Taxes, laws, regulations, etc. All set and enforced by the government. You dance to the same tune as the rest of us. And its to be applauded. After all you're part of a community and its pretty standard fare to trade in some of your personal freedoms for the common good from time to time.
Did you stop flying after 9/11 to your Fortune 100 gigs? I mean the infringement on your personal rights were immense. Searching your baggage, forcing attestations, not allowing loved ones to come to the gate to see you off. Or, did that set of restrictions suit your own sensibilities?
Thanks, Silence.
Quite Ok degree of patience you showed there.
But this following is not in support of your restrained views.
This thing about "free", I am pretty sure the idea of "free" is based on one's own self trust. They don't have much in that regard. They compare themselves in a concept of operating against the police or a government. They have assigned themselves as not free except as the police or a government allows.
Facts don't matter to these types. Power does.
You can very easily separate the wheat from the chaff (free from the restrained) by their own attitude to themselves (their attitude within themselves) which is an area of theirs that you and I can only speculate on.
Those who believe they will not make correct decisions about some concern, set their life as dependent on others (or another). Their belief might or might not be accurate. Their distrust for themselves is enough. And facts do not matter.
I think nobody cares what they think of themselves until what they think of themselves is enforced into or on to others. They don't trust themselves in terms of competence in a certain area, so they don't trust your trust - unless you show you have enough power. Not integrity. No. Only power.
If they are faced with having to make a choice between you or say, a government or society, they chose which ever is able to effect the greatest power. Facts do not matter.
ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with whether the facts are correct or not correct. It is ONLY based on which one has power.
Therefore, addressing any facts (unless you can produce some power - an actual display of enforcement with those facts) it is pretty useless to discuss them. The facts don't matter. The power does.
The staged scenes on the internet LOOK like power to them. They cower from that.
Only heroes stand tall against it. Until death if necessary... to protect what they found to be correct facts.
The integrity weak respond ONLY to power because they can not trust themselves.
When they no longer trust themselves (in their own mind) they have already decided to trust what ever power outside would be most powerful against them.
How free one expresses himself is only a branched symptom of something slightly deeper; the number or magnitude of their regrets. Being or having become a victim can be a regret too, but mostly how often they have found themselves to have done or been wrong. Regrets.
All of this indeed does come down to control. Those trusting MORE in another or other's power to make a decision stick have little trust in their own ability to control the spaces of the concern.
They LEARNED this from pervious experiences. Experiences which only they could be aware of. The experiences which led to their regrets.
So discussion of facts when someone is regularly inventing reasons to dismiss those facts, is pretty useless.
Because the counter-power to your facts is their idealized version of that which they consider to be more powerful than you. If their ideal of the power is with someone else (police / government) they do not care anymore what's right or wrong. Because facts no longer matter.
Ha ha ha.... try to get one of them to admit that though.
They already lost their integrity a long time ago.
Do not expect honesty. Unless you have some very fantastic love and desire to be patient enough. Basically, unless you are a hero.
But how much are they worth to you? Probably as much as they are worth to themselves against any other power - very little self worth against other power. This was a learned reaction to something powerful. Facts no longer matter.