D&D and the rising pandemic

Derp. Let's be honest no big surprise.

Looking for some economic stuff for comparison.


Basically the country is going nuts post lockdown. My wife works in logistics and it's been the busiest she can remember and has been since May when lockdown ended.

Tourism and hospitality has taken a hit but a side effect of closed borders is NZ domestic tourism our dollars aren't being spent elsewhere.

Unemployment hit 5.3% it was projected to hit 9-10%. Government deficit was half projections.

However we have our own problems. The impact of Covid has landed on people.

Negative effects.

House prices has surged along with rent. This is causing big social problems. Side effect of cheap interest rates. Our house tripled in value, cousins and nedhews priced out.

Women and Maori have been disproportionately effected due to job losses. Hospitality and tourism employ a lot more women for example. Men tend to work in primary industries translation farming and related industries (ports, meat works etc).

Shortage of workers as well.


No lockdowns, community spread etc economy is doing relatively well. In the grand scheme of things it's a good problem to have I suppose.

Borders likely shut until 2022 and Qantas has said no vaccination no flight. I expect others to do the same.

Dannyalcatraz said:

I find it stunning. I have read it’s a coping mechanism, and other explanations, but when I see it up close, it still boggles my mind.

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Society has left a lot of us feeling we have no control over our lives ... some seem to want to forcibly take that back even when it means self injury... (or the more horrific hurting of others)

Absolutely. Just thinking about the crowded hallways of Gen Con gives me literal nightmares.

One thing I hope comes out of this is that when it's over, in the U.S. it becomes the socially-accepted thing to just wear a mask when you've got any sort of respiratory illness. Other countries were already doing that. I can't count the number of times at cons that I've shown up to an event and someone has been free-air snorking and snuffling.

MarkB said:

Plus, gaming conventions couldn't be a much more ideal environment for the proliferation and spreading of a cold/flu-like virus if they had been scientifically designed for that purpose.

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Ralif Redhammer said:

Absolutely. Just thinking about the crowded hallways of Gen Con gives me literal nightmares.

One thing I hope comes out of this is that when it's over, in the U.S. it becomes the socially-accepted thing to just wear a mask when you've got any sort of respiratory illness. Other countries were already doing that. I can't count the number of times at cons that I've shown up to an event and someone has been free-air snorking and snuffling.

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The death rate from the seasonal flu in Australia this "winter" was amazingly low.

NotAYakk said:

The death rate from the seasonal flu in Australia this "winter" was amazingly low.

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Thinking that is highly expected

Ralif Redhammer said:

One thing I hope comes out of this is that when it's over, in the U.S. it becomes the socially-accepted thing to just wear a mask when you've got any sort of respiratory illness.

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Given that we can't seem to get enough people to wear masks when it will clearly save lives, I fear this is wishful thinking.

Garthanos said:

Society has left a lot of us feeling we have no control over our lives ... some seem to want to forcibly take that back even when it means self injury... (or the more horrific hurting of others)

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That's a partial explanation for the behavior, but I don't think it fully explains the resistance to reality involved, especially given the political polarization also involved.

For the latter, we can also look in part to some basic human psychology - when we take a position, we put an emotional stake in the ground. to overcome that emotional stake requires getting over two hurdles:

1) Social - being wrong has social capital impact. Folks will go a long way to deny being wrong to avoid loss of face, especially if the belief is tied up in the social circle. Today, disagreements with a particular belief can get you ostracized from some groups.

2) Personal - when you are wrong, there's an issue you have to confront, in why were you wrong. That requires self-examination, and likely self-correction. This can require changing an entire world-view, which is HARD. It is often easier to deny to great lengths than to self-examine and change one's own belief system.

Umbran said:

Given that we can't seem to get enough people to wear masks when it will clearly save lives, I fear this is wishful thinking.



That's a partial explanation for the behavior, but I don't think it fully explains the resistance to reality involved, especially given the political polarization also involved.

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It is my best Steel Man I can conjure for it...

Umbran said:

For the latter, we can also look in part to some basic human psychology - when we take a position, we put an emotional stake in the ground. to overcome that emotional stake requires getting over two hurdles:

1) Social - being wrong has social capital impact. FOlks will go a long way to deny being wrong to avoid that social impact
2) Personal - when you are wrong, there's an issue you have to confront, in why were you wrong. That requires self-examination, and likely self-correction. Very few people are on board for soul-searching and changing their ways. People will literally go to war over things to avoid admitting the reality.

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Leadership was what lead a lot of people into this anti-reality trap inspite of people denying the power of leadership (insert Warlords are not realistic argument or maybe we will just keep it abstract). Which is why its actually important to have good leadership which actually tries to support the truth (leaders can be fear driven and that is a problem too)

Umbran said:

Given that we can't seem to get enough people to wear masks when it will clearly save lives, I fear this is wishful thinking.



That's a partial explanation for the behavior, but I don't think it fully explains the resistance to reality involved, especially given the political polarization also involved.

For the latter, we can also look in part to some basic human psychology - when we take a position, we put an emotional stake in the ground. to overcome that emotional stake requires getting over two hurdles:

1) Social - being wrong has social capital impact. Folks will go a long way to deny being wrong to avoid loss of face, especially if the belief is tied up in the social circle. Today, disagreements with a particular belief can get you ostracized from some groups.

2) Personal - when you are wrong, there's an issue you have to confront, in why were you wrong. That requires self-examination, and likely self-correction. This can require changing an entire world-view, which is HARD. It is often easier to deny to great lengths than to self-examine and change one's own belief system.

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And a degree of comfort / laziness. Given a choice between an explanation that will require them to change their ways and one which will allow them to continue as they are, people will find any excuse possible to go with the latter.

Alas, a true point.

Umbran said:

Given that we can't seem to get enough people to wear masks when it will clearly save lives, I fear this is wishful thinking.

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