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Steve

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6 minutes ago, Pariah said:

In something pretty trivial by comparison, Canada just announced that they will not be sending athletes to the 2020 Olympic Games... Assuming the said Games happen at all.

 

So that's the first country I've heard say that.  No way it'll be the last.  I don't trust the IOC even a little, so I suspect they won't make any decision until long after they've become irrelevant.

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10 hours ago, Pariah said:

In something pretty trivial by comparison, Canada just announced that they will not be sending athletes to the 2020 Olympic Games... Assuming the said Games happen at all.

 

10 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

So that's the first country I've heard say that.  No way it'll be the last.  I don't trust the IOC even a little, so I suspect they won't make any decision until long after they've become irrelevant.

 

If more countries make it clear they will  not be sending athletes, the IOC may get the message.  While a small thing, it is one more media hit on "this is real, take it seriously".

 

 

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It's striking me the enormity of scale of this all.

 

After this is over, people will say this was overblown. Good. We want it overblown, because that means we will have averted the worst of it.

 

I read yesterday on another forum the suggestion that the measures to fight the disease are an existential threat to civilization itself. The premise is that human beings need meaningful work (the part that I do not disagree with) and that with a prolonged break forced by the virus almost all employers will disappear. So we will have millions of workers who can't freelance or work from home with no possible work to do. Bingo. Game over for civilization.

 

Like I said, I agree with the first premise that humans need meaningful work. What I don't follow is the logic that states everything will disappear for good and the businesses that shut down will never come back -- and that even if it is true no new businesses will sprout up in their place. People need work and stuff, and will find a way to get it. I do think that if the stay at home orders continue for three to six months, that will be enough to launch fundamental changes in how society handles work, money, public health, and taxation. Are those changes going to mean The End? I doubt it. I suspect a sudden reexamination of everything we value, and a LOT of social and political disruptions.

 

For me, personally, it may be apocalyptic if government decides it can no longer afford to provide for people with ongoing medical issues. I am entering unknown territory.

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5 hours ago, Hugh Neilson said:

 

 

If more countries make it clear they will  not be sending athletes, the IOC may get the message.  While a small thing, it is one more media hit on "this is real, take it seriously".

 

 

 

The IOC is, I think, too vested to let go.  

 

Alternate, cynical argument...they're waiting for Japan to say "shut it down."  Because that becomes an out for them, in terms of existing contracts.  If they declare a shutdown...major liabilities.  If Japan declares a shutdown, arguably many fewer liabilities.  Don't know this as fact but it makes sense as a hypothesis.

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