The Eeyore Syndrome
National Review,
by
Victor Davis Hanson
Original Article
Posted By: tisHimself,
4/8/2020 5:30:53 AM
In A. A. Milne’s classic Winne-the-Pooh children’s tales, Eeyore, the old gray donkey, is perennially pessimistic and gloomy. He always expects the worst to happen.
Milne understood that Eeyore’s outbursts of depression could at first be salutatory but then become monotonous. The outlook of the pessimist (“if you think it’s bad now, just wait”) always enjoys advantages over both the realist (“so what, life goes on”) and the optimist (“oh, come on, it can’t be that bad”).
Reply 1 - Posted by:
jeffkinnh 4/8/2020 6:39:53 AM (No. 372324)
"His critics prefer longer shelter-in-place policies."
Well, they didn't but now they do. Their opposition is not based on facts but on pure opposition to Trump. That is fortunate because arguing from both sides makes their case specious.
Trump has been continually optimistic, hopeful, while working diligently to seek the outcome that is best for the American People. He has been tempered by realism as the virus has progressed. People are sick. People are dying. In some areas the medical systems are being overwhelmed. From the start, the illness curve, the "peak", has been the boogeyman we had to fight to keep it "flattened". Trump's initial statements indicated he thought this might be like a bad flu season; around 65,000 US deaths and hospitals strained but not overwhelmed. So far, that may be true. The potential is for worse but we don't KNOW the actual outcome. Meanwhile, Trump is acting like it will be worse and trying to "bend the curve" downward.
"be prepared for an impending Armageddon of blame and hindsight."
The ONE sure thing about this virus. It is the ONLY issue that the dems might get some traction with, mostly because any reality about it is so ephemeral. Everything else about the dem party has been falling into a black hole. They are desperate and they have nothing else. Be ready for anything.
48 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 4/8/2020 7:36:13 AM (No. 372365)
Hanson is brilliant, as always. He expresses a thought I've had for some time. He refers to an "impending Armageddon of blame and hindsight." I called it an "unholy reckoning against the so-called experts who have betrayed us."
Doctors undergo a highly-competitive process to become professionally qualified. In my experience, they are more intelligent and educated than the average person. They are also more arrogant. Very few are as knowledgeable as they think, and I have found many doctors to be reluctant to admit what they don't know. They are prone to express opinions as certainties and advice as orders. They are professionally-inclined to err on the side of caution.
All of these qualities have been on display in the quality of the medical expertise we have seen during this process. We have paralyzed our society in order to protect it. We needed facts and options; what we got was opinions and orders.
Winston Churchill once said, "You may take the most gallant sailor, the most intrepid airman, or the most audacious soldier, put them at a table together - what do you get? The sum of their fears." We have done this with doctors, journalists, and public health officials, and we got what we have now:
A dying society full of healthy patients.
49 people like this.
Yes, and on March 23, 2020, Governor Eeyore Cuomo publicly declared that "40 % to 80% (in NY) WILL get coronavirus." Of course, he will never be held accountable for his reckless, overly pessimistic declarations. Pessimism demonstrates poor leadership, but liberals love fear mongering. I just can't fathom WInston Churchill saying something so stupid and weak, or DJT.
26 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
cor-vet 4/8/2020 7:43:48 AM (No. 372369)
When this current crisis passes, and it will, the dems will have to find something else in their neverending quest to topple our President. They've shown that they are willing to take down the country, if need be. I can't even imagine what they will try next, because everything they do, is worse than the last, and with their complicit propagandists in the media, it will be in Americas face 24/7. Their quest for power is beyond belief.
38 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
mobyclik 4/8/2020 8:11:43 AM (No. 372398)
I can hear it now from the Rats and their bobble-headed, so-called 'media':
''Because of all of the senseless mistakes made by Trump and his 'yes-man' lackeys, thousands of Americans have died and he has destroyed the Obama economy which was the best in the world. He must pay the price for this abomination he caused and that price is total defeat at the ballot box. Possibly even prosecution for him in the future.''
12 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
msjena 4/8/2020 8:51:19 AM (No. 372427)
I fear that even if Trump and the feds call for an easing of the quarantine of the healthy, Democrat governors will continue the lockdown in their states. I can only hope that political pressure from the people put out of work and the small business owners will prevent this.
17 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 4/8/2020 8:57:54 AM (No. 372433)
Usually, I cannot abide NR, but today it was the quickest place to read VDH's article. HALFWAY through the article, an overly huge and LOUD graphic promotion of other stories slammed up to interrupt my reading. To restate it, VDJ was the click-bait. His erudition only shows how tedious and TDS most of the NR content really is.
14 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
HotRod 4/8/2020 9:09:09 AM (No. 372445)
The pessimists, whether natural or contrived, will always be the loudest. Like President Trump, I am an optimist. This is because we have lived through much worse times in our history, and only become stronger.
The democrats/media/anti-Trumpers are quick to lay blame for anything against President Trump, if they think it hurts him or helps them. You can hear the increasing desperation in their voices.
Imagine those people saying: ''The Sun comes up every morning! People get Sunburn and suffer terribly! Often times the burns get infected. Children are especially susceptible! I demand that the President do something, and explain why he has allowed people to suffer so!'' I'm sure they would do this, if they thought it would work...
15 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Krause 4/8/2020 9:09:28 AM (No. 372447)
The overly pessimistic projections are much more dangerous also because the radical dishonest media, like CNN, MSNBC, NYT, etc., will glom onto and spread the numbers far and wide, with major dishonest swipes at Trump's perceived gross mishandling of the crisis, because of their violent hatred of him.
12 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
planetgeo 4/8/2020 9:21:40 AM (No. 372460)
Actually, I believe that VDH's normally pinpoint accurate assessments is off this time. This time the Democrats aren't just "pessimistic and gloomy," they're homicidal and suicidal. If they can't have America, nobody can have America. The jilted power -loving Democrats have been stalking the successful suitor, President Trump, for 3 long years.They've, created fake dossiers, mounted investigations of him, his family, his associates, voted for an impeachment that didn't have a single constitutionally valid article of impeachment, and now this. They've done everything but boil Baron's pet white bunny to show just how angry they are that they were jilted.
They've literally gone insane. Not even a restraining order was going to stop them. They'll show US just how angry they are and how far they're willing to take their #resistance. They're going to slowly strangle the economy and they don't care if the whole country dies of starvation. They know we won't all die of COVID19.
24 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
MattMusson 4/8/2020 9:25:31 AM (No. 372467)
Models predict - The Past.
They are designed and tested against past occurrences. If they can explained what happened
last time, it might explain what will happen this time.
Unfortunately, because the CCP has lied from day one - we will only know if this was SARS,
MERS or the Flu in retrospect. And, we do not really know if we have a firm grasp on the number
of people with COVID-19 or the actual number of people who died from the COVID-19.
And, we do not know if the Virus is naturally seasonal like the Flu.
The answers to these questions will alter the model outcome by orders of magnitude.
8 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Suzi 4/8/2020 9:34:47 AM (No. 372490)
I always considered myself an optimist. But, I'm not particularly rosy. Just practical. VDH taught me I'm a realist. Whodathunkit?
7 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
steph_gray 4/8/2020 10:59:43 AM (No. 372620)
VDH mentions the bad flu year of 2017 which was about 60K deaths.
As of TODAY the CDC twins' model has posted very close to that projected deaths number. Slightly lower, in fact. (And all signs point to their number's continuing to deflate as days go by.)
Yes, it is now proven (even to those who accept these two bureaucrats' word as gospel) that the ChiComLab Virus' toll will be right around that of a bad seasonal flu.
So, here we are. Once this fully sinks in across the country, I picture Munchkins rubbing their eyes and waking up out of the Eeyore-induced fog.
7 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
Timber Queen 4/8/2020 12:09:01 PM (No. 372760)
I agree with #10. Although an accurate assessment of the normal push/pull between pessimism and optimism, VDH doesn't factor in the nihilistic fervor driving the "progressive" communists worldwide and in America. After 150 years the showdown between communism and capitalism, between the forces of Good and evil has come. It will not be the first time nor will it be the last. It is only the latest bitter fruit being served mankind by the Prince of Darkness.
The evil inhabiting the enemies of mankind is so threatened it no longer bothers with a pleasing appearance. This is always evil's downfall. It only thrives when it can fool people. In this time and place through our modern communications the forces for Good are finally ramming down the gates of Hell. They will prevail.
MAGA:KAG - One Nation Under God.
5 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
NotaBene 4/8/2020 12:24:35 PM (No. 372793)
The models of Fauci/Birx/Gates are based on falsehoods, adjusted daily and designed to defeat President Trump in the election. Fauci poured cold water on hydroxy-Chloroquine, the Trump pill combo, probably resulting in thousands of unnecessary deaths. We had nothing to lose and this Hillary-loving doctor triggered Democrat governors to forbid hydroxy-Chloroquine. This drug is likely excellent in prophylaxis as well. We must reopen the economy with everyone simply wearing masks until this seasonal cold Coronavirus burns away in the summer, as it will.
One element not considered here are Racial Riots in this electoral year. In the summer of 1992 Maxine Waters organized the Bloods and the Crips to burn down the Korean stores in Los Angeles to help in the defeat of G.H.W. Bush. The Blacks in Southern California never completely recovered from that but, never mind, Clinton got elected.
How does The National Review feel about their “Against Trump” issue now that the future of Capitalism and Western Civilization hinges on the re-election of Donald Trump?
3 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
little guy 4/8/2020 12:51:34 PM (No. 372826)
We have a close relative by marriage and he is a full professor at Yale. Needless to say, he looks down on us and always has something snarky to say about the people who support Trump --- who he feels should be assassinated for "the good of the country"! So I asked him why "scientists" are so often wrong about so many things like climate, medicine, economics, etc. He claimed to quote John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) who --- when confronted by the point that he was constantly wrong --- but still wanted people to pay attention, allegedly said: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
There it is. Yup --- we're often wrong but so what? They are never held accountable!
So I asked this snotty professor if I thought he was guilty of murder and hanged him for that killing but found out a week later that the "facts changed" and he was actually innocent so I changed my mind about his guilt, would that be ok? I got a blank stare in return and a change of subject after mumbling it's not the same.
4 people like this.
We must fight back!
Every move to topple us must be countered.
Counter-punch their sorry asses.
It’s all they understand. This is a war
for our beloved America!
3 people like this.
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