What boggles my mind is it doesn't really matter to the right-wing what happens.

  • If there's a miracle and only dozens of people go into the hospital - "See? The pointy-headed scientists are super-fucking idiots."

  • If rally puts 100s of people into the hospital - the right-wing will say "See? The pointy-headed scientists are fucking idiots. No biggie." They might even quote morality rates.

  • If it becomes a super-spreader event just like last time - they'll say say "Freedom is more important."

Comments are disabled at the NYT - what a shitty site.

Hundreds of Thousands of Bikers Expected in Sturgis Despite Delta Variant - The New York Times

The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally began on Friday, just as the infectious Delta variant is producing a surge in cases nationwide.

Although most large events shut down last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally forged ahead, panicking health experts as nearly a half-million motorcycle enthusiasts descended on the Black Hills of South Dakota.

This year's rally, which began on Friday, is expected to draw an even larger crowd, just as the infectious Delta variant is producing more new virus cases nationwide than this time last year.

[...]

Whatever minimal precautions people took last year have drifted away like so much motorcycle exhaust, she said. "This year it's hog-wild," she said. "Nobody cares."

[...]

Meade County, which includes Sturgis, has a 37 percent vaccination rate — significantly lower than the half of Americans who are fully vaccinated — and the six counties that border it have even lower vaccination rates.

  • crime [she/her, any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Lmao the first time I ever heard of Sturgis was last year when it was a super spreader event early on in the pandemic, in the context of "wow people died to see Smash Mouth in the year 2020 despite knowing death was a possible outcome"

    • happybadger [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      , in the context of “wow people died to see Smash Mouth in the year 2020 despite knowing death was a possible outcome”

      Limp Bizkit headlined Lollapalooza this year. The youth of today are dying for the same mistakes we made, back when there was no consequence to listening to Smash Mouth. It's tragic.

    • inshallah2 [none/use name]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I was going to make parody lyrics for All Star but I had pretty much forgotten the very first verse. I can just quote it...

      Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
      I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
      She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
      In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

      • crime [she/her, any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        If you had a movie scene where that band sang those worlds to that crowd in those circumstances , it would be panned for being too hamfisted

        • inshallah2 [none/use name]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I was almost disappointed when I was looking at the lyrics. I wanted to write a parody but there's no way I'm beating that. It's really beyond belief in this context.

          Decades from now how will kids and teenagers look on this insane American era. But how will a teenager in - say - 2060s believe any of this? I'm living through this shit and it's hard for me to believe it. If our "reality" ends up being a buggy Matrix - that would make perfect sense.