The Odds

On occasion you might hear an ahistorical talking head on television say that America has never been more divided. That, of course, is false. Historians understand that this country's usual state is badly divided. We once fought a Civil War in which hundreds of thousands of people killed one another. 

It's like the answer to the question, "What has been the most powerful anti-union force in our history?" (The Confederate army)

But we do seem to be living in a failed nation.

Today a major division is between people who want to remain in quarantine (because of the coronavirus) and those who want to ignore a pandemic and return to normal living. A few elected officials have argued that it is better to let people die than to close businesses temporarily.

I don't believe that most people calling on us to ignore the pandemic are suicidal. Some are remarkably stupid. They don't grasp how plagues work. Most, though, suffer from a problem we all share, which is an inability to rank dangers in a realistic way. For example, which is more dangerous, tRump or global warming?