Why is Dan Peterson Vacationing During a Pandemic?

[_Lemmie]

My wife and I have family flying in today. We haven’t put life on hold. Are we being careful, wearing a mask, etc.? Of course. And so are our kids and grandchildren as they’re coming to visit.

I find this a lot easier to sympathize with than a purely self-serving vacation...

Only slightly. Personally, I find it irresponsible and nonsensical. Putting life on hold is exactly what is being asked, in order to save lives. And no your kids and grandchildren are NOT “being careful.” By definition, flying in from other states, going through airports, interacting with many people is not being careful.

[_Themis]

I find this a lot easier to sympathize with than a purely self-serving vacation. And what you've said merely proves my basic point. Why didn't DCP go to visit with his children or grandchildren? Was it because he didn't want to take on the risk of getting infected? Well, hey: at least he can go gallivanting around in the Rocky Mountains!

Gallivanting around the Rockies can be a low risk activity, but unfortunately having family visit is not. I sympathize with people wanting to get family together, but it is a lot more risky than RVing in the Rockies. DCP is safer doing that and keeping in contact with family through phone or video than having family fly in like MG is doing. Not that he can't do some things to make the visit safer for everyone.

[_Jersey Girl]

Putting life on hold is exactly what is being asked, in order to save lives.

Lemmie simply nails it here.

Are the airlines operating? Yes.
Are the hotels/lodges in CO open to at least 50% capacity? Yes.

Are we being asked to stay home? YES.

Enough already. :rolleyes:

[_Doctor Scratch]

I find this a lot easier to sympathize with than a purely self-serving vacation. And what you've said merely proves my basic point. Why didn't DCP go to visit with his children or grandchildren? Was it because he didn't want to take on the risk of getting infected? Well, hey: at least he can go gallivanting around in the Rocky Mountains!

Gallivanting around the Rockies can be a low risk activity, but unfortunately having family visit is not. I sympathize with people wanting to get family together, but it is a lot more risky than RVing in the Rockies. DCP is safer doing that and keeping in contact with family through phone or video than having family fly in like MG is doing. Not that he can't do some things to make the visit safer for everyone.

Themis:

I appreciate your dissection of the moral relativism of people's choices during the pandemic. Still, I'm curious (and I realize that I am asking you to speculate): why do *you* think that Dr. Peterson chose to go on a vacation during this pandemic? Don't you think that the motivation will have a bearing on the relative morality of that decision? I mean, doing something to be close to loved ones is different from doing something just because you are bored, or because you're tired of the "lockdown," no? And even family visits can be conducted safely, right? What if he and Mrs. Peterson had RV'ed out to wherever their children lived, and done a socially distant visit? I.e., masks, traveling via RV (and I've seen no evidence--none whatsoever--that this was the way that the Colorado trip was conducted), quarantining for 14 days, and then having meals 6 feet apart, etc.?

[_Doctor Scratch]

Putting life on hold is exactly what is being asked, in order to save lives.

Lemmie simply nails it here.

Are the airlines operating? Yes.
Are the hotels/lodges in CO open to at least 50% capacity? Yes.

Are we being asked to stay home? YES.

Enough already. :rolleyes:

I find it hard to disagree with this.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Oddly enough he links to this article regarding wearing masks - from his blog and with this segue, “ It’s a relief to see some sanity on this subject”:

“Mask-Wearing and the Common Good”

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/m ... term=third

“ Though Americans of all political stripes have by and large embraced masking policies, there’s an aggressively pro-masking contingent on the Left, composed primarily of the sorts of progressives who likely have been glowering at you for sitting several feet away from a couple friends in your backyard or for failing to wear a mask while walking from the grocery store to your car.

By and large, these are the same progressives who loudly defend legal elective abortion — what they call “the right to choose” — relying heavily on euphemistic slogans such as “my body, my choice.” Utterly forgotten is the second body, that of the unborn human being, which must be mutilated and discarded to accommodate the wishes of the first.

If we can understand the importance of mask-wearing policies that impose on some of us for the good of the whole — policies that infringe on some aspects of our individual autonomy so as to prevent harm to others — surely we can understand a policy that curbs autonomy at the point where it involves taking another human being’s life.”

Huh?

- Doc

[_I have a question]

My wife and I have family flying in today. We haven’t put life on hold. Are we being careful, wearing a mask, etc.? Of course. And so are our kids and grandchildren as they’re coming to visit.

I'm interested in understanding how you justify this to yourself. The advice is to avoid non essential travel, so how have you rationalised within your family to ignore this advice?

[_moksha]

I'm interested in understanding how you justify this to yourself.

The justification is laid out in the hymn, "Do what you want and pretend the consequences will not follow".

[_Gadianton]

Themis: "I suspect Scratch would criticize little to none someone who is a well known non-believer."

Sure Themis, but your comment is misleading. Scratch is a student of the apologists. He would probably criticize little to none many well-known believers publicly for the same thing, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't have a problem with it. That the media doesn't put a story up for every American who does the same bad thing Trump does, doesn't make them hypocritical. If they hold a double-standard to different presidents, then that would be concerning. Likewise, if an apologist rose to notoriety and took the movement in the direction Prof. Scratch approved of, but then went on a string of vacations during coronavirus and he turned a blind eye, then that would be a problem.

"I sympathize with people wanting to get family together, but it is a lot more risky than RVing in the Rockies."

Hold the phone - RV? Hotel with room service and and kitchen.

[_Themis]

Themis:

I appreciate your dissection of the moral relativism of people's choices during the pandemic. Still, I'm curious (and I realize that I am asking you to speculate): why do *you* think that Dr. Peterson chose to go on a vacation during this pandemic?

Probably the same reason we all do. Not all vacation decisions during this pandemic are equal when it comes to risk. Going to a busy beach is probably a risky choice, while sight seeing and hiking low density trails would be low risk.

Don't you think that the motivation will have a bearing on the relative morality of that decision? I mean, doing something to be close to loved ones is different from doing something just because you are bored, or because you're tired of the "lockdown," no? And even family visits can be conducted safely, right? What if he and Mrs. Peterson had RV'ed out to wherever their children lived, and done a socially distant visit? I.e., masks, traveling via RV (and I've seen no evidence--none whatsoever--that this was the way that the Colorado trip was conducted), quarantining for 14 days, and then having meals 6 feet apart, etc.?

I don't see the difference, and we don't know if he already has been doing things with the family. He went on a trip from Utah to Colorado to see nature. This is an activity that I believe is allowed, and one that can be done quite safely if done right. I don't know if he did, but until we have that information we cannot reasonably determine irresponsibility. If DCP can RV out to see children and do it safely why could he not do the same out in Nature? I am also not aware of what mandated rules may be in place for traveling between Utah and Colorado.