In his short, open thread today, Eugyppius mentions a recent interview given by Karl Lauterbach in which he says that without lockdowns, a million Germans would have died from COVID. Let’s take a quick look at how plausible this is. Using the Our World in Data
Not dumb, not a cold-blooded liar, but crazy. There is a reason why Scholz hesitated to make him minister of health (and not only because this skewed the cabinet's gender ratio).
Fun fact: the time we spent in the second lockdown (roughly half a year, from Dec 13, 2020 to May 22, 2021) accounts for around 65k of the deaths - or 38% of the deaths in 1/6 of the time.
He knows he's lying. Someone above him tells him to keep the narrative going and he complies. Which makes him a useful idiot. I love that term, it's perfect for all these people who actually think they are helping a greater cause.
Neither. A deluded midwit drunk on power who has achieved his office by a combination of sheer dedication, very modest smarts, hard work, and saying the right things to the right people at the right time. He doesn't know what he is doing or what he is saying. He is no deep thinker, he has no commitment to fundamental axioms or the SOPs we already had in place to deal with respiratory pandemics.
He believes he is right and will likely go to his grave doing so.
There will be an autobiography out shortly after he is fired as health minister. He will be found dead in his flat in 5 years, of alcoholism or a cocaine overdose, after the neighbours complain of the overwhelming smell. No one will have noticed that he failed to take his backbench seat in the Bundestag for the previous 3 weeks and no family or friends will have noticed his absence.
You think this guy would LIE to us? He is an expert.
okay, all kidding aside.
These people make me sickkkkk
They have destroyed so many lives and they are quite aware of that and also that this was their intention. They should stop the drama. Most people are not buying it.
In a more serious vein, I believe our institutions are captured and run by people who are more clever than smart, more nice than good, more calculating than honest, more self-centered than service-centered, more invested in reputation than honor, and so on. They put on a face of concern and service, but live to "get theirs".
Both?
Not dumb, not a cold-blooded liar, but crazy. There is a reason why Scholz hesitated to make him minister of health (and not only because this skewed the cabinet's gender ratio).
Fun fact: the time we spent in the second lockdown (roughly half a year, from Dec 13, 2020 to May 22, 2021) accounts for around 65k of the deaths - or 38% of the deaths in 1/6 of the time.
He knows he's lying. Someone above him tells him to keep the narrative going and he complies. Which makes him a useful idiot. I love that term, it's perfect for all these people who actually think they are helping a greater cause.
Well, here is what the cumulative death totals would have looked like (orange line) vs. what they actually looked like (blue line):
Switched words in the parenthesis? I think orange is actual and blue is speculative.
Neither. A deluded midwit drunk on power who has achieved his office by a combination of sheer dedication, very modest smarts, hard work, and saying the right things to the right people at the right time. He doesn't know what he is doing or what he is saying. He is no deep thinker, he has no commitment to fundamental axioms or the SOPs we already had in place to deal with respiratory pandemics.
He believes he is right and will likely go to his grave doing so.
There will be an autobiography out shortly after he is fired as health minister. He will be found dead in his flat in 5 years, of alcoholism or a cocaine overdose, after the neighbours complain of the overwhelming smell. No one will have noticed that he failed to take his backbench seat in the Bundestag for the previous 3 weeks and no family or friends will have noticed his absence.
You think this guy would LIE to us? He is an expert.
okay, all kidding aside.
These people make me sickkkkk
They have destroyed so many lives and they are quite aware of that and also that this was their intention. They should stop the drama. Most people are not buying it.
Why not both?
In a more serious vein, I believe our institutions are captured and run by people who are more clever than smart, more nice than good, more calculating than honest, more self-centered than service-centered, more invested in reputation than honor, and so on. They put on a face of concern and service, but live to "get theirs".
Definitely not dumb.
"Truth? Oh please... the truth often means the political death." - Karl Lauterbach
Dumb as a rock, but with a healthy ego-related liar's syndrome.