I Don't do Crazy and I Don't do Stupid -- A Commentary

One of my early memories of working as an attorney in a law office over 40 years ago was of a man who came around periodically trying to get the law firm you invest money in his project to find the Lost Dutchman Mine in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix. I also remember another visitor to the office who was always trying to sell Navajo jewelry. The only problem with the jewelry was that I was convinced that it was probably stolen property. These were just some of the earliest of the experiences that I had that led me to adopt a simple phrase to explain my lack of enthusiasm and interest in proposed projects and attitudes: I don't do crazy and I don't do stupid. 

Very often during my long legal career, I would have potential clients approach me with a "sure-fire" winning case. They would start by telling me that I came highly recommended and then they would start to tell me about the case and I would, almost instantly, detect that their "presentation" was rehearsed. I would stop them and ask, "How many attorneys have you already talked to about this case?" Usually, I would get some run around answer but eventually, they would admit that they had talked to one or more attorneys. I would then say something about how sorry I was but they did not have a case and they were wasting their time. I would then hear a story about how someone in another state had a similar case and made a million dollars on the case. I would end the discussion by saying I did not think the case had any merits and I was not interested. Afterward, I would remember, I don't do stupid or crazy and I wasn't going to be the one who was stupid or crazy. 

Let's fast forward about a few years to the present. I am now sequestered because of a worldwide pandemic. Despite my sequestration, I am tuned in to the internet, as is usual for me. I can almost instantly see hundreds of news outlets and watch the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 map. I can also see a real-time statistical analysis of the progress of the disease on the Worldometer COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic website. These two websites give me a quick reality check for any statistical claims made in any online news articles. As I have observed previously in this blog, the spectrum of the news sources I review includes those that would be considered "far-right" in the United States and others that would be labeled ultra-left-wing-liberal. What I am finding in both and fairly sprinkled across the whole spectrum is a lot that falls into my definition of either stupid or crazy. 

For an example, as of the date of this post, I am reading comments and quoted articles on Facebook where people are expressing the opinion that the pandemic is over and there is no longer any need for social distancing. Hmm. I can look at the Worlometer for today and see that Russia has over 10,800 new COVID-19 cases and over 100 deaths. Here is a screenshot of the Russian graph for daily new cases. 

That doesn't look like the end of the pandemic to me. Oh, but you say, Russia is lying about their statistics. Are they over-reporting for sympathy or under-reporting? Why would any country over-report? On the other hand, a lack of testing in the United States clearly indicates that everything they are saying about the COVID-19 virus here is under-reported. It would be easier if the stupid and crazy were somewhat limited to one end of the political spectrum but the whole pandemic issue has become so politicized that almost every news account has some degree of one or the other. 

The trick here is to not buy in to either stupid or crazy. If some self-anointed expert suddenly declares that eating raw cabbage cures the COVID-19 virus, look before you leap. Where did the information come from? Have there been any peer-reviewed studies supporting the conclusion? What does the expert expect stand to gain if you buy into his or her theory? What do you have to lose? What is missing from all of the online discussion is a measurable degree of self-preservation. Why is it that people are willing to risk their own death simply because someone puts up a video on YouTube?

What has Russia to do with you? What did China have to with anyone when all this started?

Here is one final graph. This is the daily number of cases worldwide. Granted, there are whole countries that are not reporting. But it isn't over yet and I suspect I will be able to illustrate the same conclusion in a month or two from the date of this post.