# I'm pitting spring breakers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 20, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858 "2020-03-20T02:12:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/41 "2020-03-21T20:19:26Z")
> [@Ale](#): > > Yes, excellent idea, nothing works best at promoting the idea in a target group that they should pay heed to what society and the news tells them to do than having the news deliberately portray them in an exaggerated negative way that doesn’t reflect reality as they themselves can ascertain and promotes and directs hate against them by the rest of society. > > Extra doubly effective when it’s older people doing it against people barely past their teens. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There have been ample polite advisories telling people they shouldn’t gather in unnecessary crowds. Reasonable people, including young college students, listened and took heed. > > The people we’re talking about here are the other ones. The ones who don’t listen to reason. These people need to have somebody shout at them and call them stupid. > [@Ale](#): > > The point ( **yes, that was that woosh sound overhead** ), was that deliberately distorting the facts on the ground is a no-no, tempting as it may be to exaggerate things for effect. **Ever heard of Peter and the Wolf?** Umm, maybe you’re NOT the ideal candidate to be calling “wooshes” on people… ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/42 "2020-03-21T21:54:30Z")
And, no surprise: - [Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/health/coronavirus-young-people.html) They are very likely to survive it but they will spread it to others who can’t. Normally I am not big on dumping on Millennials but fuck them for this. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/43 "2020-03-21T22:10:09Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > And, no surprise: > > - [Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/health/coronavirus-young-people.html) > > They are very likely to survive it but they will spread it to others who can’t. > > Normally I am not big on dumping on Millennials but fuck them for this. Worse, they will take up precious medical resources that could have been used to save people who were predisposed to be more vulnerable. I’m referring to people who are walking around with the “I’ll do whatever I want” mentality, not so much millennials and digital natives exclusively. But yeah, the spring breakers - just dumb and unnecessary. I also blame local officials for letting it happen for fear of losing tourism dollars - they should have imposed strict controls before spring break started. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/44 "2020-03-21T22:18:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > It’s also evidence that we need clearer executive orders around isolation. Restaurant and bar owners have those fully-developed brains and are still staying open. Mayors have those developed brains and aren’t closing parks and public spaces. > > They’re the ones that really deserve pitting. I agree with this. Especially Thursday-Friday of last week, the advice on this was really, really wishy-washy if you weren’t actually in a hot spot. A lot of “avoid unnecessary contact” and “use your best judgment” and “wash your hands”. There were several of us at work who had trips of one kind or another planned for spring break, and we were trying to figure out what the socially responsible thing to do was. No one was coming out and saying “no one should go on any vacations, period.” I had a trip planned for a state park. I cancelled it, mostly because I didn’t want to be out of cell phone contact, but would it have been socially irresponsible? I am not sure. I certainly didn’t have any sort of clear guidance on Wednesday of last week whether or not going off to a fairly isolated campground was upping everyone’s risk. I had a friend going to Santa Fe. She was going to go, but the person she was meeting cancelled. I had another friend going to Florida to see her mom–she went. We all talked about plans on Wednesday, and it didn’t seem at all like she was morally obligated to stay home. I mean, Wednesday the stores weren’t even really busy yet. We still thought we’d be coming back to school after spring break. By Thursday, and certainly by Friday, it was starting to feel a lot more real, but then some strange psychology comes into play–we know humans are bad at dealing with sunk cost. We cram food down our throats we don’t want to eat because it feels immoral to let it go to waste. We sit through a whole movie, even if we hate it from the first 15 minutes, because we paid for it. It is really, really hard to just throw away plane tickets. It’s even harder to do so if there is social pressure suggesting that you are over-reacting, being over-dramatic, if you do so. No one wants to be the prissy little bitch that ruins everyone else’s vacation. It takes some time to process that you are really going to have to just take the hit, to adjust to this new reality. And the timing here was awful. I mean, at my school, we had a fucking talent show with a couple hundred people in the audience Thursday night. By Friday noon, it wasn’t safe to let the kids gather in the cafeteria even for lunch, and we ate in our classrooms. So you could easily think on Thursday afternoon a trip to Florida would be reasonable–if you washed your hands a lot. To go from there to “no, I need to cancel this” by the time your plane lands is, in fact, a lot to ask of anyone. In retrospect (oh, retrospect), Thursday night or Friday morning, someone with authority should have said “Kids, throw away those plane tickets. It’s not right to go to spring break. You’re going to hurt yourself and others”. It needed to be said explicitly–don’t go. But no one said that. Probably if anyone had said that, the travel industry would have completely shit themselves, because Thursday night/Friday morning they were also still adjusting to this. Instead, advice was deliberately vague and left room for interpretation. I’m not saying that these kids aren’t obnoxious. But all this did happen remarkably quickly and people “got it” at different rates. What’s funny is that once it clicks into place for you, people that don’t “get it” seem insane. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/45 "2020-03-21T23:01:56Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > And, no surprise: > > - [Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in U.S.](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/health/coronavirus-young-people.html) > > They are very likely to survive it but they will spread it to others who can’t. > > Normally I am not big on dumping on Millennials but fuck them for this. Wanna feel old? Nearly all Millennials are beyond college age at this point. The bulk would be generation Z or whatever they’re called. ---
**Author:** ![Trancephalic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trancephalic/32/380_2.png) [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/46 "2020-03-21T23:05:40Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Normally I am not big on dumping on Millennials but fuck them for this. > [@asahi](#): > > I’m referring to people who are walking around with the “I’ll do whatever I want” mentality, not so much millennials and digital natives exclusively. You’re about a decade to late to lay blame on millenials, ie, people who were at least teenagers well before any of these jamokes were even born. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2020, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/47 "2020-03-21T23:07:29Z")
Does [39](https://www.sunherald.com/news/coronavirus/article241398536.html) count as a “younger adult?” ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/48 "2020-03-22T01:53:56Z")
> [@Trancephalic](#): > > You’re about a decade to late to lay blame on millenials, ie, people who were at least teenagers well before any of these jamokes were even born. Seems we are right on the cusp. Millenials: 23 - 38 Generation Z: 7 - 22 [SOURCE](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/609811/age-ranges-millennials-and-generation-z) So I guess most of the spring breakers are Gen-Z. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/49 "2020-03-22T02:01:26Z")
Is the CDC or WHO recommending that people stay off of beaches? Is the incidence of coronavirus significantly different in the vacation spots from where the vacationers are coming from? It is, in fact, possible to overreact to a disease. A heck of a lot of people in the world today are doing so. The people saying to take every conceivable precaution, just in case, are making thing worse, not better. Do not assume that, just because someone is reacting to a lesser degree than you are, that they are doing something wrong or unwise. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/50 "2020-03-22T02:01:36Z")
Can we say “Natural Selection”? ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/51 "2020-03-22T11:10:24Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Can we say “Natural Selection”? No? That’s literally the point–they will be fine. They may kill their grandparents and neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/52 "2020-03-22T11:19:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the CDC or WHO recommending that people stay off of beaches? Is the incidence of coronavirus significantly different in the vacation spots from where the vacationers are coming from? > > It is, in fact, possible to overreact to a disease. A heck of a lot of people in the world today are doing so. The people saying to take every conceivable precaution, just in case, are making thing worse, not better. Do not assume that, just because someone is reacting to a lesser degree than you are, that they are doing something wrong or unwise. Pleas explain, exactly, how taking every precaution is ‘making things worse’. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/53 "2020-03-22T12:10:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the CDC or WHO recommending that people stay off of beaches? Is the incidence of coronavirus significantly different in the vacation spots from where the vacationers are coming from? > > It is, in fact, possible to overreact to a disease. A heck of a lot of people in the world today are doing so. The people saying to take every conceivable precaution, just in case, are making thing worse, not better. Do not assume that, just because someone is reacting to a lesser degree than you are, that they are doing something wrong or unwise. Reported. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/54 "2020-03-22T12:31:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Pleas explain, exactly, how taking every precaution is ‘making things worse’. Because the “precautions” themselves have negative consequences. There’s some optimal amount of precautions that balances those negative effects versus the negative effects of the disease. People will, in fact, die from not being able to work, and from social isolation, and from “non-essential” programs (that were actually quite essential after all) being shut down. Over-react, and more people will die from those things. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/55 "2020-03-22T12:44:30Z")
Obviously, this isn’t about “beaches.” Stretches of sand bordering water bodies are perfectly fine places to take long walks or play around in. It’s about group activities, especially when groups are composed of people from many places who will soon return to those places. But you knew this, Chronos, before I reiterated the point in my earlier post, responding to your post #5. You certainly can’t claim to know this NOW. Decades ago, when the Dope was a Chicago newspaper column, Cecil first noted that “it’s taking longer than we thought.” That’s no excuse for the 21st-century curators of this noble venture to willfully _promote_ ignorance. If you want to continue in life just as an SDMB poster, and let the other mods decide if certain of your posts are of the Trio of William Caprine Gruff variety or something else, that’s okay. But your role as a moderator must end now, IMHO. If necessary, I’ll continue this as a separate pitting…but hopefully that won’t be needed, as the other mods will have taken action, or you will have gracefully resigned on your own initiative. ETA: I am in agreement with your most recent post. I myself have expressed frustration with what I have seen as overreactions to the current crisis — overreactions with serious consequences, as you pointed out. But you have included “restricting typical spring break activities” as an overreaction, and THAT is dangerous, factually wrong, and reprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/56 "2020-03-22T12:52:56Z")
Going to the beach for a party is not, by any stretch of the imagination, essential. For anyone. Speaking as someone living in a tourist area which is now being flooded by idiots who fail to realise we have ONE HOSPITAL in the county, which is already overstretched, with 4 deaths in the county so far, that’s a fucking stupid thing to say. In a place with universal health care- which we have- facilities are allocated on the basis of population. These fuckwits are not resident. They are not registered with local doctors, they do not count towards the funding for medical facilities. The areas they are coming from are better equipped to deal with any sickness. Your system is different, but I’m going to hazard a wild guess that the places large numbers of people live in are better equipped for a large number of people to fall sick than holiday areas, with a smaller year-round population are. And yes, the WHO and everyone else with a fucking brain is saying that now would be a great time to stay home and _not go on holiday_. My family run a tourist attraction, a small zoo; they’ve spent 29 years of their lives working there, with the hope it will continue long-term as a charitable conservation institution. It’s entirely dependent on tourist income. This is normally the start of their busiest time of year. The place is closed until further notice. They were not ordered to close. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/57 "2020-03-22T14:12:36Z")
Thank you, Filbert, for your family’s sacrifice. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/58 "2020-03-23T03:59:06Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Because the “precautions” themselves have negative consequences. There’s some optimal amount of precautions that balances those negative effects versus the negative effects of the disease. People will, in fact, die from not being able to work, and from social isolation, and from “non-essential” programs (that were actually quite essential after all) being shut down. Over-react, and more people will die from those things. Nope. You came in and said this about SPRING BREAK and beach parties. Those are not essential. You were chastising people for saying that you shouldn’t go to large parties of people, acting like they get to decide. You now even try the “just asking questions” nonsense. Your previous post asked us what the CDC said. You know the answer to that: **no more than 10 people gathered in one place, and sticking with social distancing, only going out for essentials.** Everyone goddamned fucking knows this. You’re doing the same thing that TempeJeff and that other guy who I can’t remember were when they were saying this was just the flu. Both of their threads got locked, for public safety. You are actively harming public safety by trying to argue that people get to decide whether or not they follow the orders that are here to save us all. No one in this thread mentioned “not working.” We know what the CDC said, and, if you have to go out to work, you can. So fuck off with your gotcha bullshit. **This thread is about people going on vacation into large social gatherings.** And you were defending these shitstains. You need to back the fuck off of it, not try to move the goalposts to make yourself sound reasonable. I don’t think I’ve seen a mod on this message board do something worse than what you did in these posts. So apologize, accept your ignorance, and go actually get informed instead of spreading falsehoods when every poster is telling you that you are wrong and hurting people. We were more likely to believe you were joking than to think you could be that stupid and horrible. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/59 "2020-03-23T04:14:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the CDC or WHO recommending that people stay off of beaches? Is the incidence of coronavirus significantly different in the vacation spots from where the vacationers are coming from? Yes, you fucking asshole. We were told to stay away from groups larger than 10. There is no way you could not know this unless you were actively avoiding information about COVID-19. And, if that’s the case, then you need to fucking back off and let those of us who are actually informed talk. And, while I would ordinarily assume you weren’t this dumb, I have to cover this. The people I see pulling these bullshit rationalizations often are actually making excuses for their own behaviors. So if you are planning a vacation to a place with lot of people, you’d better cancel it. This is fucking serious. You need to take it seriously, and not treat it as some pointless argument you need to win. You did something horrible, spreading misinformation about a viral epidemic–a national emergency. There is a reason you’re being reported. There’s a reason I replied to both of your posts, to drive this home. This is serious, and you need to take it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2020, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858/60 "2020-03-23T04:32:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Is the CDC or WHO recommending that people stay off of beaches? Is the incidence of coronavirus significantly different in the vacation spots from where the vacationers are coming from? > > It is, in fact, possible to overreact to a disease. A heck of a lot of people in the world today are doing so. The people saying to take every conceivable precaution, just in case, are making thing worse, not better. Do not assume that, just because someone is reacting to a lesser degree than you are, that they are doing something wrong or unwise. You’re completely wrong here. First, traveling across country from various locations, hanging out in large crowds, and then traveling back home to locations all over the country is far worse than simply staying home. Second, taking precautions and being smart is not worse than acting reckless and being stupid. It is, of course, better. And I’m having a hard time believing that I have to explain to somebody that being smart is better than being stupid. Third, going on spring break serves no essential purpose. There are no “negative consequences” from not going on spring break. Fourth, this is not a situation where there are legitimate differences of opinions. There’s a right choice and a wrong choice. Going on spring break this year is the wrong choice. It doesn’t matter what your personal beliefs are. It’s like drunk driving; it doesn’t become okay just because you believe you’re not going to have an accident. Fifth, of course the CDC and the WHO are recommending people stay off the beach. They’ve been telling everyone to avoid gathering in large crowds and avoid unnecessary traveling. Sixth, Trump quote: _“I hope they just listen to what we’ve been saying over the last period of time. We don’t want them gathering, and I see that they do gather including on beaches, and including in restaurants, young people. They don’t realize that - they’re feeling invincible, I don’t know if you felt invincible when you were young. But they don’t realize that they could be carrying lots of bad things home to their grandmother and grandfather and even their parents.”_ The people who are going on spring break are doing something so dumb that even Donald Trump understands it’s dumb. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-pitting-spring-breakers/849858.md?page=4)