To paraphrase several conservative commentators,
"Conservatives think that liberals are people with bad ideas.
Liberals think that conservatives are bad people with ideas."
This may be an oversimplification, but its an accurate generalization on a big picture problem in our society. It's frequent - in fact, the norm in my experience - for a liberal retort to a conservative point to be accusations of racism, homophobia, etc. In other words, the false syllogism seems to be that, since (1) I'm well intentioned in my policy view and (2) you disagree with me, then (3) you are not well intentioned.
The "mainstream media" is very effectively preaching and promulgating this fallacy. It's bad enough in politics, but from there it is inevitably infecting every facet of our society.
Recently someone I care about said they felt like I, and others close to me, were making light of the Covid-19 epidemic. Since they have a loved one very seriously ill with both the coronavirus and also significant "comorbidities", I'm sure this is very emotionally painful for them, which is obviously (?) the last thing I want.
After sorting through some other emotional responses, I realized that at least one core problem was the assumption that people were making light of anything at all, much less the suffering of the sick.
I've just taken the time to review all my previous posts, both here and elsewhere, to make sure I never actually did belittle the suffering of the sick in writing and I don't believe I have. I know I have never done so in my heart. From my perspective, there is universal agreement that the disease is a tragedy, that every person it strikes just expands the tragedy and that we should work to minimize the pain and suffering it causes. I am convinced that everyone has this same ultimate objective. Where there is disagreement is only in how to do that.
I don't think that a policy discussion about how to weigh various coronavirus policy issues is very likely to cause the kind of emotional distress I've described, And in fact, the distress was not caused by policy issues at all, but by an incorrect perception of motives and attitudes. To be accused of "making light" of the situation is an emotional response, and quite different from being accused of having a bad policy prescription. We need to clarify and maintain the distinction, because without it there's no way forward to resolving either emotional or policy disagreements.
Furthermore, conservatives as a whole need to remember that half of our audience has been conditioned to reflexively think ill of us. What we think goes without saying (which is that common decency, people's well being, etc. come first) needs to not only be said, but it needs to clearly and routinely preface our policy points. I just hope that (1) we can learn to do that and (2) it will be enough to make manifest the lies about our motives.