No it’s a way of looking at the reality of the situation and making realistic policy decisions and choices instead of just wishing and hoping something comes true. It’s facts v feelings. It’s making policy in the assumption people are varied (angels and devils) instead of just angels. It’s being an adult and having an adult perspective v looking at this like a child would. Looking at policy idealistically has been responsible for some of the worst mistakes nations have made because things don’t always work that way: the Crusades, the French Revolution, the Soviet revolution, prohibition, the Vietnam war, or the fall of Afghanistan. History is littered with the ruins of this type of thinking, which has tended to work only in high money spending, victimless situations: “we choose to go to the moon and do these things”. For those on the left here’s another one that will wind up in the dust heap of bad progressive ideas (which is an endless source of these types of bad thinking): the entire recall process or (if you like pork in California) the direct initiative progressive reforms.We've only eliminated smallpox, because of the vaccine. My point was that we/humanity should have been able to also eliminate polio, but, despite having great tools, we haven't. Yes, there should be plenty of polio vaccine for the world, but the point is that not everyone is vaccinated. Just as there are people on this forum who do not want the sars-cov2 vaccine, one contributing factor for the continued presence of polio is that there are people who chose not to get the polio vaccine. Outbreaks of polio do still happen in these unvaccinated populations.
Personally, I would prefer it if people had an attitude that they wanted to try to contain infectious viruses rather than take the approach that since we won't completely get rid of it, let's not bother trying. Maybe telling oneself the problem is too big or the solutions are imperfect is just one way to feel ok about rationalizing a choice not to try.
btw smallpox is the same: highly stable with no zoonotic source which is not this. And btw the entire “let’s try” approach would be premised on this having been man made in a lab without a zoonotic origin.