Yeah that's not how it works, people losing their jobs and others being unable/unwilling to experience the world and travel is a very bad thing for the world.
There are other jobs, and I would like to see objective evidence that those wealthy enough to fly international derive more value from "cultural experiences" than not putting those metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Yeah that's very "woke" of you for saying that but there's really no positive way to spin this. When a pilot, or flight attendant, or engineer has to retrain and possibly leave an industry they've worked in potentially their entire life that causes pain and suffering.
It doesn't surprise me that the HN crowd lacks the empathy to see the damage being done here, but say for instance someone told you couldn't code anymore, you lose your job, and you might have to pivot into another industry at a time when nobody's hiring and you don't even have the skills or training to get in the door. Then some pompous asshole online says "well ackchually this is good for the environment because computers consume energy and don't run off of the hot air I blow everytime I open my mouth"
Please don't conflate being realistic with being "woke". It sucks you've lost your job. Retrain or retire. I'm not without empathy, but America has chosen the lack of safety nets it exhibits. And I can appreciate the environmental benefits from the pandemic that we couldn't do ourselves as a species.
I would be a huge fan of Medicare for All and more robust safety nets resulting from this carnage, but I don't expect it. People are irrational and selfish in aggregate, and when times are good they are entirely apathetic to the political process. Only under duress do they scream "do something" to the people they've elected who actively do harm to their constituents' interests.
Propose an alternative solution to a sudden destruction in demand for these roles. This is why your job is not who you are, but merely a means by which you support yourself. I apologize if your life path has lead you to where your identity is your work. I never said we shouldn't take care of these people. They deserve a similar quality of life, even if their role no longer exists, and I apologize if that wasn't made clear by my comments. To be clear: We absolutely should take care of people collectively whose roles have evaporated.
I am not willing to have communal tax dollars to pay pilots, aircraft lease payments, and fuel for unneeded air travel capacity, or workers to build planes that'll never fly, and I don't think that's unreasonable. I would be totally fine taking those tax dollars and putting those folks on Social Security early (or whatever safety net is going to keep them comfortable). Take that safety to go find new work you enjoy. Or go fish. Or woodwork. Or spend time with loved ones.
I think many here do have empathy with the people involved. I certainly do. But we also see the bigger picture.
Every industry that dies or suffers a setback is a tragedy, but it's also the unavoidable result of progress, of capitalism, and of any sort of active economic activity.
And the people involved can be taken care of. There doesn't need to be pain an suffering unless society decides that people who lose their jobs because of something like this need to suffer.
And for the record, a close friend of mine did indeed lose the ability to code. He dropped out of his PhD and become a shop security guard for 7 years. Not exactly his dream job, but he accepted it and it worked out. There are millions, probably billions, of people in the world who don't get to work their dream job. Pilots and flight attendants aren't the only ones. I'm all for helping them.
None of that changes the fact that excessive air travel does a lot of damage.
