American Response to the Pandemic
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Frank Bruni's Column (Excerpted, But Not Much):
"Over the past week, both The Times and The Washington Post published ambitious examinations of this country’s disastrous response to the coronavirus, which rages “out of control” here, in The Post’s words, even though other nations “have rigorously driven infection rates nearly to zero.”
"I . . . read them with a particular question in mind, one that has consumed me for many weeks: What does the abject failure of the United States, the richest country in the world, tell us about ourselves? In the mirror of Covid-19, how is America reflected?
"Our struggle with this pandemic has convinced me that somewhere along the way, we went from celebrating individual liberty to fetishizing it, so that for too many Americans, all sense of civic obligation and communal good went out the window.
"That’s the root of the resistance to lockdowns that many other countries entered more quickly, implemented more broadly or adhered to more diligently. And it encompasses a suspicion of federal versus local mandates that’s overwrought and insufficiently flexible when a crisis of this magnitude comes along. We badly needed a more coordinated national response than we had the appetite or aptitude for. We still do.
"Somewhere along the way, we also developed an immature definition of freedom, conflating it with selfishness, convenience and personal comfort. That’s writ large in the freak-out over masks. In reality, they’re “a ticket to more freedom,” Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado said a few days ago when he instituted a requirement that Coloradans wear them in many circumstances. “It makes it less likely that businesses will be shuttered. It makes it less likely that people will die. It makes it more likely school will return.”
"In other words, important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
"Somewhere along the way, we became impatient — tragically so. I marvel at the great public works of yesteryear, because we can’t even accomplish basic infrastructure upgrades today. For the politicians deciding whether to approve them and the voters whose taxes would be directed toward them, the payoff is too far down the road. If we’re tyrannized by anything, it’s our demand for immediate gratification. That mind-set has robbed us of the necessary discipline and endurance to fight this pandemic."
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That's only half of it. The other half of the country is throwing individuality out the window, branding whites as racist nationalists due to their skin color. The more these two groups double down on their extremism, the more trouble we're in.
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First thing you do, is take those two rags and throw them in the dustbin. Second thing you do, is think. Think what America is, and how it works.
Think on the individual rights of Americans and the power of the State. Think on the mobility in America and how commerce flows in our capitalistic society. Think about how our medical supply chains function, where our supplies come from and who has priorities on those needed items. Think about the economy, how it has been affected by the pandemic and how to keep the country out of the Second Great Depression.
Now, think about what we knew about COVID-19 in January 2020 and what we know now. Think about treatment regimens, ventilators, PPE requirements and staffing issues. Think about number of available beds, as hospitals try to transition from a largely out-patient driven model of business to a model where in-patient beds are needed, often for extended stays.
It's very easy to criticize and Monday-morning quarterback the Chinese Flu response, but the dickheads down at the WaPo and the Times couldn't run the economy of a two-car funeral, couldn't take the vital signs of a patient, wouldn't walk in an ICU room of a carona patient with a gun in their ear and don't really have an idea on what the Constitution says about the power of the state's and the powers of the governors who run them. They don't have a clue about the restrictions of FDA clearances, CDC pandemic protocol or the in-fighting that occurs between Federal agencies in even the worst of times.
Lastly, I want you to think on media bias, slanted reporting, lack of fact checking and second sources. I want you to think on the difference between how the NYT and the WaPo have historically treated Orange Man Bad vs. The Magic Negro. And I also want you to think on what has historically sold newspapers or driven any form of news media.
The American response to the current pandemic has ranged from poor to excellent, depending upon where you are standing at an individual moment in time. Considering the nature of our society, the rules we are governed under and the outcomes upon society at large, the grades IMO range from D's to B's. I see very few superiors, but I also see very few failures. Overall, I'd grade things out as about a C+, bordering on a B-.
Lastly, if the shills down at the Shady Lady and the Compost don't like that, they can kiss my natural born rebel ass.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in American Response to the Pandemic:
That's only half of it. The other half of the country is throwing individuality out the window, branding whites as racist nationalists due to their skin color. The more these two groups double down on their extremism, the more trouble we're in.
Yes it seems also to be the case that woke-infused moral panics are also incompatible with containing a virus.
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@jon-nyc said in American Response to the Pandemic:
Trump’s ‘plan’ is purely reactive and focused on minimizing blowback on him personally.
It might simply be an unfortunate truth that societies with active Magat infections can’t fight viral ones.
Some of Trump's plan is reactionary. Some is personal, but some has to be reactionary, unless you somehow posess a crystal ball on carona knowledge - symptoms, mode of transmission, etc.
Much of Trump's response does revolve around not crippling the economy. Many of us have the luxury of not worrying where next month's rent is coming from, but there are an awful lot of people that do worry about mundane things like that.
Crawling in a hole and pulling the dirt back over your head is the absolute most effective means of dealing with the virus, but very few are capable of such isolation or would even welcome it.
Always remember, Operation Valkyrie was an act of sedition.
Warning: I post things that interest me. Read and comment at your own discretion. -
@Jolly said in American Response to the Pandemic:
Crawling in a hole and pulling the dirt back over your head is the absolute most effective means of dealing with the virus
That and, y'know, wearing a mask in public. Which 'Murricans equate to being forced to lay down in a ditch.
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Some do. Most of them haven't the sense to come in out of the rain. They are very quick to call others sheep while they are simply parroting something someone else said.
As far as the federal response, I'm not sure what could have been done significantly better. Prior pandemic planning and preparation was obviously painfully inadequate if it can even be said to exist at all. There's not much of any way to be anything but reactive.
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Excellent foreign country where Trump isn't president and he didn't screw up there vs bad old USA where Trump screws things up:
EFC (Excellent foreign country: tests 1,000 people, finds 20 people with the virus.
USA: tests 10,000 people, finds 200 people with the virusSnot slinging Trump bashers too fucking stupid to figure this out and won't be swayed from their Trump bashing: Orange man bad! He s srewed up! (Baby crying sounds)
Trump isn't our problem. The stupid brigade is our problem.
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@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
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@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
What is the good of society is debatable.
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@Copper said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
What is the good of society is debatable.
Agree, but in the case of virus, I don't think that anyone says that NOT wearing a mask will decrease the intensity of the virus.
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@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Copper said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
What is the good of society is debatable.
Agree, but in the case of virus, I don't think that anyone says that NOT wearing a mask will decrease the intensity of the virus.
It is required in Counties with zero total cases. It is impossible to decrease an intensity of zero.
It is going to start fights, it already has.
It will needlessly frighten a lot of people.
Of course there are a lot of very good reasons to advocate the mask. But it is not without problems, real problems, not just stupid lunkhead people.
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@Aqua-Letifer said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Jolly said in American Response to the Pandemic:
Crawling in a hole and pulling the dirt back over your head is the absolute most effective means of dealing with the virus
That and, y'know, wearing a mask in public. Which 'Murricans equate to being forced to lay down in a ditch.
Some do. Thank God for it.
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@jon-nyc said in American Response to the Pandemic:
Trump’s ‘plan’ is purely reactive and focused on minimizing blowback on him personally.
It might simply be an unfortunate truth that societies with active Magat infections can’t fight viral ones.
No one mentions that Fauci told us we had reason to believe Covid would die down in the summer. #becauseshutup
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@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Copper said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
What is the good of society is debatable.
Agree, but in the case of virus, I don't think that anyone says that NOT wearing a mask will decrease the intensity of the virus.
You're moving the goalposts from a generalization to a specific. And then, only 30% of a specific.
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@Copper said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Copper said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@taiwan_girl said in American Response to the Pandemic:
@Catseye3 said in American Response to the Pandemic:
important freedoms for all sometimes require slight adjustments by individuals. That’s not tyranny. That’s responsibility.
This is where I think that the US has "failed". Failed is probably not the correct word, it is not quite that bad - maybe "not done as well as we could have".
Sometimes the good of society has to come before what an individual thinks is best.
What is the good of society is debatable.
Agree, but in the case of virus, I don't think that anyone says that NOT wearing a mask will decrease the intensity of the virus.
It is required in Counties with zero total cases. It is impossible to decrease an intensity of zero.
Zero total identified cases.
Proud supporter of Plan 2525. Everything you think, do and say will be in the pill you took today.
