
Why the US’ response to Covid-19 is terrible - rbanffy
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/07/inside-the-us-pandemic-incompetence-it-starts-at-the-top/
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neaden
I think the origin of this is with Global Warming. The Republican party became
devoted to contesting this, which over time has meant consistently opposing
the scientific consensus. Once you spend a couple decades saying/being told
that the experts are all wrong, they are conspiring against you, telling you
lies etc. then what do you think is going to happen?

~~~
marcoperaza
The "experts" have destroyed their own credibility. Do you remember the mass
protests in every major and minor city a few weeks ago, where the "experts"
responded by encouraging the protests, because "racism is a deadly pandemic
too" or some equivocating nonsense like that? Doctors and nurses were
participating in these mass protests. People were packed shoulder to shoulder
for multiple city blocks. This was right after all of the "experts" forcefully
condemned tiny anti-lockdown protests. Even the NYT was forced to confront the
stunning hypocrisy [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/Epidemiologists-
corona...](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/us/Epidemiologists-coronavirus-
protests-quarantine.html) . The vast majority of news outlets are still
pretending that the protests had nothing to do with the spike in cases.

It also damages their credibility when they cross the line from "here are the
epidemiological facts" to "here are the appropriate tradeoffs between economic
stability and acute illness prevention". The latter is not a question that an
epidemiologist is any more qualified to speak to than anyone else. Those are
political decisions.

They do the same for global warming. The nature and extent of anthropogenic
climate change is a question for scientists. But they have all also latched
onto the conclusion that global wealth redistribution is the only solution.
Again, they are laundering their scientific expertise into political
authority. I more or less think that the scientific process moves us to toward
better understanding, but the collective political opinions of scientists
should not be mistaken for science.

When the experts are abusing their status to pursue political ends, then it's
no surprise that the people they seek to politically vanquish put up a
resistance by attacking that expertise.

~~~
lwkl
In my opinion this has nothing to do with science and with experts being right
or wrong.

It‘s people deciding stopping the spread of COVID-19 isn‘t as important as
protesting for their civil rights.

You can‘t dismiss the science just because people have different priorities
and decide to act against it because of that.

I also wouldn‘t say it‘s hypocrisy at least not by the protestors and
scientist.

Maybe it’s hypocrisy by the media because they didn‘t state that they agree or
disagree with protests because they think another issue is more or less
important than the pandemic.

~~~
marcoperaza
People died alone and couldn’t have funerals because epidemiologists said it
was too dangerous. A week later, those same epidemiologists were cheering on
mass demonstrations.

It’s pretty clear that these “experts” are abusing their status as supposedly
objective scientists to advance a political movement. Why should anyone trust
anything they say?

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IAmEveryone
This graph is a nice illustration of the principle that getting the virus
under control and economic interest are not opposed, but in fact closely track
each other:
[https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1285517303141072898](https://twitter.com/bopinion/status/1285517303141072898)

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FuckButtons
Whilst I think there is some insight here, taking what trump says in an
interview at face value seems like a poor way to divine what his actual
beliefs are. Particularly on fox he’s speaking to his audience, not from his
innermost thoughts.

~~~
rbanffy
It's very generous to assume he has inner thoughts. For all we have observed
in the past years, he has as much internal state as a probabilistic prose
generator.

~~~
FuckButtons
He’s a career criminal, he hasn’t lived a life outside of a jail cell by
saying everything he’s thinking.

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nl
It's great to see Fox News asking some questions on this.

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giardini
The article simply assumes that all responsibility for Covid-19 lies with
Donald Trump (who coincidentally was elected the president of the United
States by its citizens).

There's not even a hand wave to Red China for first quarantining and then
spewing out thousands of Covid-19 infected civilians to the USA and the rest
of the world. Nothing is said about the WHO, CDC, NIH all of whom obviously
had no part to play in this story. No regard is shown for our nations laws,
which vest powers of control mostly with the states in regard to the control
of epidemics.

~~~
dragonwriter
> who coincidentally was elected the president of the United States by its
> citizens

US Presidents are not elected by the citizens, though the way they are elected
tends usually in practice to align with the expressed will of the citizens, at
least since the electors themselves have been elected by citizens, albeit
disproportionately. But not in the case of Trump, among several other
exceptions.

~~~
giardini
dragonwriter says >"US Presidents are not elected by the citizens, though the
way they are elected tends usually in practice to align with the expressed
will of the citizens, at least since the electors themselves have been elected
by citizens, albeit disproportionately. But not in the case of Trump, among
several other exceptions."<

Pedantry and sophistry. "Elected" merely means "chosen by vote".

Q. Who voted for President of the USA in the 2016 USA elections?

A. The citizens of the USA.

Q. Who was elected president of the USA in 2016?

A. Donald Trump.

Therefore, Donald Trump was elected president of the USA by its citizens.
Q.E.D.

Or perhaps you know of someone else who was elected president of the USA in
2016? If so, please name them, tell us why we neither hear their voice nor see
them issuing decrees. Why do you not speak for them, man or woman, whichever
ye be? Are you a traitor to their cause and, by your inactions, a traitor to
your country (only if you're a US citizen, of course)?

~~~
dragonwriter
> "Elected" merely means "chosen by vote".

Yes, and the President of the United States is not chosen by a vote of the
citizens, but by a vote of the Electoral College.

