Day 24: random thought for the day

[freckles_and_doubt]

You know, in an internet age where "going viral" is an everyday and commonly understood term, you'd think that the average person would have enough awareness of the idea of spread and scale to not make bloody stupid decisions about their behaviour when the virus is, in fact, real.

The US situation is making my hair curl. My current theory is that Trump is, in fact, actively trying to kill people; I just think he's thinking of the victims as "not his voter base", i.e. "black". And that's going to bite him very hard in the butt, given that it's his asinine MAGA supporters who are clamoring in large physical crowds for the relaxing of lockdown in the few states that are actually being sensible.

Further thought: the coalitions of sensible states who are co-ordinating their responses so as not to infect each other is creating blocs which neatly mirror the starting point of any number of sf stories which imagine America split into separate countries. This is simultaneously horrifying and profoundly satisfying.

Virtual hugs to anyone in the US or UK whose government's responses are making them want to beat their heads against the wall.

Comments

[caprices]

I love hearing your take on US politics, everyone here is so exasperated by things that we only get through about half a sentence and then flail our hands about in pique. The 'blocs' have definitely become more generally recognized. I think we have a very Zaphod Beeblebrox sort of president, the point of the figurehead being to distract from the people actually in power.

I originally thought there was going to be a much greater uptick in public understanding of virology when things started, but I'm realizing that my social circle that has been binge-watching virology videos on youtube might be the exception, not the rule.

[freckles_and_doubt]

Well, you will note that I almost never talk about South African politics, for exactly the same reason :>. Too much hand-flailing ends in wrist fatigue. There is a certain consolation in watching someone else's political woes from afar, it's a nice distraction from one's own, and the global internet being what it is, the US's woes are very, very well documented... Conversely, hopefully there is some amusement for you, at least, in watching me get bits of it inevitably and laughably wrong ;>.

I have been forced, over the years, to realise that the impulse towards more information is a comparatively rare one in human nature, many more people rush towards certainty and the confirmation of their own biases. Which bodes quite ill fror us in a general human sense, alas.

[vesta_aurelia]

The invisible underpinnings of who will be more affected by/die from Covid-19 in the US break down on class/economic and race lines.
Trump is pumping his white, conservative suburban and rural (disproportionately male) fanbase to disrupt states where liberal politicians based in densely populated urban areas are running the show. Destabilizing those states (so they can't mount a federal level challenge) is part of the game. Probably egged on by people smarter than he is.
The rural areas think they haven't been exposed and/or think this is overblown and/or think this is God's judgement on the filthy liberal brown people. The suburban areas think it's all a plot to kill capitalism and the "American way of life."
I actually know someone who is currently fighting Covid-19. Female, under 50, marathon runner, vegan. It's kicking her butt. She's on the long road to recovery now, with frequent relapses. She says her case is mild-to-moderate (she currently can't taste most food, and had problems smelling bleach). Her husband got the truly mild case.
Personally, I'm all for letting that white, conservative suburban and rural (disproportionately male) fanbase get infected. People with pre-existing conditions (smokers, heart disease, diabetes) and men are more at risk. Most of those places don't have decent hospitals (those tend to be in densely populated urban areas). The judgement might be coming in for a landing... just not on the people who they think it is going to splat on. Now, if we could let them act as stupidly as they'd like, without infecting people who don't want to act stupidly... this world would be a more sensible place.