It is the new reality.
A lot of Americans made a decision. They know there is a virus and they just don't care.
Americans--and not just on the right--are moving on with our lives and some extra people will die.
Whatever.
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| Tulsa crowd getting ready for the rally |
People realize bad things happen. They just don't think bad things will happen to themselves. People smoke even though some people die from it. People do risky things with sex, and some people die from that, too. There is a payoff. Smoking is an addiction and sex is fun.
But the inconvenience of clicking a seatbelt doesn't seem like much of a bother, and yet we see the experience of car seatbelts. Back in the 1960's experts armed with studies and statistics reported that deaths and injuries would be sharply reduced if people in cars wore seatbelts. At first they were an option on cars. They would protect your life. People didn't buy the option. Seatbelts became mandatory in new cars in 1968. Many people didn't bother clicking them. Cars began having a buzzer if the seat belt wasn't engaged. People disarmed the buzzer. There are reminder signs on the highway saying things like Buckle Up for Safety. Lots of people don't bother. And remember, seat belts protect oneself, not strangers.
Americans may not be smart, but we are free. Americans are accustomed to accepting risks we think are small, and we want to choose them ourselves. Multiplied by 340 million people, a small chance of death means a lot of deaths, but Americans are not thinking of the whole. They are thinking of the risks to themselves. Acceptable, apparently. I observer Americans..
Media commentators on the left are in sync with public health experts but not with the citizenry. The left tsk-tsks the Trump rally in Tulsa today. The rally is a primary source for American political observers. They are Americans acting like Americans, taking their chances. One may not like what one sees, but there it is, ones fellow Americans.
They sign a liability release, and commentators sound amazed. It is not amazing at all. A million people are happy to sign the release, in the same way that Americans sign agreements on software downloads. Seeing Trump is the software download, worth the risk. Some people will die, but probably not them.
The shutdown is over for most Americans, and the sooner Democrats understand the new reality the sooner their political instincts will sync up with the public mood. People are going to crowd into the Trump rally. Leftist Americans march in close proximity in protests. Businesses are open and now most of the customers I see are mask free.
Worried people are protecting themselves; everyone else recognizes that protecting others is hopeless, except as a way to communicate consideration and politeness in an impolite world, so they wear a mask haphazardly, if at all. (I wear a mask. I want to be considerate and show consideration. But the disease is out there, spreading. I wear a N-95 mask to protect myself.)
We are at a point where regulation do-gooders risk looking foolish, on the sidelines, ignored. Trump has benched Dr. Fauci. Fauci tells people what they should do, and conscientious people listen and obey. California Governor Gavin Newsom made an executive order requiring wearing masks in public. They would help slow the virus, and it is sound policy. No matter. The Sacramento county sheriff Scott James announced he won't enforce it. He said it criminalizes small infractions and it will put police into constant fractious interactions with citizens.
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| California Gov. Gavin Newsom |
He understands the simple reality that the public will ignore the mask requirement. The law fails the test of public consent.
Trump made a bet that Americans don't want to sacrifice for the common good, especially if it means caring for the health of old and sick people.
That bet is proving accurate. It may pay off for him politically, especially if Democrats come across as killjoys and scolds. Americans have chosen: a few extra people will die from the virus, just as a few people die every day from something.
Watch the crowd at the Trump rally later today. There will be a few masks, and then they will come off.
6 comments:
We're in Phase One or Two in Oregon. The bars and restaurants are open. People gather to eat and drink. The social distance is - well social. We're human creatures and are not accustomed to greet or treat our fellow humans from a distance. Social behavior is in our DNA. Those we suspect are a treat we avoid and/or distance. Masks didn't make any sense in social gatherings like the super spreader event birthday party on Long Island or singing in the church choir. In those events they were all close friends or relatives. That said mask wearing makes a great deal of common sense to almost everyone is at the clinic during flu season and now all the time; at work if where you're work is in close quarters and there isn't the possibility of avoiding anything airborne from infecting you; on mass transit like subways, buses, airplanes, Ubers and taxis; Senior living, rehab facilities, nursing homes, and elder care center; prisons, jails and state hospitals. The misinformation on the need to wear masks is the source of our reaction or lack of reaction. And of course there is always someone who will say "Why should I? It's a choice man! It's our freedom!" According to the metrics we're on track for 2 million deaths before a vaccine is approved if we don't begin to heed the warnings. So 1 chance out of 320 are your feeling lucky? So turn the augment for not wearing a mask around - "It's a choice man! It's my freedom to wear a mask."
Since you knew my parents, you wouldn’t be surprised to know that “just as soon” as seatbelts were available, they got them. And... we didn’t go anywhere without them!
I’ve been raised to be cautious — as well as having a healthy respect for science, study that included a lot of statistics, and... caring about others. No question: I wear a mask whenever I’m out of my home.
But I will comment... as I’ve done habitually whenever I see a reference to the BLM protests that, as liberals, we aren’t being hypocrites to support them. At the 4 relatively small protests I’ve been to, 100% are wearing masks! And I notice on videos that a high percentage of BLM protesters at large protests are doing so.
My only error is not getting the better masks. I plan to order some today, since so many people in our area are now, since we moved to 1.5 and now 2, not wearing masks. I need to protect myself more since the inconsiderate ones won’t participate. 😢. (Some also get dirty looks and occasional grouchy comments from me. I don’t care what names they might want to call me.)
Sheriff’s won’t enforce public health orders? OK, so why don’t we take the 80% of property taxes dedicated locally to “public safety” and redirect it to public health and well-being?
As a nation, and as members of the most priveleged nation on the Earth,
Americans are spoiled rotten. During World War II when a great numbeer of nations were invaded and overrun, when people had to flee their homes which were under bombardment, the USA flourished. Yes, we lost some of our young men to the war but think of the ensusing boom we enjoyed when our servicemen returned home and benefited from the GI Bill that opened doors that had long been closed to them as well as a building boom that provided shelter for them and the families that shortly followed. To Americans, the Corona Virus is something of a minor annoyance, even the lying scumbag of a president now in charge acts as though it is nothing more than a minor disturbance. As a nation we are going to go with Trump's "gut feeling" rather than the reasoned analysis of medical experts and quickly "normalize" our everyday activities, thus allowing the virus to re-group for a second even more deadly attack that will wreak havoc, despite Trump's "gut feeling." Perhaps the virus will ultimately do us the service of ridding our community of those who simply refuse to be "inconvenienced" in any fashion. The virus is for real, and the medical community has consistently endeavored to explain that an efffetive response in the form of a vaccine will not occur in the very near future. The election of an incompetent goofball to the office of president simply presaged the arrival of a situation in which that incompetency would be exposed to the fullest degree.
Bob Warren
"Americans may not be smart"
Key point...
Stupidity.
The epidemic isn't over it's just starting.
Stupid people will die in larger numbers, but they also will infect innocent people.
Seat belts are a good point, smoking too. Oh, and texting while driving. Only stupid people smoke and don't buckle up, anymore. It's a habit now for everyone else. It did take time, public education, and, importantly, laws and penalties to institute these common sense, scientifically proven, safety measures. Unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time, we don't have years for dumb and dumber to catch up.
I generally see folks masking and making the effort to avoid infection, but as I experienced recently while shopping at Home Depot, not everyone. My view of human nature in the grand scheme is that we are civilized, and not as sociopathic as you suggest. Unfortunately about a third of us are divorced from reality, and unable to adapt to a change as rapid as COVID.
Don't eat yellow snow...
Howard Stern recently observed “The people who are voting for Trump, for the most part … He wouldn’t even let them in a f*cking hotel. He’d be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if there’s any people who look like you. I’m talking to you in the audience.”
I agree, and what better example of this is holding a pointless rally that will undoubtedly result in equally pointless deaths?
Looks like most everyone here locally is on the same page regarding masks and I, for one, am thankful for that. But, then, Ashland liberals, like all most liberals, think of community before individual freedom. I've seen folks on main street pick up and discard trash from the street. Why is that? Because they think about their community and are invested in contributing to a clean environment; perhaps they know that trash encourages more trash.
On the other hand, many would be reluctant to support low-income housing in the lot nextdoor (NIMBY!)
Conservatives generally have a different mindset. Individual freedom is their default set point; they see the world through that filter. On the other hand, many would be the first to offer their neighbors a hand in a crisis or help them with a barn-raising.
Advocate to the extreme for either worldview and you are labeled a socialist or a fascist. Our country is struggling, has always struggled, with those two extremes and now it is showing up in interesting ways (mask-wearing being one). Do we acknowledge the extremes within ourselves? Can we reconcile them to find balance and mutual respect in our communities? I don't have the answer; the grand experiment goes on. Unfortunately, sadly there will be unnecessary casualties. I will do my best (individual freedom) to not have myself, my loved ones, or the community or nation I care about be a statistic. I don't want the epitaph of Lady Liberty to read: "She died of an inability to respond to Covid 19; she had underlying conditions."
Andy Seles
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