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This mindset and the ideological blinders it introduces is a huge problem. When china went aggressive on the virus people looked at it as draconian measures be

This mindset and the ideological blinders it introduces is a huge problem. When china went aggressive on the virus people looked at it as draconian measures because of the ideological lens, not looking further to see the measures were absolutely necessary by scientific fact. When Singapore started to spring into action, the western press was musing about election posturing all the while nobody prepared. Ideology kills. We need science. And maybe then we can feel morally superior again

gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
> When china went aggressive on the virus people looked at it as draconian measures because of the ideological lens, not looking further to see the measures were absolutely necessary by scientific fact. None of this would have been necessary if the doctors reporting the Wuhan virus weren’t killed for presenting bad news. There’s clear evidence that the Chinese waited far too long to start acting and alerting others. Also there’s absolutely no reason to believe the Chinese are reporting accurate numbers. The ideology that’s dangerous is authoritarian government. It happened in Chernobyl and it’s been repeated time and again with China and their respiratory illnesses from easily preventable sources.
- nikofeyn 7y ago
  and the u.s. is not intentionally misleading the people right now when it's clearly in front of us? the u.s. government is blatantly lying and even profiting off of the virus. and your comment about china continuing to manipulate numbers is poor speculation on your part. i am unable to find the article at the moment, but the WHO representative who was there was asked that question, and he stated that there was no reason he saw that numbers were being manipulated. he stated that once the response ramped up, that they were taking it very seriously and were quite methodical.
- selimthegrim 7y ago
  Who killed what doctors in Wuhan
  - gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
    I misspoke, there’s no evidence I’m aware of that they were killed. But given China’s history of abusing critical citizens, it wouldn’t be surprising. What’s more accurate is that doctors who spoke up about the impending disaster died of the disease (perhaps unnecessarily) after being censured for their free speech.
- yuanqili 7y ago
  Yes China is too slow. First case in December and few dozen cases in January then lockdown. If China had a great president from the free world like mr Donald Trump, then they could act much more quickly and shutdown the whole country since day one. I remember Mr. Trump has an uncle who was a professor at MIT, so that he could understand the seriousness of COVID19. Make China Great Again!
pas 7y ago
Small city-states (Singapore, Hong Kong) with dense urban populations were always more cautious about epidemics. And it's not like no one was speaking about how unprepared the 'West' has been for years. (Bill Gates' TED talk is making the rounds now that talks exactly about this.) It's not ideology. Not morality. It's simply a matter of cost-benefit analysis. Public health has been put on the backburner for decades, life expectancy was slowly creeping up, people were getting lazy, and the biggest problem was obesity. And even though experts were constantly recommending more spending, more stockpiles, etc. it found no traction in politics. And here we are.
- hatenberg 7y ago
  Well that calculation is about to backfire dramatically. Cost - benefit for reelection is a key failure point in our system

gnusty_gnurc 7y ago

> When china went aggressive on the virus people looked at it as draconian measures because of the ideological lens, not looking further to see the measures were absolutely necessary by scientific fact. None of this would have been necessary if the doctors reporting the Wuhan virus weren’t killed for presenting bad news. There’s clear evidence that the Chinese waited far too long to start acting and alerting others. Also there’s absolutely no reason to believe the Chinese are reporting accurate numbers. The ideology that’s dangerous is authoritarian government. It happened in Chernobyl and it’s been repeated time and again with China and their respiratory illnesses from easily preventable sources.

nikofeyn 7y ago
and the u.s. is not intentionally misleading the people right now when it's clearly in front of us? the u.s. government is blatantly lying and even profiting off of the virus. and your comment about china continuing to manipulate numbers is poor speculation on your part. i am unable to find the article at the moment, but the WHO representative who was there was asked that question, and he stated that there was no reason he saw that numbers were being manipulated. he stated that once the response ramped up, that they were taking it very seriously and were quite methodical.
selimthegrim 7y ago
Who killed what doctors in Wuhan
- gnusty_gnurc 7y ago
  I misspoke, there’s no evidence I’m aware of that they were killed. But given China’s history of abusing critical citizens, it wouldn’t be surprising. What’s more accurate is that doctors who spoke up about the impending disaster died of the disease (perhaps unnecessarily) after being censured for their free speech.
yuanqili 7y ago
Yes China is too slow. First case in December and few dozen cases in January then lockdown. If China had a great president from the free world like mr Donald Trump, then they could act much more quickly and shutdown the whole country since day one. I remember Mr. Trump has an uncle who was a professor at MIT, so that he could understand the seriousness of COVID19. Make China Great Again!

pas 7y ago

Small city-states (Singapore, Hong Kong) with dense urban populations were always more cautious about epidemics. And it's not like no one was speaking about how unprepared the 'West' has been for years. (Bill Gates' TED talk is making the rounds now that talks exactly about this.) It's not ideology. Not morality. It's simply a matter of cost-benefit analysis. Public health has been put on the backburner for decades, life expectancy was slowly creeping up, people were getting lazy, and the biggest problem was obesity. And even though experts were constantly recommending more spending, more stockpiles, etc. it found no traction in politics. And here we are.

hatenberg 7y ago
Well that calculation is about to backfire dramatically. Cost - benefit for reelection is a key failure point in our system