4 ms·
I spent most of the 80's somewhat close to the front of a war (Israel) as a child, but I was in the US for the events of 1989, and one of the things I saw was h
by ocschwar 5y ago
I spent most of the 80's somewhat close to the front of a war (Israel) as a child, but I was in the US for the events of 1989, and one of the things I saw was how in the US, people learned all the wrong lessons from those events.
In Europe and in the US, there was no more denying that communism was a fail. But in the US, people got the idea that they won the Cold War by showcasing a consumer lifestyle, and that therefore it's unpatriotic to sacrifice any convenience or comfort for any national purpose. Which is how we've come to be unable to mobilize against the pandemic.
- smcl 5y agoI've upvoted as I think it's unfair you were greyed out @ -1 or 0. However I slightly disagree that this was the main reason the US did not respond well to the pandemic. Might be a little off-topic to reopen that wound here though :)
- ocschwar 5y agoHomefront mobilization is pretty much the same for disasters, wars, or a pandemic. If you can't do well with one, you probably can't do well with any other.
- smcl 5y agoI am not sure I agree. What hobbled the US response to the pandemic wasn't the public at large clamoring to hold on to their creature comforts[0] but a top-down failure to recognise the impending crisis and take any meaningful action against it. I don't think anyone doubts the US's willingness to wage war - if anything they're a little too enthusiastic. [0] - though there was a minority who responded to being told to wear masks in a very juvenile way, coincidentally the same people who like to throw around the word "snowflake", hmm
- ocschwar 5y agoI seriously doubt the willingness of upper class suburbanites to put up with gasoline and rubber rationing in the event of a war. Home front mobilization in the US has become anathema.