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My observation is that the political polarization of the topic came before any government action, and is the more primary cause of the issue. Government action

My observation is that the political polarization of the topic came before any government action, and is the more primary cause of the issue. Government action (both heavy-handed and otherwise) sparks backlash because of the political polarization.

buscoquadnary 5y ago
Honestly I saw it the other way around, when it was first came out the future was uncertain, and there was a lot of confusion the only data we had was untrusted reports from China, I saw a lot of people band together, people looking out for on another general expressions of concern. There were politics involved but it was relatively mild, and ignored by many people it was about two or three months in when much of the news around COVID changed to being news about how Trump was doing what about the virus, and congress what congress was saying about responses to the virus and the usual schlop I noticed things started to get polarized at the same time the estimates were being adjusted from 1-9% fatality rates to 0.3% fatality rates.
- slg 5y ago
  I feel like I am taking crazy pills the way that many on HN constantly seem to imply that the polarization and politicization of the pandemic was caused by the media, scientists, public health officials or anyone else but the last president and many people in his administration. They were immediately trying to shift blame to anyone but themselves. It was the "China virus" from pretty much day 1. He was literally crossing out "Corona" in his speeches and writing in "Chinese"[1] in mid-March. Or do you remember Trumps "I'd love to have it open by Easter" less than a month after the first lockdowns started? It didn't take "two or three months" for it to be politicized as a reactionary measure against Trump. Trump's first reaction was to politicize the situation. [1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/three-phases-trumps-insistence-pointing-out-that-coronavirus-originated-china/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/three-pha...
  - falcolas 5y ago
    Imagine, for a moment, the change in reactions had Trump & company declared a "War on Covid". We love wars. A vast majority of Americans have historically gotten behind wars. Wars on drugs. Wars on terror. I dunno how things would have turned out, but it makes me wonder.
    - pandaman 5y ago
      I can imagine how every TV comedian would have had a recurring "War against common cold" segment, CNN had a ticker with the current economic damage from lockdowns, ACLU suing against mask mandates in every court and FB/Google/Twitter censoring everyone who dared to doubt that chicken soup does really cure viral infections.
  - nonethewiser 5y ago
    I feel like I am taking crazy pills the way that many think Trump was the source of the polarization and not a reaction to it.
    - slg 5y ago
      Are you talking about in general or in relation to the pandemic? In general it was both. Trump was both a reaction to polarization and helped increase it. With the pandemic, I don't think there was an polarization beforehand. The US usually rallies around even unpopular leaders during trouble. 9/11 is the obvious example. Who specifically do you think caused the pandemic polarization?
      - kcplate 5y ago
        > Who specifically do you think caused the pandemic polarization? The progressive left saw it as a strategy to attack an opposing party president in an election year. The pandemic was their only real hope of election success. Their candidate field was weak. The economy was strong leading up to 2020. The president was polarizing, but was immensely strong among his base and had cross over appeal to the blue collar middle class and increasing support of other demographics that usually vote Democrat. I think there is no doubt in my mind that no pandemic Trump would have easily won a second term. You can argue that the pandemic polarization strategy was successful in that Trump lost, but there was a cost. Also considering the significant lack of success that the Biden administration has had managing the pandemic, too, I am of the opinion that the cost of the increased public polarization may not be worth it.
nonethewiser 5y ago
Yes, politics is downstream from culture. Policy in a representative government tends to come from established interests.
argvargc 5y ago
Even if this were true, it's irrelevant. If a government initiates action that sparks a backlash, the government is responsible. If the government didn't also anticipate that backlash, it's incompetent in its duty to its citizenry. And if it did anticipate it, well that's just worse.

buscoquadnary 5y ago

Honestly I saw it the other way around, when it was first came out the future was uncertain, and there was a lot of confusion the only data we had was untrusted reports from China, I saw a lot of people band together, people looking out for on another general expressions of concern. There were politics involved but it was relatively mild, and ignored by many people it was about two or three months in when much of the news around COVID changed to being news about how Trump was doing what about the virus, and congress what congress was saying about responses to the virus and the usual schlop I noticed things started to get polarized at the same time the estimates were being adjusted from 1-9% fatality rates to 0.3% fatality rates.

slg 5y ago
I feel like I am taking crazy pills the way that many on HN constantly seem to imply that the polarization and politicization of the pandemic was caused by the media, scientists, public health officials or anyone else but the last president and many people in his administration. They were immediately trying to shift blame to anyone but themselves. It was the "China virus" from pretty much day 1. He was literally crossing out "Corona" in his speeches and writing in "Chinese"[1] in mid-March. Or do you remember Trumps "I'd love to have it open by Easter" less than a month after the first lockdowns started? It didn't take "two or three months" for it to be politicized as a reactionary measure against Trump. Trump's first reaction was to politicize the situation. [1] - https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/three-phases-trumps-insistence-pointing-out-that-coronavirus-originated-china/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/03/20/three-pha...
- falcolas 5y ago
  Imagine, for a moment, the change in reactions had Trump & company declared a "War on Covid". We love wars. A vast majority of Americans have historically gotten behind wars. Wars on drugs. Wars on terror. I dunno how things would have turned out, but it makes me wonder.
  - pandaman 5y ago
    I can imagine how every TV comedian would have had a recurring "War against common cold" segment, CNN had a ticker with the current economic damage from lockdowns, ACLU suing against mask mandates in every court and FB/Google/Twitter censoring everyone who dared to doubt that chicken soup does really cure viral infections.
- nonethewiser 5y ago
  I feel like I am taking crazy pills the way that many think Trump was the source of the polarization and not a reaction to it.
  - slg 5y ago
    Are you talking about in general or in relation to the pandemic? In general it was both. Trump was both a reaction to polarization and helped increase it. With the pandemic, I don't think there was an polarization beforehand. The US usually rallies around even unpopular leaders during trouble. 9/11 is the obvious example. Who specifically do you think caused the pandemic polarization?
    - kcplate 5y ago
      > Who specifically do you think caused the pandemic polarization? The progressive left saw it as a strategy to attack an opposing party president in an election year. The pandemic was their only real hope of election success. Their candidate field was weak. The economy was strong leading up to 2020. The president was polarizing, but was immensely strong among his base and had cross over appeal to the blue collar middle class and increasing support of other demographics that usually vote Democrat. I think there is no doubt in my mind that no pandemic Trump would have easily won a second term. You can argue that the pandemic polarization strategy was successful in that Trump lost, but there was a cost. Also considering the significant lack of success that the Biden administration has had managing the pandemic, too, I am of the opinion that the cost of the increased public polarization may not be worth it.

nonethewiser 5y ago

Yes, politics is downstream from culture. Policy in a representative government tends to come from established interests.

argvargc 5y ago

Even if this were true, it's irrelevant. If a government initiates action that sparks a backlash, the government is responsible. If the government didn't also anticipate that backlash, it's incompetent in its duty to its citizenry. And if it did anticipate it, well that's just worse.