3 ms·
Cool level of insanity. I've traveled the world this last year, and have certainly experienced all sorts of stupidity, ridiculous bureaucracy and corruption in
by keyme 4y ago
Cool level of insanity.
I've traveled the world this last year, and have certainly experienced all sorts of stupidity, ridiculous bureaucracy and corruption in this regard. Like OP I discovered that I enjoy going through these Kafkaesque mazes, and found it pretty fun. Literally never knowing if I'm passing a border post or having to turn back (spoiler: I never turned back).
That said, I didn't go to any of the east Asian countries, because it would have been "too much" (as is clear from this post).
In Latin America and Africa, all the "covid policy" was just a clear corruption opportunity being taken advantage of. More things you could "do wrong" is a big boon for every corrupt official. In Africa, border personnel were happy to take a bribe as your "PCR test" (and the one time I actually did a PCR test, they did not accept it, they only wanted the bribe). Police were happy to enforce the mask rules (on white tourists only, in the middle of the night). Businesses were happy to convert to a "PCR testing clinic" by painting the walls white, sticking something in your nose, and giving you a piece of paper for money (even if you wanted a real PCR test, you couldn't know it's real). You see the picture.
Thing is, I've learned that the overt corruption in these "developing" countries is just less sophisticated version of what's going on in the rest of the world. So, the next time you encounter bullshit like this, just try to ask yourself why are they doing this? Who gains from this? Etc. It's a fun game, and sometimes you come to interesting realizations.
- josephg 4y ago> Thing is, I've learned that the overt corruption in these "developing" countries is just less sophisticated version of what's going on in the rest of the world. There is plenty of real corruption going on in the rich world. But there's also plenty of examples of good governance and good health advice making it into government policy. Its far too cynical to label all governmental responses to covid as corruption. Maybe thats true in Latin America, but Latin America and Taiwan are very different places. If all countries had corrupt and ineffective covid policies, all countries would have ended up with similar covid mortality figures. But the data[1] shows a vast gap between the best and worst countries re: covid deaths. Plenty of countries made a good showing - and that speaks well for their ability to turn medical advice into action. Taiwan has had 36 deaths per million people, compared to 3048 in the USA. You say their quarantine system is "insanity". If it were up to me, I'd pick Taiwan's "insane" covid policies every time. [1] https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
- keyme 4y agoI really don't wanna argue covid stuff online ever again, but let's have one final comment. It is insane, because unless you plan to become a hermit kingdom forever, you can never keep something like the omicron strain out as long as the rest of the world exists. It will eventually get in. You will eventually lose control. The death toll will eventually be the same regardless. All you do is delay the inevitable, while your policies are additionally causing internal societal damage (economical, psychological, political, etc) that rivals any reduced death toll you managed to avoid .
- hapiri 4y ago>The death toll will eventually be the same regardless. A quick Google show me Taiwan has 800 deaths so far. Massive 1M deaths does not seems very "inevitable" to me.
- josephg 4y ago> It will eventually get in. You will eventually lose control This is has been happening in Australia since January. We've essentially removed all restrictions at this point, and we're letting covid do its thing. I think we've had more covid deaths this year than we had in 2020 and 2021 combined. The difference that delaying made is that we're only "letting it rip" after 85% or so of our population is fully vaccinated. (Everyone who wants a vaccine has one.) And the vaccines are a really big deal - they have a massive dampening effect on covid's mortality rate. > The death toll will eventually be the same regardless. We'll see, but I doubt it.