1/ There are 3 elements of Americanism that make us especially vulnerable in times of pandemic. The first is a kind of hyper-capitalism which commodifies health care & leaves workers w/o things like paid leave, thus making it harder for people to seek out treatment, or isolate..
2/ Second is hyper-individualism which teaches us other people's well being is not our concern. We just need to "take care of ourselves" and everyone should be responsible for themselves as opposed to looking to the broader society to prioritize communal well being...
3/ And hyper-individualism also teaches that our personal desire for maximum freedom means we should be able to do as we please (go out, ignore social distancing and calls for self-isolation) and that any communal sacrifice is tyranny...which means more people spread illness...
4/ And finally is hyper-religiosity which leads millions to think God will protect them if they just pray hard enough, have faith etc. Unlike, say, Italy, our religiosity is ass-backwards, "magical," "personal Jesus" nonsense. So folks are like "bring it on Satan!" Ugh...
5/ And of course u could add to that our penchant for racial/cultural scapegoating which leads us to blame the dreaded foreign "other," rather than get busy early on addressing the virus itself...that is part of American exceptionalism, which is a breeding ground for bigotry
So I guess that's four elements of Americanism that make us especially vulnerable in times like these...
