A thread:
Coronavirus will define us, and of course the cliché is true: politics, and our lives, won’t the same, and they probably shouldn’t be. And one of those ways has to do with a broader ideological battle—between democracies and autocracies
Coronavirus will define us, and of course the cliché is true: politics, and our lives, won’t the same, and they probably shouldn’t be. And one of those ways has to do with a broader ideological battle—between democracies and autocracies
China’s message is clear: The regime there is saying to the world, without shame or apology, that brutal technocracy is the way to deal with existential threats, in this case a virus
Every day, I see Americans and citizens of Western democracies doubting themselves, losing faith in their own governments but also their own systems. They point to China, and they say, ‘look how they’ve so quickly contained the virus, if only we could do the same’
I’ve never been prouder to be American, and I’ve never loved this country as much as I do now, today. I’m lucky, and I thank God, that I was born here and not where my parents were born
Is this an odd reaction, when our government seems (and is) incompetent, when we watch a president so out of his depth, and so uniquely ill-suited for the moment? Perhaps.
What I see in our democracies, in Italy, Spain, France, and here at home, is community, solidarity, and, yes, "nationalism." We are under attack, and it's only natural that feel more strongly about who we are. This is an ideological nationalism, not an ethnic one
The authoritarian state might be "effective"—in the short run. However, if they don't do a good job, there are few who can pick up the slack, b/c there is fear, and there is rarely solidarity among citizens. All you have is a bet: that brutal technocrats will do the right thing
I might be wrong, and this might be sentiment getting the better of me, but I have trouble imagining something like this happening in a brutal, authoritarian state
What I see in the US is one of the richer, if frightening, debates of my lifetime, and the sheer plurality of opinions and responses to the virus allows us a flexibility and nimbleness an autocratic state could never claim. And we do so, as Americans, without fear of persecution
Why? Because this is our country, and we *feel* that it's our country. My relatives in Egypt, unfortunately, will never know what that feels like, and I know they don't. I wish it were otherwise. When I try to describe it, they either long for it, or look at me with blank stares
Is democracy a panacea? No. As with everything, there's a tradeoff and we might as well be frank about it. Brutal technocracies like China will do some things better than we do. But it will never be worth it. And we shouldn't have to apologize for that. It doesn't make us weaker
We are losing the ideological battle, and we can't wait until we beat the virus to fight it. Every day China is weaponizing the virus to sow doubt about democracy and portray itself as a global leader, even though it's directly to blame for the virus' spread in the first place
Yesterday, I wrote about a conversation with my mom. She was saying how most of her Egyptian relatives and friends on various WhatsApp groups are telling her that the US "manufactured" the virus—and that this is becoming a dominant narrative
I see my mom, who I watched *become* American (and that's a beautiful thing), in a state of doubt. Trump, shall we say, doesn't inspire confidence. And she is pummeled every day by our Egyptian relatives. And then she sees how "efficient" China has been
But Egypt, itself, offers an important reminder: Most authoritarian states aren't competent or effective. Most authoritarian regimes kinda suck. China is the exception that proves the rule (and China's effectiveness is overhyped in part because of its effective propaganda)
There's also that little, somewhat inconvenient fact that even "good" autocracies like China can make you disappear or arrest doctors who say things they don't like about a virus, but, whatever, oh cool look they can build a hospital in 36 hours
Egypt's response to coronavirus is a joke, and one that's just as frightening as it is dangerous. Officially, there are 327 confirmed cases. This would be somewhat remarkable, considering how many people who got the virus in Egypt and brought it back with them
A close friend of my parents got the virus after a trip to Egypt, and is now on a ventilator. Early on, before the panic, my parents decided to "distance" themselves from any of their friends who had recently come back from Egypt, b/c it was obvious even then it was spreading
But what can Egyptians do? They can't speak out. They have no input into their government's decisions. There is no transparency. They can't vote their leaders out if they do a bad job. What can that powerlessness breed? It distorts the human spirit and brings out the worst
Even if your autocratic regime—and it would never be *yours*—was competent, what would it feel like to be completely dependent on the supposed effectiveness of a faraway government that sees you not as a citizen but merely a subject, and an expendable one?
Egyptians are powerless but they can content themselves with conspiracy theories that displace that powerlessness. And they can express disdain for America (fueled by their supposedly "pro-American" dictator) by embracing Chinese propaganda about the virus being an American plot
It's remarkable to me that some Americans—and mainstream news outlets—are taking the Chinese numbers at face value. Does anyone really believe that 3 days passed with not a single new domestic case, as China is claiming? Come on, are we that naive? Why are we accepting this?
Why would we believe the claims coming from one of the most brutal, ruthless regimes that we've seen in our lifetimes? Do we have that much self-doubt in our own system, in our own way of life, that we would trust a totalitarian regime that has a fundamental interest in lying?
This, to me, will be the defining struggle. It's not national, ethnic, or religious; it's ideological, about competing systems that represent completely different ways of understanding the world—and the citizen. Call it the post-Corona era, or whatever. It's already started
Unfortunately, we're not prepared for this ideological battle. American elites, particularly on the left, have too much self doubt. On the right, there is the temptation of making nationalism ethnic. "America first" doesn't grasp the exceptionalism of democracy
In an ideal world, we would have a leader, a president, who could unite and rally Americans, and use this moment to build community and solidarity. There would be a recognition of the ideological stakes. And this is where Trump is completely ill-suited
But this doesn't happen with American leadership alone. An American president would set the tone and encourage like-minded European leaders to follow suit, and to build institutional frameworks to organize responses and build solidarity with other democracies—as democracies
[End of thread]. Hope some of it's useful or interesting. I don't expect (or want) everyone to agree with me—that shouldn't be the goal in a pluralistic society. I'll be developing some of these ideas for a bigger project, so any feedback is welcome
