The western media's reaction to the COVID-19 epidemic has gone through three stages:
1. Schadenfreude
2. Sympathy
3. Shock
1. Schadenfreude
2. Sympathy
3. Shock
As long as Chinese were dying (and some Vietnamese and Koreans too - but who could tell the difference these days?) - they didn't really mind.
The outbreak was happening "there", to those "others". It couldn't happen to us decent folk, could it?
The outbreak was happening "there", to those "others". It couldn't happen to us decent folk, could it?
Chinese deaths were never more than a number to them - the more the merrier.
The crisis was an opportunity - to question the CCP, to predict it as "the biggest threat to the party's legitimacy since Tiananmen", as they did for every crisis.
The crisis was an opportunity - to question the CCP, to predict it as "the biggest threat to the party's legitimacy since Tiananmen", as they did for every crisis.
Yet, there were two flies in the ointment. The first was that even their own kith and kin - white westerners - started dropping dead.
Turns out, the virus didn't care about skin color. Now that was serious.
Turns out, the virus didn't care about skin color. Now that was serious.
The second factor interrupting the celebrations was that China's measures - that they had portrayed as useless earlier - were actually working, and saving lives.
So much so, that the same people who criticized China's measures now recommended that their own countries adopt them.
So much so, that the same people who criticized China's measures now recommended that their own countries adopt them.
So they started sympathizing. When people died in China, they saw them as mere statistics. After all, they could be blamed on the evil regime and its politics.
But European deaths could only be blamed on their innocent "overburdened healthcare system".
But European deaths could only be blamed on their innocent "overburdened healthcare system".
And then, it came for the US - the Paragon of Peace, the Guardian of Virtue, the Land of the Free.
Americans, so used to killing innocent civilians aboard, now faced an enemy as invisible - and invincible - as the bombs they had rained down on innocent people for decades.
Americans, so used to killing innocent civilians aboard, now faced an enemy as invisible - and invincible - as the bombs they had rained down on innocent people for decades.
And then shit got real. It was one thing to admire a tragedy from afar and use it to own the CCP, but it was quite another to see it kill your own.
Only God - the same God whose agency they had claimed while bombing people abroad - could save them now.
Only God - the same God whose agency they had claimed while bombing people abroad - could save them now.
And thus, the media went into shock. The myth of America invincibility was shattered. They blamed China. They blamed its wet markets. They blamed WHO.
And when even that didn't stop the disease and there was no one left to blame - they blamed themselves.
And when even that didn't stop the disease and there was no one left to blame - they blamed themselves.
All hell broke lose. Facing an enemy they couldn't kill or bomb, Americans turned on each other.
Political leaders ignored experts. The federal government blamed the state governments. State governments blamed the federal government. States bid on each other for medical supplies
Political leaders ignored experts. The federal government blamed the state governments. State governments blamed the federal government. States bid on each other for medical supplies
Dr. Fauci received death threats. People proudly ignored advice and partied. Senators dumped stocks to save money, while deceiving the public that all was fine.
The same people who called China's measures unnecessary - now complained that the US should've adopted them earlier.
The same people who called China's measures unnecessary - now complained that the US should've adopted them earlier.
States and the center are battling each other for stockpiles. The US confiscates mask shipments, so states are forced to arrange for private shipments to bypass the federal government.
America, never a united nation, is resembling a loose confederation of warring tribes.
America, never a united nation, is resembling a loose confederation of warring tribes.
