This is why I so insistently rail against individualist perspectives on the pandemic.
The problem with that mentality comes into sharp focus when you see cruel statements like this from a politician clearly trying to avoid responsibility.
The problem with that mentality comes into sharp focus when you see cruel statements like this from a politician clearly trying to avoid responsibility.
https://twitter.com/News_8/status/1329135843093733378
The denialist maniacs get a lot of attention, but the real reason the US is mired in COVID is because politicians have lacked the will to do what needs to be done: pay people to stay home. The problem is *much* bigger than individual virtue.
The purpose of the "personal responsibility" rhetoric, whether it's coming from liberal or conservative politicians, is to ensure that governments can blame *you* for *their* failures on COVID-19.
And I want to be clear, lest I be misrepresented by some denialist: This doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to wear a mask, distance, etc. You do.
But in order for that to really pay the biggest dividends, the government needs to have your back. Right now, it doesn't.
But in order for that to really pay the biggest dividends, the government needs to have your back. Right now, it doesn't.
Our sacrifices mean something when the government uses the time we buy them, the space we give them, to marshal collective responses to the pandemic. In the US, nearly all that sacrifice has gone to waste. So it's just suffering for its own sake.
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