There are lots of arguments for the benefits of diversity, but few more powerful the initial US response to the pandemic. Neither China cancelling the Lunar New Year nor having to completely shut down the world’s second largest economy in face losing fashion really broke through.
And I’m not just talking about the federal government but in the general discourse - in local governments and within organizations and among everyday people. The import of his bad this was just didn’t resonate.
Cancelling the Lunar New Year is the equivalent of cancelling Christmas, Thanksgiving, and western New Year. It’s huge. The Lunar New Year is the one time a year that many factory workers from inland provinces get to go home. That it happened was epically big.
But lack of cultural knowledge - and lack of diversity - caused many people to miss that big signal.
Ditto lack of awareness about the comparative size, modernness & sophistication of the Chinese economy. Many Americans still imagine China to be the much poorer country of 30 years ago & so failed to realize what was happening was happening in a country much more like our own.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
