Demagogues and Dictators
Culture in the time of Covid 19
Currently in the race of Covid 19 prevalence, USA BRASIL INDIA take the top spots.
The best controlled seem to be CHINA VIETNAM RUSSIA THAILAND SOUTH KOREA TAIWAN HONG KONG JAPAN
In the USA, Miami-Dade county, run by Banana Republic demagogues is number 2 in the nation as of today, with a 14 day positivity of over six percent. The city and the state are run by demagogues aligned to Trump. As the positivity rate is going up the governor and the mayor wants to open the city for businesses known to seed the virus such as Bars.
MIAMI-DADE
Cases: 163,790 (+415)
Deaths: 2,882 (+46)
Yesterday’s positivity: 4.72%
14-day positivity: 6.13%
7-day positivity: 5.65%
BROWARD
Cases: 74,189 (+189)
Deaths: 1,279 (+3)
Yesterday’s positivity: 2.69%
14-day positivity: 3.9%
7-day positivity: 3.5%
It is incredible that Broward county is next door (virtually) but run by Banana Republic models, every indice is down .. what explains the positivity NEXT DOOR is only half as much ?
Money before People
Lack of care for Humanity
lack of Morality
How can we trust these people when it comes to issues that concern the entire humanity such as
Cyberattacks, Climate Change?
May the Spirits protect us !
Yesterday I received an email from a friend in China. She flew from Yunnan to Beijing and with her friends went to the National Museum and then on to a dinner. We in the western world do not have that luxury yet!
NYT reported
President Xi Jinping boasted last week that the country’s return to business and school “fully demonstrated the clear superiority of Communist Party leadership and our socialist system.”
Japan is a country that I admire and nowhere in the world, the concern for others, your fellow citizens more apparent there. China does not have that but have a regime who imposes discipline on people whereas in Japan that discipline comes naturally. The successes of Taiwan as in New Zealand/Aotearoa and HK are attributed to the self discipline of the population. This characteristic is not strictly an Asian phenomenon in that New Zealanders are predominantly of European origin, their character shaped by their distance from the motherland and also the plasticity of a settler population.
On top of Culture, in the western world, Poverty has also thrown in a bolt into this quagmire. The prevalence and death among poor people and minority people in the USA has been twice as higher. Then again in Immigrant cultures (such as USA Canada or Australia or NZ) doesn’t poverty define the culture as well.. while we are on the subject. The other three immigrant countries mentioned above: Canada NZ Australia all have done very well to combat the virus even though Australia had a slight setback which they have now overcome. So there is something unique about USA that has permitted this virus to take foothold in this land of opportunities.
Not only is this virus opportunistic, many people in charge of the government are also raking it in, many of them children of immigrants. One case in point:
Seema Verma, an Indian who is in charge of Medicare/Medicaid disbursement:
“Verma is worried about wasting government money on ‘unnecessary’ medical care for poor people, but she wants the government to reimburse her for $47,000 worth of jewels and clothes she took on a government trip,” Shaub tweeted on Dec. 8.
In March, Verma was under fire, after a Politico investigative report found that she had hired GOP-connected private consultants costing millions of taxpayer dollars to burnish her image, polish her brand, write her speeches, in addition to traveling with her around the country.
So has other people who are in the inner circle or cabinet or other hangers on, such as the person in charge of developing the vaccine who has a financial interest in the company that sells vaccines etc., the list is long . Perhaps that is why USA is suffering so much more as the people given the task of protecting the citizens are padding their pockets and have serious conflicts of interest. But one could say this is also part of the USA Culture.
So choose your own Demagogue or Dictator or Democracy..
