This was a post that I wrote perhaps a week or more ago, but never quite got around to publishing, for some reason.
But since I sincerely believe that an ugly form of nationalism is making things worse with this Covid-19 crisis, rather than better, it seemed worth posting.
The irony - or perhaps the tragedy - of it is that for many people who subscribe to nationalism, not only do they not see anything wrong with it, but they believe it to be a good thing. What's wrong with patriotism, they will ask to counter any criticism/
Of course when you fixate so much on one country to the exclusion of all others, there is no sense of any wider community. It becomes an extension of one's ego, a kind of narcissism that becomes toxic to one's thinking, and which does not allow the one who holds it to see anything outside of the nation's borders as legitimate or relevant. Some countries have seen this kind of nationalism take hold and, unfortunately, that seems true here in the United States, where we have an elected president who's stated policy is "America first," and again, this exclusive policy has lost this country some traditional allies. After all, usually cautious world leaders in Europe, within hours of meeting with Trump, suggested that the United States could no longer be relied upon as a trustworthy partner. To me, that seems like toxic nationalism, but to Trump supporters, that probably feels like a strong leader finally standing up to hypocrisy of the international community. It is that same kind of thinking that also prevents Americans from recognizing the inadequacies of their national healthcare system, which is far and away the most expensive one in the world, and it is here, where there are absolutely no price controls, that not surprisingly we have to pay the highest prices for healthcare of any country in the world. I would call that a failure, but Trump fans who are aware of this inconvenient fact simply place the blame on Obama, or on the Clintons, or the Democrats more generally, and then forget to pay attention enough to when Republicans not only do nothing to improve the situation, but then outright work to make it worse. I knew just such a guy, a former coworker, who's wife had cancer. While she did, he went against Republicans, angrily pointing out that they had no plan. But as soon as she got better, he turned back to Republicans, and as someone who was an admitted racist, he also unashamedly and enthusiastically supported - who else? - Donald Trump for the White House. I wish that I was kidding or exaggerating.
The Covid-19 crisis is similar. American leadership right now just is not strong. Trump denied that the coronavirus was a serious threat and downplayed the severity of it for quite some time, thus delaying what may otherwise have been a strong and effective response. In short, he put Americans at risk, because at the time, he was worried that such news might hurt the stock market - the economy - and he has put all of his chips on the table that the mark of a successful presidency would be the economy. When the economy predictably crashed as Covid-19 began to hit the United States more strongly and became a bona fide crisis, the stock market crashed anyway, mostly because of Trump's inadequate response. When he seemed uncomfortable and uncertain during a national address (the one which he ended by siting back, loosening his tie, and saying, "Okaay" in a manner that betrayed clear frustration, the stock market reacted in predictable fashion: it tanked. Despite ample expert advice and evidence of what might be effective against the coronavirus around the world, Trump instead misled Americans not only about the severity of the crisis, and keeps sending strange, mixed messages, fluctuating between positions where he acknowledges how serious this whole thing was, and still more attempts to downplay it. He still stood too near people, still shook hands, touched their microphones before they came up to the podium and spoke, and claimed that he would never wear a mask, even though this was now officially being recommended. What exactly is the clear message coming from the White House when it comes to Covid-19? Who can be certain, since he keeps flip-flopping between taking it seriously, and his rather typical sense of being exempt from any and all consequences, much like he has done throughout his entire life.
Germans confirmed that the Trump administration had tried to lure their scientists away in order to be a step ahead on acquiring a cure for the coronavirus, and that he hoped it would be regarded as an exclusively American cure, which he would use to cure Americans only. Maybe, once that was taken care of, he might loan it out to other countries, out of the great generosity of his heart. When I refer to ugly, blind, counterproductive nationalism, that is pretty much a perfect example of what I am specifically referring to. After all, what if China or Japan, or some other European nation, perhaps, suddenly comes up with something, discovers a cure? What if, in that scenario, they took that same approach? Would that be helpful for Americans? Would that be putting politics over the safety and well-being of possibly millions (perhaps even billions) of people? Of course it would. Yet, somehow, this logic escapes Trump supporters when it comes to their whole-hearted endorsement of their favorite president.
That is why I wrote this piece, and it felt like the time to publish it now:
The coronavirus would have been very bad already, just as is. It is an airborne virus that spreads from person to person without necessarily any direct contact. Often, someone who has it might be contagious before they even know that they have it, before any symptoms reveal themselves. That makes this very dangerous, and hard to contain, which makes this almost an inevitable, worldwide epidemic.
Yet, there are some things that are being done which have actually made it worse. And it seems clear that one of these things is nationalism.
Indeed, the thing that some believe is absolutely necessary to make a country better is, in fact, toxic. And it's toxicity is making this whole coronavirus crisis worse, and even perhaps far worse. And nowhere is that nationalism as evident, and perhaps as toxic, as it is here in the United States.
Self-identified superpatriots, most of whom tend to be loyal supporters of Donald Trump, are making the coronavirus situation worse than it really needs to be.The coronavirus is a global pandemic, which has hit particularly hard in some countries, particularly China and Italy (at least so far). Also, the fears – really, paranoia – that it has stoked has caused some stunning shortages of normally readily available items in supermarkets of developed nations, such as toilet paper, meat, rice, and even flour. At least my girlfriend could not find flour when she tried to go grocery shopping in recent days.
But since I sincerely believe that an ugly form of nationalism is making things worse with this Covid-19 crisis, rather than better, it seemed worth posting.
The irony - or perhaps the tragedy - of it is that for many people who subscribe to nationalism, not only do they not see anything wrong with it, but they believe it to be a good thing. What's wrong with patriotism, they will ask to counter any criticism/
Of course when you fixate so much on one country to the exclusion of all others, there is no sense of any wider community. It becomes an extension of one's ego, a kind of narcissism that becomes toxic to one's thinking, and which does not allow the one who holds it to see anything outside of the nation's borders as legitimate or relevant. Some countries have seen this kind of nationalism take hold and, unfortunately, that seems true here in the United States, where we have an elected president who's stated policy is "America first," and again, this exclusive policy has lost this country some traditional allies. After all, usually cautious world leaders in Europe, within hours of meeting with Trump, suggested that the United States could no longer be relied upon as a trustworthy partner. To me, that seems like toxic nationalism, but to Trump supporters, that probably feels like a strong leader finally standing up to hypocrisy of the international community. It is that same kind of thinking that also prevents Americans from recognizing the inadequacies of their national healthcare system, which is far and away the most expensive one in the world, and it is here, where there are absolutely no price controls, that not surprisingly we have to pay the highest prices for healthcare of any country in the world. I would call that a failure, but Trump fans who are aware of this inconvenient fact simply place the blame on Obama, or on the Clintons, or the Democrats more generally, and then forget to pay attention enough to when Republicans not only do nothing to improve the situation, but then outright work to make it worse. I knew just such a guy, a former coworker, who's wife had cancer. While she did, he went against Republicans, angrily pointing out that they had no plan. But as soon as she got better, he turned back to Republicans, and as someone who was an admitted racist, he also unashamedly and enthusiastically supported - who else? - Donald Trump for the White House. I wish that I was kidding or exaggerating.
The Covid-19 crisis is similar. American leadership right now just is not strong. Trump denied that the coronavirus was a serious threat and downplayed the severity of it for quite some time, thus delaying what may otherwise have been a strong and effective response. In short, he put Americans at risk, because at the time, he was worried that such news might hurt the stock market - the economy - and he has put all of his chips on the table that the mark of a successful presidency would be the economy. When the economy predictably crashed as Covid-19 began to hit the United States more strongly and became a bona fide crisis, the stock market crashed anyway, mostly because of Trump's inadequate response. When he seemed uncomfortable and uncertain during a national address (the one which he ended by siting back, loosening his tie, and saying, "Okaay" in a manner that betrayed clear frustration, the stock market reacted in predictable fashion: it tanked. Despite ample expert advice and evidence of what might be effective against the coronavirus around the world, Trump instead misled Americans not only about the severity of the crisis, and keeps sending strange, mixed messages, fluctuating between positions where he acknowledges how serious this whole thing was, and still more attempts to downplay it. He still stood too near people, still shook hands, touched their microphones before they came up to the podium and spoke, and claimed that he would never wear a mask, even though this was now officially being recommended. What exactly is the clear message coming from the White House when it comes to Covid-19? Who can be certain, since he keeps flip-flopping between taking it seriously, and his rather typical sense of being exempt from any and all consequences, much like he has done throughout his entire life.
Germans confirmed that the Trump administration had tried to lure their scientists away in order to be a step ahead on acquiring a cure for the coronavirus, and that he hoped it would be regarded as an exclusively American cure, which he would use to cure Americans only. Maybe, once that was taken care of, he might loan it out to other countries, out of the great generosity of his heart. When I refer to ugly, blind, counterproductive nationalism, that is pretty much a perfect example of what I am specifically referring to. After all, what if China or Japan, or some other European nation, perhaps, suddenly comes up with something, discovers a cure? What if, in that scenario, they took that same approach? Would that be helpful for Americans? Would that be putting politics over the safety and well-being of possibly millions (perhaps even billions) of people? Of course it would. Yet, somehow, this logic escapes Trump supporters when it comes to their whole-hearted endorsement of their favorite president.
That is why I wrote this piece, and it felt like the time to publish it now:
The coronavirus would have been very bad already, just as is. It is an airborne virus that spreads from person to person without necessarily any direct contact. Often, someone who has it might be contagious before they even know that they have it, before any symptoms reveal themselves. That makes this very dangerous, and hard to contain, which makes this almost an inevitable, worldwide epidemic.
Yet, there are some things that are being done which have actually made it worse. And it seems clear that one of these things is nationalism.
Indeed, the thing that some believe is absolutely necessary to make a country better is, in fact, toxic. And it's toxicity is making this whole coronavirus crisis worse, and even perhaps far worse. And nowhere is that nationalism as evident, and perhaps as toxic, as it is here in the United States.
Self-identified superpatriots, most of whom tend to be loyal supporters of Donald Trump, are making the coronavirus situation worse than it really needs to be.The coronavirus is a global pandemic, which has hit particularly hard in some countries, particularly China and Italy (at least so far). Also, the fears – really, paranoia – that it has stoked has caused some stunning shortages of normally readily available items in supermarkets of developed nations, such as toilet paper, meat, rice, and even flour. At least my girlfriend could not find flour when she tried to go grocery shopping in recent days.
That is saying nothing about the recent economic collapse that has been a big part of this whole thing. It is such a bi thing, in fact, that it seems to be the main concert for Trump, who clearly sprung to action very quickly to respond to the economic crisis and the concerns that it has created. Frankly, it almost feels like he did not really bother to concern himself too seriously about the whole coronavirus thing until the stock market specifically reacted negatively to concerns that Trump was not handling the crisis seriously, let alone responsibly. Seemingly only at that point in time did Trump finally seem to take this whole Covid-19 crisis seriously, when this whole thing might have not been quite as serious as it has become here in the United States if he had responded in a mature and responsible, concerned manner from the start. But that feels like far too much to ask from Trump, based on his history the past three years. Hell, it feels like it is too much to ask for from him in particular if we look at his remarkably consistent history of exclusive self-interest in the many decades before he ever was elected into the White House and officially became the face and the voice of the country (again, officially) that elected him as it’s leader.
All of that is bad, of course. Yet, that situation has been made quite a bit worse by natio nalism, usuusally with a good dose of predictable xenophobia. There has been considerable skepticism towards even the legitimay of the seriousness of the coronavirus among many superpatriots here in the Unigted States. And when they reluctantly have to admit that it exists, as Donald Trump has been forced to do following weeks of downplaying the seriousness of it and even claiming that it was not a big deal and would be contained, and patting his administration on the back for doing such a swell, stand-up job - he claimed that we were well on our way to almost zero cases of Covid-19, remember - they tend to do it grudgingly, dragging their feet the entire time.
For Donald Trump, of course, he went from seemingly giving the green light for sick Americans to continue going to work, and from consistently – some might say persistently – downplaying the seriousness of the impending crisis, to finally admitting that it was indeed a very big problem, but trying to point the finger of blame on anyone and everyone else, which is also very, very typical of his supposed “leadership” style. Yes, he blames the Democrats, claiming that their response to the pandemic has been a “hoax” and that they are using it to get at him and attack him once again. As if his response was indeed so wonderful that it was beyond criticism. Maybe he just really is that bad, that virtually everything that he does warrants serious criticism?
I have long felt that the constant, narcissistic patting ourselves on the back was excessive for a long time as well. Ironically, many Americans seem to be clinging to notions of our uniqueness, our special, privileged status as a "beacon of freedom" precisely as we are losing our once elite standard of living and falling behind other countries, just as many are parading the supposed freedom here right as many of those very freedoms are being steadily eroded by people who we, as Americans collectively, put in power. And who do we elect to be our face and our voice for four years? An absolute clown figure, who is clearly in over his head when he deals with a serious crisis. And yet, recent polls suggest that 60% of Americans approve of his handling of the coronavirus thing! No wonder we are increasingly, and frankly, deservedly, being laughed at by the rest of the world. We have lost our way. There are individuals who are obviously exceptions, even tens of millions of enlightened Americans. But collectively, we as a country have lost our way, allowed immature values and people to take prevalence. And this constant fixation on ourselves, reinforced countless times every day (one of which are claims to being the greatest country on Earth, or being "God's country") is reinforcing all of this. Frankly, we need to grow the hell up!
I have long felt that the constant, narcissistic patting ourselves on the back was excessive for a long time as well. Ironically, many Americans seem to be clinging to notions of our uniqueness, our special, privileged status as a "beacon of freedom" precisely as we are losing our once elite standard of living and falling behind other countries, just as many are parading the supposed freedom here right as many of those very freedoms are being steadily eroded by people who we, as Americans collectively, put in power. And who do we elect to be our face and our voice for four years? An absolute clown figure, who is clearly in over his head when he deals with a serious crisis. And yet, recent polls suggest that 60% of Americans approve of his handling of the coronavirus thing! No wonder we are increasingly, and frankly, deservedly, being laughed at by the rest of the world. We have lost our way. There are individuals who are obviously exceptions, even tens of millions of enlightened Americans. But collectively, we as a country have lost our way, allowed immature values and people to take prevalence. And this constant fixation on ourselves, reinforced countless times every day (one of which are claims to being the greatest country on Earth, or being "God's country") is reinforcing all of this. Frankly, we need to grow the hell up!
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