Unmasking an Agenda: COVID-19 and America’s Indifference to Life (article)

Leadership Reorientation

The countries in Central Europe, New Zealand, South Korea, and Vietnam with strong and coordinated leadership responses to the COVID-19 threat did reasonably well in handling it. For example, Angela Merkel, Germany’s prime minister and a scientist herself, listened to the advice of fellow scientists regarding the needed response when the virulence of the virus became obvious. Merkel then worked with the prime ministers of the country’s states to follow her lead and reassured the public frequently in her informed approach with a reassuring tone. She persuaded most people to listen and feel her competence and empathy.

By contrast, the U.S. leadership has faltered: it remains seemingly uninformed and unconcerned, if not callous. Scientists like Drs. Fauci and Birx danced around the authoritarian at the center to avert more profound damage to the country. Meanwhile, Trump dismissed men and women in the administration to prevent them from informing him and the public about the virus’ deadly reach. (For one example, see Meridith McGraw and Nahal Toosi, Politco, “Trump ousts State Department Watchdog,” May 15, 2020.) He fired them because they had not sworn fealty to him but rather aimed at serving the country. However, like the rest of the world, the President closed down the border but said at the time that the virus would be no worse than the flu and disappear in the summer.

This reluctance to be informed is reflected in the conflicting advice and spotty support Trump gave from the outset to governors, mayors, and citizens. He said, for example, that “I am not responsible at all” (Lee Moran, “‘Art of the Deal’ Co-Author Spells Out Why Pandemic Deaths ‘Don’t Matter’ To Trump,” HuffPost, May 16, 2020; Mary Papenfuss, “Trump Bashes Reporter Rattled by Anti-Lockdown Protester,” HuffPost, May 15, 2020). His attitude reflects a reorientation of America’s leadership; it portends the remaking of it along autocratic lines. A leader who cares to save

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lives is less concerned about himself or listening to the self-interested voices of sycophants, and more focused on the troubles of his fellow human beings. President Trump voices little concern beyond aspiring to be reelected and create a different form of government, one in which he is in complete control. He fires people who disagree with him and places people at the top of every agency who say what he wants to hear.

Health and Well-Being

Most societies that did reasonably well with their responses to the virus have functioning universal health care systems; the U.S. does not. We have some of the finest doctors, nurses, and medical facilities anywhere, but their assistance is reserved for only those who can access them. We are deficient as a society because as a capitalistic democracy, we undervalue human beings and their well-being. Significantly, not everyone is insured; this means we underappreciate the long-term health of our people. According to many interviews on TV and reports on the web, too many Americans do not dare to seek medical help when they become ill because of its cost. When they do in the current situation, it is often too late for them or the others they may infect to be treated successfully. Fortunately, emergency rooms normally provide services regardless of legal status or ability to pay, but the costs to those who don’t earn much or don’t have insurance are often prohibitive.

Caring for all citizens would long ago have increased salaries of many of our “less valued workers,” including for example the (mostly) women and non-white individuals laboring in hospitals and nursing homes, gathering crops in fields, and working in meat processing plants. We would also have given them access to health insurance, time for vacations, and pensions. We would additionally have insured our generally ignored groups, like African Americans, Hispanics, older Americans, graduating college students, Native Americans, and undocumented immigrants. We would have restrained insurance companies and some medical facilities from profiting excessively from their patients. As Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said, “…that is an unfortunate legacy in our health care system that we certainly do need to address” (Kristen Holms and Kevin Bohn, “Azar Lays Part of Blame for COVID-19 Death Toll on State of Americans’ Health,” CNN, May 17, 2020).

Trusting and Listening

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The Europeans and Asians who did well with containing the new coronavirus for the most part followed the advice of their leaders and scientists. In part, this has to do with exposure to previous virus attacks and, possibly, acquaintance with war. They trust them because members of European societies who had such experiences were more likely to stick together and assist each other. The reverse is true for many Americans; they are not listening to advice, even the very best of it. We have seen this play out in two ways: one is exemplified by President Trump and other political leaders’ common refusal to wear masks or follow their own guidelines; the other continues to be a lack of literacy of large swaths of our population (Isaac Asimov, “A Cult of Ignorance,” 1980).

The first is connected to language. English is now the international language and, as a consequence, it is used by large population-swaths that are not well versed in it. Trump adds to this basic linguistic lacuna aggressive, even hostile terms, speaking often in incomplete sentences and barely understandable grammar (Noah Bierman, “Can’t Decipher Trump-speak? Meet Margaret, the computer bot,” Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2020). This form of expression offers approval to others who find their own speech reflected. In addition, the President gives permission to be unsophisticated. The problem behind this is potent and psychologically understandable. The intellectuals who speak and write English well, like scientists, jurists, journalists, and the college-educated, literally only address each other. Trump chooses not to use this language and thus reaches those who “understand” him; their understanding serves his purposes.

The lack of literacy is illustrated through the susceptibility of too many Americans to false information regarding the virus; at worst it is seen as a hoax or conspiracy perpetrated by doctors, Democrats, and others whom they perceive are conspiring to do them harm. Believing such unverified ideas, propagated by some public persons, including the President and various media, can be traced in part to an undereducated segment of the population (Frank Bruni, “Nobody is Protected from President Trump,” New York Times, May 12, 2020).

One of the more amazing aspects of American literacy is the lack of clarity regarding the level of educational competence, based partly on the U.S. not providing statistics to the United Nations. The sad reality is, though, that some areas and social classes in the U.S. vary widely in their levels of educational attainment. It should

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not astonish that poor levels of educational attainment overlap for the most part with states that advocate and carry out more massive imprisonments and executions than those with higher educational attainment (Christian Pfeiffer, “The Abolition of the Parental Right to Corporal Punishment in Sweden, Germany and other European Countries: A Model for the United States and other Democracies?” Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen E.V., Forschungsbericht, Vol. 128, 24-34).

This low level of education matches the adherence to our cherished individual forms of expression—our so-called freedoms. Moreover, as historians, political scientists, and sociologists have pointed out, we are a pleasure (id) centered society. At some point in their early lives, most individuals relinquish uncontrolled drives and moderate parental and societal controls into an “ego-centric” approach to life and society; one may assume that maturity and education play a role in this process. Somehow this difficult work has not been undertaken by a considerable number of Americans and is most concentrated in areas of least educational attainment. This work would lead to a greater willingness to postpone gratification of immediate wishes, like getting a haircut or eating in a favorite restaurant during the pandemic. Holding out a tad longer, letting the “superego” mold the “ego,” would potentially avoid undermining the health of the person hastened to be served. That is also why the simplest steps, like wearing a mask and distancing six feet, become an affront to some Americans and seemingly an infringement on their freedoms. The unrestrained “id,” some would say childlike behavior, fits well with Trump, who often exhibits an unrestrained “id.” Once more, though, he appeals to a segment of the population that sees in him a leader who understands them; they know him to be on their side.

A Strong Middle Class

Not all countries have managed well in response to the virus, but four givens are often a common denominator for those that did: astute leadership, solid safety net, a population willing to listen, and a significant middle class.

Historians and others have shown that a strong middle class is a must for democracies to function. The cynicism of the current American leadership endeavors to keep a considerable number of voters uninterested, disappointed, undereducated, and/or struggling to make a living and thus too worried about basic survival and not about democracy as such. This lack of awareness fits directly into

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Trump’s mastery at spinning his storyline to individuals who are poorly informed. A larger and stronger middle class that carries hopes of individuals and families to retain or improve their current position in society would have a higher incentive to do everything possible to not become infected and perhaps even die.

Conclusion

It may well appear that I am writing as beholden to a left-wing echo chamber. Sadly, our fine economy is in shambles and our death-rate is going beyond all wars except WWI and WWII. My wife and I arrived in Germany on January 16^th and left on June 1^st. We read the U.S. and European press. The European press is outside the American echo chamber and is not part of the so-called “fake news.” The overall consensus we heard in Europe from our conversations with our doctors, hairstylists, grocery, and bakery clerks is that the U.S. has ceased to be the country they knew as “the U.S.” The most common question is, “What is going on with you?” They usually offer their own response, “I cannot believe what is happening.” The other phrase is, “How can this happen?”

Because of the leadership’s seeming disarray, the U.S. avoids looking to the successes of managing the virus or the pitfalls for reopening in other countries. One could readily point to the Central European countries, New Zealand, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Vietnam with their strict initial approaches, which later allowed for opening their societies with clear guidelines and declining virus infections and deaths. Trump is not interested in such considerate approaches and thus continues to fail, but uses the disarray he has created in the hope of being reelected and to impose an authoritarian regime. The failure coincides with the aggressive overturning of the purposes of all U.S. administrative departments, refocusing the judiciary on all levels and bending the Republican Party to his will.

The U.S., as one journalist told me, has ceased to be the United States and has become the Disunited States. Very important to this perception is that the earlier protests were “loaded” with guns, which are not seen in the rest of the developed world. The U.S. is “exceptional” indeed, but it is not only in danger internally because past admiration has turned to amazement, if not disdain. Before the arrival of COVID-19, and more recently during the nation-wide protests, Trump undermined our standing in the world. But with the response to the virus, the U.S. has relinquished its international leadership. Trump focuses on the internal situation in

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the U.S. and tries to strengthen the role of the presidency. He intends to accomplish this goal with the support of a population that hears him and not the scientists and other men and women who continue to work for the benefit of society as a whole.

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