Read on Twitter
"COVID is bad because trump is unqualified" fails as an argument because
1. Comparisons to Europe
2. The supposedly qualified people are the products of meritocracy--a self-mythologizing system where grifters are as (more?) likely to win as geniuses
(1/n) https://twitter.com/mlipsitch/status/1250235206088482816
1. Comparisons to Europe
2. The supposedly qualified people are the products of meritocracy--a self-mythologizing system where grifters are as (more?) likely to win as geniuses
(1/n) https://twitter.com/mlipsitch/status/1250235206088482816
Academia is a revenue-driven industry closely connected to profit-driven publishers and promoters, and even the supposedly most "meritocratic" institutions like Harvard are happy to have good relations with anyone with enough money (remember Epstein?)
(2/n)
(2/n)
In this case Murphy, a Harvard & Goldman alum who is the chair of the Dem Governor's Association is taking advice from an academic promoter
trump himself has an econ degree from an ivy league! His econ advisor, Navarro, has a PhD from Harvard & long academic career!
(3/n)
trump himself has an econ degree from an ivy league! His econ advisor, Navarro, has a PhD from Harvard & long academic career!
(3/n)
#COVID is much worse than it had to be for many reasons, but the strategy of pinning things on trump specifically is more politically convenient than it is explanatory
{Status quo / inertia / plan continuation}-bias is probably more explanatory
(4/n) https://twitter.com/JeremyFarrar/status/1136755081242710017
{Status quo / inertia / plan continuation}-bias is probably more explanatory
(4/n) https://twitter.com/JeremyFarrar/status/1136755081242710017
Other political calculations are probably more explanatory as well: leaders fearing backlash due to the economic harm of the necessary intervention waited until the public was sufficiently afraid--which was unfortunately also too late due to the long incubation period
(5/n)
(5/n)
The same calculation in the previous tweet may also help explain why some governments are doing limited testing--lower confirmed case numbers (for asymptomatics) inflates the perceived deadliness, which helps scare the public, enhancing "rally around the flag" effect
(6/n)
(6/n)
Lower confirmed case numbers also give the impression that lock-down / social distancing measures are working well (which may reduce backlash due to the economic harm)
(7/n)
(7/n)
Finally, to whatever degree COVID ends up being worse in the US relative to e.g. European countries with similar laissez faire responses (less strict lockdowns), it will be due more to our for-profit healthcare system and lack of a social safety net (e.g. paid sick leave)
(end)
(end)
Addendum: to be clear, I am absolutely blaming trump, but I am also blaming all the other world leaders that acted too slowly, and I am blaming all the other US politicians who've either attacked our social safety net or failed to defend/expand it for decades now
This article makes a similar point with a broader historical context and relation to other examples https://twitter.com/katecrawford/status/1250530554799423488
Another example of the politicization of #COVID19 data and the response timeline -- the last paragraph is relevant to tweet 5 in this thread above https://twitter.com/catcontentonly/status/1250532718540193792
