i wanna make an observation, a sort of tentative-uncertain hypothesis with the intent of trying to get a better understanding of reality. it's difficult because it's super-big and super-complex and maybe it's not actually possible to know the truth. its loosely about "media"

my impression: seeing how people in the US talk abt covid vs how people from most other countries talk about covid is an interesting education in media & ideology, and I feel like it loosely confirms some things (which I know is itself suspicious, bc of my own confirmation bias)

before going into further specifics I would say that the way people from India talk about covid also seems closer to the way people in the US talk about covid than many other countries – it's obviously a spectrum sorta thing

and for further context, I am from singapore, which is a tiny-ass island-city-state. there's no "federal vs state" government, there's just "the government", which is local. you can walk across the whole country in half a day

also at this point I find myself regretting that I can't read mandarin and so I don't have any first-hand knowledge about how chinese citizens talk about covid in china (on weibo, etc)

what a long ass preamble, lol. point is that i'm not trying to put anybody down, i'm just trying to understand. ok? ok. I think being part of a very large country with hundreds of millions of people is a very weird thing. it seems very unnatural to me

it seems to me that there's something about very large countries– again I really wish I could read chinese (and indonesian? hm) tweets for more context – that creates a sort of giant... distortion field? it's the opposite of grounded. the word i'm hesitating to use is "unhinged"

of course we have unhinged people in singapore too. there's a whole bunch of drama here as well. but I feel like there are different scales. like, 2 people can say "yeah my family is full of drama" and be talking abt very different realities

an paraphrased eg of an exchange I saw was

"it's privileged to want to continue the lockdown bc economy"
"it's privileged to NOT WANT TO DIE?!?!"

I've seen this conversation play out locally too, but there's something about the theatrics and drama that feels very American to me

and maybe I'm misreading things, maybe it's just a cultural difference in terms of expression. like, different language norms. using lots of exclamation marks when you're not actually exclaiming, etc

I feel like it can't be healthy, though. I feel like it's all connected, the absurd theatrics/WWE nature of political discourse, the widespread loneliness and disengagement, the opoid crisis, anti-anxiety meds, etc etc

caveat again: i am a foreigner and idk wtf i'm talking about

I could switch to talking about my frustration about political discourse in singapore, where for the most part I feel like even now most of us don't really take the time and trouble to think long/hard about their roles as citizens. maybe I'm just an alien on this planet lol

but I guess one of the great features of singapore, being so tiny, is that it really takes a very small group of people to make a positive difference for the whole country. so I think there's a really important size/physics component to this. kinda startup vs megacorp ish

I don't really know where I'm going with any of this. I don't have a point to make. I'm just trying to make sense of what I see happening around me, and hoping to hear from other people – hopefully we can have some interesting arguments without hostility & we can all learn stuff

soooo... idk. what do you think

(also circling back I guess the "not want to die" theatrics actually makes rational sense for the individual if they don't think they can trust their healthcare system to take care of them. which is wild, in the wealthiest country in the world. but I guess size = complexity?)