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i wanna make an observation, a sort of tentative-uncertain hypothesis with the intent of trying to get a better understanding of reality. it& #39;s difficult because it& #39;s super-big and super-complex and maybe it& #39;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& #39;s obviously a spectrum sorta thing
and for further context, I am from singapore, which is a tiny-ass island-city-state. there& #39;s no "federal vs state" government, there& #39;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& #39;t read mandarin and so I don& #39;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& #39;m not trying to put anybody down, i& #39;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& #39;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& #39;s the opposite of grounded. the word i& #39;m hesitating to use is "unhinged"
of course we have unhinged people in singapore too. there& #39;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& #39;s privileged to want to continue the lockdown bc economy"
"it& #39;s privileged to NOT WANT TO DIE?!?!"
I& #39;ve seen this conversation play out locally too, but there& #39;s something about the theatrics and drama that feels very American to me
"it& #39;s privileged to want to continue the lockdown bc economy"
"it& #39;s privileged to NOT WANT TO DIE?!?!"
I& #39;ve seen this conversation play out locally too, but there& #39;s something about the theatrics and drama that feels very American to me
and maybe I& #39;m misreading things, maybe it& #39;s just a cultural difference in terms of expression. like, different language norms. using lots of exclamation marks when you& #39;re not actually exclaiming, etc
I feel like it can& #39;t be healthy, though. I feel like it& #39;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& #39;m talking about
caveat again: i am a foreigner and idk wtf i& #39;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& #39;t really take the time and trouble to think long/hard about their roles as citizens. maybe I& #39;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& #39;s a really important size/physics component to this. kinda startup vs megacorp ish
I don& #39;t really know where I& #39;m going with any of this. I don& #39;t have a point to make. I& #39;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& #39;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?)
