Election 2020

[pbrower2a]

(12-16-2020, 03:53 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: The Reds and Blues are more or less separate cultures that don't do much socializing and intermixing. So, you blaming them for the COVID surge that Blue Culture is experiencing seems silly to me but normal as far as what Blues do and how they view things and respond to things happening that are related to them. As I've mentioned before, Red Culture isn't nearly as afraid of death or threatened by the possibility of getting sick and dying as Blue Culture today. Yet, Blue Culture will go along with violence, support violence by not opposing violence and go against those trying to protect them from violence which is strange but normal since there wasn't much actual killing of Blues associated with all the violence. I'd say more Trump supporters and cops were killed than Blue people were killed last summer.

Support for Donald Trump is for now very much a part of "Red" culture. When theCOVID-19 plague struck for its first wave, people in the Blue culture deferred quickly to the advice of those public officials who told us what to do to reduce the spread of "Rona" -- wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing. "Red" culture gave defiant resistance. One day when I was at Wal*Mart to do grocery shopping (this was of course long before the election) I saw many with indicators that they supported President Trump. Shirts an caps... but not masks.  Others had masks. I found out that the people not wearing masks were decidedly on the Right.

Blue America got hit hard because COVID-19 spread rapidly through mass transit. It ravaged the New York Subway and the Chicago Transit Authority. People obliged to protect and serve, like Detroit and Wayne County (Michigan) police were sickened in large numbers. Because they are more likely to live in crowded settings, urban blacks and Hispanics were hit disproportionately... early. Crowded workplaces, as in food-processing facilities with largely-poor non-white people, were also hit hard. Blue America adapted fast, but Red America got complacent. 

I had more trouble with libraries and bookstores being closed than with bars... and it is easy to see which is more likely to be a Red hangout and which is more likely to be a Red hangout.  Blue America reads little. Blue America got the message and did its drinking at home perhaps with a book to read between quaffs. Blue America does take-out if not cooking at home. Many of us have become better cooks.

By dispensing quack medical advice including the worst -- herd immunity -- Donald Trump is basically guilty of involuntary homicide. He had those mass, unmasked rallies, and in their wake are dead people. The late-winter/early spring wave ravaged urban Blue America. We don't fully know the demographics of the death toll... I would not be surprised if the 2020 Census gets revived to count the damage, from which the consequences will be known on many things, including ethnic and social connections to the mass death. Trump was delighted to exploit resentment against liberal pols, calling upon people to "liberate" states from restrictions intended to save lives. This yard sign is fairly common in Michigan:

 

and some people (Wolverine Watchmen, not to be confused with the moniker of University of Michigan sports teams -- U of M is one of the "public Ivies") seem to have taken their disdain for Governor Whitmer into the realm of treason. She got it right, and Michigan has gone from fourth in COVID-19 deaths to ninth as some Red-state pols who have put commerce above human life while restaurants  remain largely closed in Michigan. A hint: Sturgis, South Dakota had its motorcycle rally this year on schedule, and it became a super-spreader event. Sturgis, Michigan, which is practically on Interstate 90 (you must cross the Michigan state line to get there from the Indiana Toll Road) and has a knock-off event exploiting a the same name, did not have such an event this year. 2021, maybe.



It's the difference between "Damn the virus, full speed ahead" and reasonable caution. The death toll from COVID-19 is rising rapidly where state governments have been least effective in suppressing the disease. The right response to something that kills like a war in scope, if not technique, is to take all appropriate measures. It was easy to avoid travel that might have spread the disease because when almost everything interesting is shut down, there's not much reason to do any pleasure trips. We are going to pay a price for shutting down schools.

Over 310,000 people have died of COVID-19, and one state (Florida) seems to be hiding the death toll. Even without this exposure, the death toll is now between those of the 63rd largest city in America (St. Paul, Minnesota) and the 62nd (Stockton, California). Why do I keep mentioning cities? Because I want to refute the saying of Josef Stalin that "one death is a tragedy and a million deaths is a statistic". 

Quote:I thought it was strange that Biden was railing on Trump about his mishandling of COVID as several vaccines were in the final stages of testing for approval. What this election proved is that there are a ton of suckers and clueless/selfish Blues who are mainly tied to a political brand and mainly influenced by years of its propaganda and reliance upon the state these days.

I rail at our Coward-in-Chief for failing to do what it took to ensure that a large number of people have gone into the demographic equivalent of a black hole (death) because he defied competent and relevant medical advice that might have saved a huge chunk of 310 thousand people so that they might be around to get the vaccine. I made my choice to reduce my risks to the extent that my economic reality allows; one year of misery that allows me the chance of enjoying fifteen good years sounds like a rational-enough choice. Maybe I will take that trip to New York City someday, which would be much less likely had I caught COVID-19 and died on a respirator. 

Maybe the difference between Red America and Blue America is that Red America lives on its impulses and is unable to defer gratification, and the ability to defer gratification so characteristic of Blue America explains why Blue America has more and better education. Maybe that explains why Blue America has lower rates of crime and drug overdoses. Much of Red America lacks the talent for making statistical inferences and still believes that Donald Trump won in a landslide because everyone that many in Red America believe that nobody else voted for Joe Biden.