Zorba
Lifer
- Oct 22, 1999
- 14,436
- 9,825
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I guess I just don't understand authoritarian thinking.I can think of several reasons. Avoidance of embarrassment to the government probably tops the list given how things unfolded.
I guess I just don't understand authoritarian thinking.I can think of several reasons. Avoidance of embarrassment to the government probably tops the list given how things unfolded.
In the past, when I've spoken to Chinese nationals, I'm told they have great admiration for President Xi. State propaganda is a powerful tool, and you could argue that in the age of the Internet, it requires the Great Firewall to mind control 1.4B people.I guess I just don't understand authoritarian thinking.
Chinese may not like sucking up but they fear getting beat up and losing their pot of resources far more.In the past, when I've spoken to Chinese nationals, I'm told they have great admiration for President Xi. State propaganda is a powerful tool, and you could argue that in the age of the Internet, it requires the Great Firewall to mind control 1.4B people.
Subservience to authority may be part of the cultural DNA. Besides Confucianism itself, China was ruled by imperial dynasties for two millennia.
She's doing her job, but I'm not convinced the fear factor approach works in the latter stages of this pandemic. It reminds me of the approach by L.A. County's health director, whose public messaging always seems dire and often recommends social distancing mitigations that are comically restrictive. As the article mentions, western Europe is having some serious flare-ups and the U.S. is definitely not out of the woods yet. We've already seen the B.117 variant secure a foothold domestically, and a few areas are indeed showing signs of a new surge: MI, NYC metro and PA (and perhaps even Florida). OTOH people were outraged a few weeks ago that TX Gov. Abbott was condemning his citizens to a new surge, but so far their infections trajectory hasn't ticked upward.Well ... THIS certainly sounds reassuring!
CDC director Rochelle Walensky warns of "impending doom" amid COVID-19 spikes
We saw a 10 day spike here after the numbers bottomed out. My assumption is that it was Spring Break-related. Case count rose back up to mirror the mid-October numbers and we have a ton of republicans in this area that are reading Facebook for their vaccination advice. The spike leveled off, but I expect it to possibly rise a little more from those people spreading what they caught on their trips locally before crashing back down in the next few weeks.One can only hope?
Don't disagree with us or you may find yourself.....wait. We're all friends here and he didn't mean THOSE republicans of course! This is non-political!Looks like this forum has allowed itself to degenerate to the point we are hoping for a disease to inflict those we might not agree with.
They are free to get vaccinated, but they've decided their stupidity is more important to them than their life.Looks like this forum has allowed itself to degenerate to the point we are hoping for a disease to inflict those we might not agree with.
In the past, when I've spoken to Chinese nationals, I'm told they have great admiration for President Xi. State propaganda is a powerful tool, and you could argue that in the age of the Internet, it requires the Great Firewall to mind control 1.4B people.
Subservience to authority may be part of the cultural DNA. Besides Confucianism itself, China was ruled by imperial dynasties for two millennia.
Once much of the adult population is vaccinated (late June-ish?), then SARS-CoV-2 will mainly circulate amongst holdout male Republican voters.
Looks like this forum has allowed itself to degenerate to the point we are hoping for a disease to inflict those we might not agree with.
Looks like this forum has allowed itself to degenerate to the point we are hoping for a disease to inflict those we might not agree with.
Indeed. I'm normally a very pessimistic person in life - but one thing I am optimistic on (to a degree) is I think we all truly do want whats best for people and this country. Were just add different odds of how best to implement things to get us to the final result.
I think the worst of the political discourse is in the last 20-30 years where we moved from "You're wrong - and here is why I think my route would be better" and turned it into a "You're evil and want babies and poor people to DIE!"
This video sums it up pretty well:
Regarding the video, I get it, but it probably falls into the category of over the top rhetoric. My policies are good, yours will cause death and destruction.
What we have seen here on this forum is the blatant wish for certain people to become ill.
That would be considered pretty toxic stuff elsewhere.
Old Buddhist saying, "Whatever is in a man's heart eventually comes out of his mouth".
My wife is a republican, but lined up the last week of December for her first shot. She struggles to understand why people don't trust vaccines.... The same people that are afraid of what's in the vaccine eat regularly at McDonald's, smoke pot they buy from the street, take other nutritional supplements that could contain more sawdust or asbestos than they realize....And THIS is why this is why this thread is supposed to be non-political.
I was pretty sure my " " made the tone of my post clear but apparently not? Anyway shouldn't have to deal with this nonsense over here.
I watch the news regularly these days. It really annoys me how much they interview lay people as if their viewers won't believe what they're being shown and told unless they hear it from some rube in the street with only a tangential connection to the story. Get the opinion from someone in line or interview a small business owner to hear their experience, what the pandemic has meant for them. After you hear 25 of those stories they seem like a waste of my time. I don't need to know what Joe Blow or Mary Make Believe thinks of the vaccine to convince me one way or another. I've heard expert opinion and statistical information concerning side effects so many times I have no interest in what any particular person experienced.In any case, my family is mostly vaccinated. My sister isn't much for getting shots....so hopefully I can convince her to go sooner rather than later. I think she's actually waiting to see if anyone she knows has problems.
I really don't get why they are acting like they are if they have nothing to hide. I don't believe the lab conspiracy, but the more they do stuff like this the more I wonder. I'd also like to know what their real numbers were, especially in Wuhan, no way those will real numbers with all of reports that were coming out at the time.
Certainly, nationalism is a powerful force in many countries. And yes, China is a bit of a unique case as once being the "Sick Man of Asia" and de facto carved up by foreign powers; now the citizens certainly want to believe China has recovered its rightful place as a global power. So that's their social contract, you deal with this restrictive government so long as GDP growth is 5+ percent per annum (because compounding growth is an amazing thing). Like for all empires and dynasties, China's history is littered with uprisings that overthrew the ruling house. But the most pertinent history for today's China is the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre; paranoia over this event potentially repeating itself explains why the Party is so inflexible over its governance.I guess that must be a big part of it. But from my limited encounters with Chinese nationals, I get the impression that nationalism is a very powerful force in a country that has felt itself to be seriously humiliated by foreigners in the past, and it's a force the government can employ as a powerful distraction, and turn on and off like a tap, as required. Also there seems to be a very strong fear of chaos and anarchy, presumably stemming mainly from the Cultural revolution, but maybe going even further back in their history?
Commie china (ccp) is so paranoid and wants nothing to do with the true root cause(s) of the virus, therefore, the latest report from WHO leaves the origins of the virus as "unresolved".
WHO Wuhan report leaves question of coronavirus origins unresolved - The Washington Post
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