I was listening to the Ted Radio Hour while driving from Colorado to Boulder City NV, when Huang Hung came on talking about how China has been managing the Covid virus. Hung is a U.S. citizen who has been living in China since 1991 and is considered the “Oprah of China.” Anyway there has been a lot of criticism over how the U.S. has responded compared to China. Hung offered her input and her opinion which I have quoted below. I have also included a link to the recording because I don’t want to be guilty of mis quoting her. However, when responding on what China is doing, such as requiring users to scan QR codes when they enter a shopping mall, below was her response. You can find the entire interview here.
“I walk into a shopping mall and I have to say I’m glad, I feel safer that there is a scanning system. It is for the greater good. The Chinese kind of realize, in time of crisis it is necessary to bound together, and whatever inconvenience happens, <sic> you need to be able to tolerate it. You need to be patient. You need to work with other people. You need to support the collective, rather than just think for yourself. “
Depending on who you are, you will have completely different reactions to that statement. If you are a liberal, you may be fine and dandy with it. To a liberal, we need to come together in crisis, and regardless of what civil liberties may be at risk it’s more important to save the lives of as many people as possible, than it is to lose a bit of freedom and anonymity.
To the conservative, this is complete blasphemy. Of course you would rather die than give into someone tracking where you are, what you are doing, and the idea of giving up free thought is appalling. How dare anyone try to tell you that you have to give up the ability to think for yourself.
The irony, that I won’t get into here, is that after 9/11 the sides of the conversation were completely reversed. The conservatives were freely throwing away our civil liberties, and the liberals were fighting to keep them, but I digress.
Either way this is where the entire conflict over Covid, and masks and businesses staying open or closed comes to a head. Libreral: You need to wear a mask to save the sick and elderly. Conservative: The sick and elderly need to manage their own risks. Since the foudnations of this country were founded on self-reliance it’s difficult for many to understand how anyone would want it any other way.
There’s a psychological piece to this as well. It’s about risk. Investors know a lot about risk. Forgive me for using finance as an example, but the same applies to health and welfare. It’s all about risk tolerance. For example, if you have a low risk toleratnce, then Covid is pretty much a non-issue. There really is a 98% survival rate. If you’re solely looking at the numbers the likelihood of dying, or even ending up in the hospital is extremely small. However, if you have a low risk tolerance, then taking any risk is just too much for you. This is why young people are the absolute highest number of illnesses. They are comfortable with risk. The elderly are not. However, unfortunately, the elderly are also at the greater risk of dying. So now it comes down to how do they manage what’s left of their lives.
I think I’ve made my feelings clear in my writings on what I think of the reaction to the pandemic. I also think that there is a greater desire to create hysteria than there is to actually solve a problem. I also want to point out that Freedom and Safety are often opposing ideas. You can’t have both. You can only have one or the other. How much of each is a balance that this country has been trying to manage for over two centuries.
What this pandemic has done on so many levels is illustrate that changes need made to manage the needs and desires of both sides. This is true of all things, not just Covid. However, I will say this, if anyone ever suggests to me that I have to give up free thought, that will be the end of our conversation.
Rex