The average American has been conditioned by decades of indoctrination to believe that the individual and immediate family is primary and that helping yourself is your only duty. Hence the focus on self-risk. Anecdotally, FB comments show me that people with a more communitarian viewpoint do also emphasize risks to others, whereas ot…
The average American has been conditioned by decades of indoctrination to believe that the individual and immediate family is primary and that helping yourself is your only duty. Hence the focus on self-risk. Anecdotally, FB comments show me that people with a more communitarian viewpoint do also emphasize risks to others, whereas others (I assume conservative-leaning) emphasize self-risk only and tend to dismiss the possible harms to others. The example of a Church vax success just emphasizes self-risk and not community risk. If the community-risk concern was common, we would see far more mask-wearing than we do.
On top of this, we can clearly see republican policy to actively fight against vaccination and mask-wearing, denying support for those at risk and those not wishing to return to unsafe workplaces. Locally, at the outset of the pandemic, businesses claimed they could keep employees and customers safe, so they should stay open. That was quickly proven false, and closures, mostly mandated at the state level, happened. But it didn't take long for the business community to push back, demand local reopening, including a nearby Republican-run city that declared itself a "business sanctuary city" and defied business closures. The result was a per capita infection rate that eclipsed surrounding cities and towns.
Because the overall mortality rate was around 1%, this seemed like a self-risk calculation for gaining "herd immunity" and letting the high-risk take their chances, and die if they must. Self-preservation of income and business owner profits was paramount, not the community.
This is the society we have become. Lip service paid to "the strength of a society is determined on how it protects its most vulnerable" while a Darwinian struggle to survive at the cost of others dominates.
The average American has been conditioned by decades of indoctrination to believe that the individual and immediate family is primary and that helping yourself is your only duty. Hence the focus on self-risk. Anecdotally, FB comments show me that people with a more communitarian viewpoint do also emphasize risks to others, whereas others (I assume conservative-leaning) emphasize self-risk only and tend to dismiss the possible harms to others. The example of a Church vax success just emphasizes self-risk and not community risk. If the community-risk concern was common, we would see far more mask-wearing than we do.
On top of this, we can clearly see republican policy to actively fight against vaccination and mask-wearing, denying support for those at risk and those not wishing to return to unsafe workplaces. Locally, at the outset of the pandemic, businesses claimed they could keep employees and customers safe, so they should stay open. That was quickly proven false, and closures, mostly mandated at the state level, happened. But it didn't take long for the business community to push back, demand local reopening, including a nearby Republican-run city that declared itself a "business sanctuary city" and defied business closures. The result was a per capita infection rate that eclipsed surrounding cities and towns.
Because the overall mortality rate was around 1%, this seemed like a self-risk calculation for gaining "herd immunity" and letting the high-risk take their chances, and die if they must. Self-preservation of income and business owner profits was paramount, not the community.
This is the society we have become. Lip service paid to "the strength of a society is determined on how it protects its most vulnerable" while a Darwinian struggle to survive at the cost of others dominates.
I wish I did not think you were right…