Post AjFZA20l0SiAkz1Fc8 by jakemiller@federate.social
(DIR) More posts by jakemiller@federate.social
(DIR) Post #AjFREyaANoYTw9QcqG by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-24T09:13:07Z
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"Trump could have saved lives by setting a better example during the early days of COVID."This is true. But doing things like wearing a mask, being supportive of the public health education initiatives was not free for Trump it would have cost him politically. These actions would not win him acclaim with people like me (since to me it's "just doing your damn job") but they would have made him less popular with some of his base. So he didn't do it.
(DIR) Post #AjFRNDknrLgtJ7Kprk by FeralRobots@mastodon.social
2024-06-24T09:14:37Z
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@futurebird I also doubt he believed it was relevant until it affected him.
(DIR) Post #AjFRcQvj9Xk8W4hNJY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-24T09:17:22Z
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Sometimes leadership is doing the thing that doesn't make you popular. Taking the political hit because it's good for the country, for the people. An alien concept in the context of Trump. The notion of some higher form of honor and respect earned by making such touch calls over a long time, knowing that it might not pay off, that's a risk only a chump would take. The worst thing about dealing with such cynicism is the cynic assumes that everyone is just as morally unmoored as they are.
(DIR) Post #AjFS26HiXBg410Dtya by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-24T09:21:55Z
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When a selfish cynical person sees someone making a sacrifice to help others they are deeply confused, they assume there must be a sinister reason, some bigger scam running not yet perceived. Nobody can just be good because it's the right thing to do. Altruism is not supposed to exist in their worldview. You might as well have broken the speed of light, or invented perpetual motion. Just as I assume a perpetual motion machine is a scam, that is how they see altruism.
(DIR) Post #AjFSdDspFJZgIQHWm8 by Peternimmo@mastodon.scot
2024-06-24T09:28:41Z
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@futurebird but what gets me, too, is the millions of other people who fell for the COVID conspiracies, even as people they knew were getting seriously ill and dying. Even their beloved Trump became seriously ill at one point (and he didn't refuse vaccination!). People cutting themselves off from reality!
(DIR) Post #AjFT3sWImYk1rFSNf6 by freelyindependent@mathstodon.xyz
2024-06-24T09:33:29Z
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@futurebird Then, two years later, the Democrats also stopped mentioning covid and wearing masks, for the same reason that they thought it would hurt them politically!
(DIR) Post #AjFTtOn4YpyWiBrsEy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-24T09:42:50Z
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@freelyindependent Yup.Do you think there would still be people clamoring for mask bans if both Democrats and Republicans had presented a united front on masks?I wish we had some clear and reasonable directions about when to wear a mask eg. "in public spaces and around people you do not see on a regular basis" or something.I put one on if I feel sick, which seems to be what most of NYC has settled on. But we just made that up.
(DIR) Post #AjFWLKot7KcuPhAKtU by TomSwirly@toot.community
2024-06-24T10:10:17Z
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@futurebird Why would they have cost him politically?He could have released MAGA masks, and his base would have been all over them.
(DIR) Post #AjFWbBGUPSBzPfdFFg by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-06-24T10:13:08Z
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@TomSwirly Telling people what to do is never popular. Public health is an uphill battle in that way.
(DIR) Post #AjFX96aOJQg4kO7Kk4 by nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social
2024-06-24T10:19:03Z
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@futurebird Remember the Iran nuclear deal? Everyone bent over backwards trying to accommodate his demands but because it was too good to be true he refused to accept it and screwed everything up. I will never understand how his base can think this stuff is "4D chess." No, he's just a narcissistic fool who couldn't accept any deal where he doesn't see people screwing each other over.
(DIR) Post #AjFXW7MZaaWTolcwoy by nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social
2024-06-24T10:23:27Z
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@futurebird To be fair, in the case of COVID-19, I think it also came down to a criminal apathy towards others as well as specifically having to hide the fact that he royally screwed up by believing rhetoric that it was no big deal when the Chinese government had to basically cover up that it wasn't a thing they could control.That said, when everyone figured out that what was best for humanity might lower profit margins for the rich -- oops I mean hurt the economy -- he was against it for that
(DIR) Post #AjFXkJKBufUwyDHTHc by nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social
2024-06-24T10:25:56Z
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@futurebird @TomSwirly That to some extent, but I think a lot more of it was about protecting himself and the bottom line for the rich (under the guise of "the economy.") Admitting people needed to mask and gather less was admitting he screwed up and also people spent less.
(DIR) Post #AjFY3SrueYlc4XBf8q by nazokiyoubinbou@mastodon.social
2024-06-24T10:29:28Z
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@futurebird @freelyindependent I had a painful thought the other day. Imagine an alternate timeline where America voted for Hillary. I feel pretty sure she would have handled the pandemic right. Instead of being the world leader in COVID-19 apathy, we would have been the leader in at least trying (I guess South Korea gets the award for leader in handling it best.) The entire *ENVIRONMENT* regarding COVID-19 would be different today...Whole generations will have long covid disabilities now
(DIR) Post #AjFZA20l0SiAkz1Fc8 by jakemiller@federate.social
2024-06-24T10:41:49Z
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@futurebird So true. We haven’t been talking about how deeply rooted this cynicism and rejection of altruism and *duty* has become in US political discourse over the last 50 years. And when your voting bloc assumes that officials and civil servants are in it for themselves, they’ll give you permission to do exploit the system to enrich yourself. “The system is corrupt, so I’m fine if my side is.” (Disqualifying attitude, IMO.)
(DIR) Post #AjFbPVZ7bf60fabIBM by seawall@mastodon.nz
2024-06-24T11:07:01Z
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@futurebird "Trump" and "setting a better example"?How does one even put those in a sentence together without them flying apart like misaligned magnets?
(DIR) Post #AjFcs44523bHjKGHr6 by Extra_Special_Carbon@mastodon.world
2024-06-24T11:23:25Z
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@futurebird @TomSwirly@toot.community And if what you did works, they think it wasn’t necessary.
(DIR) Post #AjG8X20agBCDnwdzAO by eladnarra@disabled.social
2024-06-24T17:18:09Z
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@futurebird Putting a mask on when you feel sick is good - but about 40% of COVID infections don't involve symptoms (and if you do have symptoms, you are likely contagious before they appear).So it's unfortunate that's what people have settled on as a guideline. It means a lot of preventable transmission still happens, with people unaware they're getting other people sick.
(DIR) Post #AjGlsKFdwd1Og2pURs by jaystephens@mastodon.social
2024-06-25T00:39:01Z
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@futurebird Yeah I got a few brickbats as an Australian for praising our Prime Minister at the time for not caving to the same cynical equation. It applied less here, but it still applied.