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Celerity

(42,646 posts)
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:00 PM Mar 2020

One Virus, Two Americas

Red and blue America aren’t experiencing the same pandemic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2020/03/one-virus-two-americas/609148/



Maybe you live in a blue state, in a hard-hit, urban area, and are currently under lockdown orders from your Democratic governor. Or maybe you live in small-town, conservative America, in one of the places that’s been relatively free of COVID-19 cases, where local Republican officials are resisting further preventative measures.

Red-state and blue-state America aren’t experiencing the same pandemic, and it’s showing in the polls. National surveys reveal geographic and partisan splits in attitude, with Democrats and urban dwellers more likely to express their concern. And, perhaps even more troubling, these divides seem to be worsening. The pandemic, and America’s response, is being swallowed up by the country’s culture wars. As our politics staff writer McKay Coppins reports today, social distancing has morphed into a political act—“a way to signal which side you’re on.”

A few things to consider as you make sense of the situation:

The messaging is coming from the top. Trump refers to this strain as “the China virus,” in an attempt to incite a culture war, Adam Serwer argues.

But it’s also part of a decade-long philosophical battle between parties. One that predates Trump altogether: “How much do the healthiest people in society owe to the most vulnerable?”

All of this might change if, or when, the virus hits red states. And that might happen sooner than you think: Keep your eyes on Louisiana, which Trump carried in 2016.


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GeorgiaPeanut

(360 posts)
1. The virus does not discriminate
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:03 PM
Mar 2020

There will be a reckoning.

Every country that said "we are fine, we only have a handful of cases" has regretted it 4 weeks later. The same will happen to these states if they don't do strict quarantine and enforce social distancing.

Brainfodder

(6,423 posts)
4. Yep.... 3 weeks from now, whole different spin....
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:12 PM
Mar 2020

...and shit tons of dead MAGA hat wearing folks among the carnage.

The # I am looking for....

How many confirmed deaths in the U.S.A. before he ends these abhorrent daily pressers?
------
Where is our first lady, I wanna see her more, just because I can read her body language and whoa those 2 behind clothes doors, not those doors, gross, you are gross! Get that dirty mind, oh wait!


I did say I enjoyed seeing her naked to remind people and make a point, oh shit I did it again.








Initech

(99,913 posts)
3. It's time to end the culture wars.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:12 PM
Mar 2020

Want to rid the world of this god forsaken virus and get back to having a functioning society? Put aside your petty stupid differences and let's work together to end this madness once and for all. Eradicating this deadly disease from the planet should be our #1 priority, everything else comes second.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
5. The virus is already hitting red rural areas.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:32 PM
Mar 2020

These areas severely lack ICU beds. The urban hospitals will already be full. They will die in greater percentages.

The cold, harsh truth folks.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
10. People from rural areas work in big cities. Farmers deliver products to big cities.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:03 PM
Mar 2020

The virus is in rural America, there is no way for them to seal themselves off. What we are seeing now is political spin, driven by a person who is more prone to divide than rally to fight a common enemy.

roamer65

(36,739 posts)
13. My father lives in a rural area of MI.
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 05:31 PM
Mar 2020

They had their first death in a nursing home last week.

Front page news for that area.

sfstaxprep

(9,998 posts)
7. They Will Ignore The Warnings At OUR Own Peril
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 03:36 PM
Mar 2020

Their pain is our pain. They're just too ignorant and self-centered not to realize this.

onecaliberal

(32,483 posts)
8. I'm trying to focus on the things I can control. I feel bad that most red states have neither
Tue Mar 31, 2020, 04:14 PM
Mar 2020

National or state leadership.

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