Why is this pandemic so politicized?

[politruk]

We know why it was politicized to begin with: Trump was counting on a low jobless rate to propel him to re-election. Confronted with a pandemic it would necessarily require job-killing measures to contain, he reacted, as he usually does, like a toddler, and denied the existence of the problem. But why is it still politicized NOW?!

[MissMillie]

1. My theory

is that The Orange One wanted so badly to keep "the numbers low" so that he could say he did a good job.

And of course, his minions approved.

[abqtommy]

4. And of course they, along with religious and social leaders failed spectaculary. I've seen

that this failure is a world-wide occurrence with the resulting disaster that most of earth's
population has experienced. And the disaster is not related only to employment and
pandemic, but everything that can affect a population.

[GoCubsGo]

17. That's part of it.

Consider also that he is a science-illiterate imbecile who thinks he knows better than everyone else, much like his cult followers. Throw in the attempts by Trump and his sycophants to make money off of it, and their racist need to exploit the fact that this disease seems to kill older people and non-whites at a higher rate.

[mobeau69]

2. Donald Jackass Drump

[Calculating]

3. Donald "it's all a hoax" Trump

That is all

[-misanthroptimist]

5. Because Republicans are children who cannot face the truth...ever.

[moondust]

6. Why now?

Have you ever seen Dumpy the KKKlown admit he was wrong about anything? "Once a hoax - always a hoax" is how criminally self-righteous toddlers roll.

[Caliman73]

7. There is an entire media eco system that is engaged in politicizing everything.

Conservative media existed before Trump and polarization was high before the idiot was elected. Trump was uniquely polarizing because he wanted to try to fit reality into something that would benefit him. He obviously could not, so he lied. Republicans went along with the lies because they have no policy positions that actually benefit anyone but the wealthiest people.

Notice what they are doing now on Immigration and "Cancel Culture". Immigration has not substantially changed over the last year but Republicans are claiming there is a crisis. There is no real crisis. Their only strategy is to create a divisive environment and rile up their smaller but easily manipulated base, then try to depress our larger but less motivated base.

The pandemic is still part of this division. Republicans continue to rail against the public health and safety measures that are recommended to decrease the severity of the pandemic.

[elleng]

8. trmp did it.

[Claire Oh Nette]

9. Fear, Greed, willful ignorance, religion

The Former guy poltiicized it from the start.

Because he's stupid.
He's a grifter.
He didn't care if it killed democrats, Black people, or Latinos, or Old people.
He was grossly incompetent and the GOP backed his anti intellectual, anti science position.

2 people. down to zero. 15, going away. From the start. Yet he knew it was airborne, he knew it was more deadly, he knew.

He resented the entire CDC structure, and the NIAID, and anyone who worked with Obama. He disbanded the Pandemic Response Team out of spite. Newsom ordered SF Bay Area to shelter in place (!) in mid March, and a a week later, other states followed. States with Democratic governors, who went for Clinton. Two weeks after that, a report showed Black and Latino COVID patients died at disproportionally high rates, and that was the end of any "national plan," other than sell off our stockpile to the highest bidder.

The GOP is culpable, with Fox, OAN, Newsmax, Hannity, etc, of genocide. How is this different from the Iraq guy poisoninghis own people?

[mahina]

14. This, all day

💧

[Crunchy Frog]

10. Part of the culture wars. It's a useful way to divide people, and they really don't care...

how many people die.

The social division helps them to maintain or gain power, which is the only thing they care about.

[BlueNProud]

11. it didn't take the internet long to ruin the world

[beaglelover]

12. Everything in our society is politicized these days. I blame Twitter and Cable News.

Things really suck in this country at the moment politically and I don't see it ever getting any better. The CONS agree with many aspects of the infrastructure bill but will never vote for it because that would give Biden a 'win'. And the dems are the same way when the CONS are in charge. How do we ever get back to the good old days of compromise in the Federal government to actually get good important things done???

[ChoppinBroccoli]

13. For The Same Reason Religious Wackos Can't Admit The Bible Isn't Factual

It's not just something they believed. It has become their IDENTITY now. They have decided that their love for Donald Trump is SO deep that they HAVE TO believe everything he says as the 100% truth. And if he lied about THIS, their whole belief structure (and therefore everything they've built their entire IDENTITY on) crumbles.

That's why religious nuts can't admit when things in the Bible that are obviously contradictory to common sense aren't true. They HAVE to believe the whole Noah's Ark story despite the fact that science proves that a ship of that size couldn't hold every species of BEETLE, let alone EVERY animal, because if they don't, everything they've built their identity upon, their entire belief system, crumbles. And it's just easier and more comfortable to believe a lie than to admit you got hoodwinked.

This would be so much easier if everyone who believed the virus was a hoax just caught it and died. But the problem is, they pass it on to other people and healthcare workers trying to fight against it. It would be great if we lived in a world where people's stupidity only killed THEMSELVES. If that were the case, I'd actually ENCOURAGE Trump supporters to NOT get vaccinated or take any precautions.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

15. My Big Question Is Why Did Trump Immediately Go On The Defensive?

Trump was briefed on this virus as early as November 2019. So when he learned of it, why was his IMMEDIATE response to lie, obfuscate, deny, point fingers, and basically try to do everything in his power to blame someone else? Why didn't he hear the news and immediately try to get out in front of it, by warning Americans and encouraging them to take proper precautions, etc.? Why didn't he see this as an opportunity to be the hero and get out in front of it? Because if he had done that, and it minimized the effect of the virus once it came to America, he would have been the hero who saved America and would have CRUISED to re-election.

But he didn't do that. He immediately determined that this virus was a threat to him and went on defense. Deny, obfuscate, shift blame. Did he think he'd be able to "kick the can down the road" long enough that he could win re-election before it really got bad in America?

My theory is that as soon as he heard there was a deadly virus about to overtake the entire world, his first thought was, "Oh shit, I pulled all the inspectors OUT of China, and took us out of the WHO, etc. This is MY fault. How do I trick voters into not blaming me for something that is obviously my fault?"

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

16. Because the GOP has become "The Stupid Party"

They wear their ignorance as a badge of honor.

[Johonny]

18. Because from 1980s onward the creation of a vast media empire built on contrarianism

was established in the United States. The radio and cable news had nothing on what the Internet had to offer to the blooming way to make tons of money. Like evangelical preachers, a good talker can make a killing without knowing anything about the subject. They find large audiences willing and wanting to be exploited.

The general answer is thus, there is huge money in contrarianism.

[Baked Potato]

19. Human nature. Trump still hasn't conceded.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

20. It takes many Republicans several decades to ever...

... admit they're wrong, and some of them will die before that happens.

[Initech]

21. Social media misinformation.

This pandemic has one thing that the previous major pandemics don't: social media. And all the idiots on it spreading misinformation as quickly as the virus has been spread. Even the WHO and CDC have said that online misinformation is becoming a major concern.

[WarGamer]

22. Because this nation is politicized. Period.

This isn't 1957, we won't come together for anything.

Even if 9-11 occurred again today, half the country would blame the other.

Time to just become Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Slovenia and skip the Civil War part.

[inwiththenew]

23. What isn't politicized?

It's the time in which we live.

[politruk]

24. Chocolate?

Though I daresay it could be . . .

[rogue emissary]

25. History repeats itself.

Https://www.history.com/news/1918-spanish-flu-mask-wearing-resistance

San Francisco’s first masking order began in October and ended in November after the World War I armistice. In January, when flu cases began to surge again in San Francisco, the city implemented a second mask order. This time, the resistance was much more intense. A group of dissenters that included a few physicians and one member of the Board of Supervisors formed the “Anti-Mask League,” which held a public meeting with over 2,000 attendees.

[meadowlander]

26. The right wing media machine feeds on grievance and bullshit cullture wars.

It's not a problem that started with Trump.

Anti-masking and anti-vaxxing are just the new "War on Christmas".

Fox News finds something simple that society is asking people to do out of decency and concern for others (e.g. saying "Happy Holidays" instead of assuming the person you're talking to must be a Christian; getting a vaccine).

Then it plays into it's viewers' stubbornness, resistance to change, and sense of entitlement. By God, nobody is going to tell me what to do! My "right" to be an asshole trump's societies reasonable expectation that people will show consideration for each other. Because the latter is "communism" when you expect me to do it to black and brown people.

Bonus points if there is an easily identifiable symbol for their resistance like not wearing a mask so that they can easily sort out who agrees with them or not. Then you get confirmation bias because they only spend time listening to people who think like they do.

[Shermann]

27. I blame hydroxychloroquine

That was the drug the right wing REALLY wanted to be the solution. That novel off-label use of the drug came entirely out of the conservative world. It was to be their end-run around the liberal scientific panels and left-wing media. Trump always equivocated on the vaccines, even when he supported their development. The vaccines were his Plan B.

So now that the universe is right-side up again and vaccines are Plan A, they're feeling butthurt about it.