[akiddoc]

Freedom to spread the coronavirus is not an inalienable right.  It was not only China that shut down the virus, virtually all East Asia countries put the US response to shame.  Why is this one category where the usually competitive Americans are satisfied to fail?

Good question. I think the answer is that Americans look at it from the point of view "What maximizes my happiness?". They would rather do things that make them happy or richer even if that increases the spread of the virus and others may die because of it. As long as they aren't the ones who die, they don't care much. Americans have little concept of collective responsibility. If things get bad enough, eventually Americans will take note, but it has to be pretty bad.

Other cultures have a notion of collective responsibility  and/or a government that will enforce that responsibility. In Japan, the Prime Minister has no power to order people to work from home. However, when he asked, they did. Enforcement wasn't needed. Most countries with this sense of responsibility are culturally homogeneous. Those that aren't have very strong central governments with widespread powers (Singapore).

  I disagree with you.  Americans have a strong sense of “collective responsibility”. According to The a World Giving Index,  Americans are the most generous people on the planet. It’s a United Kingdom organization and maybe it’s full of garbage I don’t know. But I have read similar studies that suggest the same thing.

 And Americans always rally to a cause -  such as a natural disaster. With h.u.g.e sums of money and sweat equity being donated.

This is different for a couple reasons. One, you can’t see it. It’s not like a hurricane or tornado that destroys a city or town. Two it has an economic component that no matter how much one wants to deny it, exists.  I’m sorry, but I’ll say it again, I think it’s very easy for most of the people on this board to criticize those who are in a “hurry“ to get things open and working again. Because I think most of the people on this board are older, and economically set.  Thus they (we) can handle it. It’s a tad different when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and you lose a job, you’re 35 years old, the risk to you is not all that high and you have mouths to feed. 

So again – I’m not willing to throw the American people under the bus or cower in shame because we’re not acting like the Chinese, Singapore or the ***** Germans. And I’m not gonna apologize one iota for that.

Americans are willing to throw money at things they perceive as a problem. Many are not willing to inconvenience themselves for it. I'm not talking about staying home from work. I'm talking about wearing a mask, not holding social gatherings, not eating at indoor restaurants, not going to bars. On my two block street, everyone appears to be doing the right thing except for one family. They have had at least two massive parties over the past three months, with at least 100 people packed into their yard and walking into their home without masks and without social distancing. This is the narcissistic behavior that is keeping this thing going at a high level.

[akiddoc]

Freedom to spread the coronavirus is not an inalienable right.  It was not only China that shut down the virus, virtually all East Asia countries put the US response to shame.  Why is this one category where the usually competitive Americans are satisfied to fail?

Good question. I think the answer is that Americans look at it from the point of view "What maximizes my happiness?". They would rather do things that make them happy or richer even if that increases the spread of the virus and others may die because of it. As long as they aren't the ones who die, they don't care much. Americans have little concept of collective responsibility. If things get bad enough, eventually Americans will take note, but it has to be pretty bad.

Other cultures have a notion of collective responsibility  and/or a government that will enforce that responsibility. In Japan, the Prime Minister has no power to order people to work from home. However, when he asked, they did. Enforcement wasn't needed. Most countries with this sense of responsibility are culturally homogeneous. Those that aren't have very strong central governments with widespread powers (Singapore).

  I disagree with you.  Americans have a strong sense of “collective responsibility”. According to The a World Giving Index,  Americans are the most generous people on the planet. It’s a United Kingdom organization and maybe it’s full of garbage I don’t know. But I have read similar studies that suggest the same thing.

 And Americans always rally to a cause -  such as a natural disaster. With h.u.g.e sums of money and sweat equity being donated.

This is different for a couple reasons. One, you can’t see it. It’s not like a hurricane or tornado that destroys a city or town. Two it has an economic component that no matter how much one wants to deny it, exists.  I’m sorry, but I’ll say it again, I think it’s very easy for most of the people on this board to criticize those who are in a “hurry“ to get things open and working again. Because I think most of the people on this board are older, and economically set.  Thus they (we) can handle it. It’s a tad different when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and you lose a job, you’re 35 years old, the risk to you is not all that high and you have mouths to feed. 

So again – I’m not willing to throw the American people under the bus or cower in shame because we’re not acting like the Chinese, Singapore or the ***** Germans. And I’m not gonna apologize one iota for that.

Americans are willing to throw money at things they perceive as a problem. Many are not willing to inconvenience themselves for it. I'm not talking about staying home from work. I'm talking about wearing a mask, not holding social gatherings, not eating at indoor restaurants, not going to bars. On my two block street, everyone appears to be doing the right thing except for one family. They have had at least two massive parties over the past three months, with at least 100 people packed into their yard and walking into their home without masks and without social distancing. This is the narcissistic behavior that is keeping this thing going at a high level.