Political Theatre category archive
“What They Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Us” 0
In line with Sam Seder’s comment that I cited earlier this week,
That’s the Trump strategy in a nutshell: If we don’t have evidence, there’s no way for people to know about it . . . .
now comes Florida Man (much, much more at the link):
Rebekah Jones, whose work to build the user-friendly COVID-19 Data and Surveillance Dashboard drew praise and publicity, said her commitment to maximum transparency resulted in her removal from the dashboard project.
Trade-off 0
Susan Estrich is less than optimistic about the effects of Donald Trump’s push to “reopen” the country. Here’s a bit from her article (emphasis added):
International Laughingstock Object of Pity
0
The Trumpling of “American exceptionalism.”
We are a society of stupid.
The Fifth Freedom: Freedom from Citizenship 0
At NJ.com, Milton Hinton takes issue with the reasoning (I use the term loosely) of the “reopen” protestors. A nugget (emphasis added):
Aside:
In case you missed it in history class (do they still teach history classes?), here are the other four freedoms.
The Epidemiologist Speaks 0
As aside, I must say that this is potentially a most disturbing news item.
Image via The Bob Cesca Show Blog.
Test Flailure 1
An excerpt:
That’s the Trump strategy in a nutshell: If we don’t have evidence, there’s no way for people to know about it . . . .
Unmasked Marauders, Reprise 0
The writer of a letter to the editor of the Portland Press-Herald reports a close encounter of the menacing kind.
Unmasked Marauders 0
The editorial board of the Hartford Courant looks ahead at the “reopening” of Connecticut (and, by extension, other states) and has concerns (emphasis added). A nugget:
First, politicians have turned over communication and key decision making to scientists and public health experts, encouraging community responsibility and backing sweeping rules and regulations that were universally applied. That worked in South Korea, Vietnam and New Zealand. It also worked in Washington state, where the governor took a backseat to doctors and epidemiologists.
Second, effective leaders have learned from past failures in fighting pandemics and used those lessons to adjust their approach. A key lesson from a 2007 public health report “Lessons Learned from the 1918–1919 Influenza Pandemic in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota,” identified a lack of clarity and coordination among local, state and federal authorities as a critical problem.
Both those lessons are being ignored by too many, and we are now at serious risk of losing the gains of the last two months, fueled in no small part by the illusion that not wearing a mask to the grocery store is an act of political will.
Do please read the rest.
Immune to Information 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Joe Pierre examines the “infodemic” of conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and how they interact with anti-vaxx propaganda. Here’s a snippet:
In order to understand why this informational battle is being lost, at least online, it must be first understood that the anti-vaccination movement is not just a rag-tag group of people worried about vaccines, but a highly organized and strategically coordinated political campaign. And while its members are indeed comprised of parents from both sides of the political divide who are worried for their children, there are larger, dare we say conspiratorial forces operating behind the scenes of the movement.
Follow the link for the full article, including links to and citations of his sources.