Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/04/08/please-quarantine-politicizi.html
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Pretty sure we will still have them in front of us even if we do behave. Maybe not as many, but more than none.
That said, I agree with him.
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“The United States and China should come together and fight this dangerous enemy,”
This is true.
[the] WHO is too accommodating to the Chinese government.
This is probably also true. Though they would also be accommodating towards us in a similar instance. When you are an international org reliant on large countries to fund them, they are going to have some influence on how you handle things.
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Maybe I’m being too generous with the benefit of the doubt on this, but I can also imagine that WHO personnel were put into a tough choice: a) boldly confront governmental mismanagement of the crisis and risk losing access to patients and data vs b) accepting imperfection in the name of doing as much good as possible in a severely resource-constrained environment.
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This is 'Merica. We politicize EVERYTHING.
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Their actions might have been calculated compromises in an effort to have the best out come. But, those actions might also have had negative consequences.
I am pessimistic enough to find it feasible they worried about access to funds as part of their worry as well.
I don’t think we should demonize the WHO, but urge transparency and oversight so that it is being run as well as it can be. Any negative influence by China should also be addressed at a later time.
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You know how trump has tampered with various federal agencies and completely gotten away with it? Guess what, now the CDC - now sending people back to work despite exposure even without immunity, there is no way a scientist or doctor decided this policy:
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I don’t even know how to pronounce his last name, but I saw he was getting death threats, and his response was “I don’t give a damn”.
That’s my kinda doctor, and I agree with his thoughts as well. Politicizing this is really just a tasteless slope to fall down.
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Agreed, but seems a whole lot worse lately, with views mostly divided neatly along idealogical lines. And unfortunately one of the defining beliefs of the Fox News crowd (or I suppose their ideological masters) is that science is overrated. “Don’t listen to those fancy scientists, don’t let them tell you what to do, and your opinion is just a valid as theirs”.
I picture the Koch Brothers watching the controversy from afar and giving a Mr. Burns-ian “excellent”.
Edited to add: which of course begs the question of “why”. The tin-hatter in me thinks it’s to free the corporations from the regulating power of science. “You gonna listen to those college boys tell you the climate is changing? Course not! So lets throw all environmental regulations out the window!” Etc.
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Bet the Taiwanese are really appreciating these words…
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My President needs a daily enemy. Someone to put down so he fells good. He can’t do that with corona virus yesterday it was WHO. Tomorrow who knows maybe it’s the AMA’s fault his ratings are down.
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Saying the Covid 19 pandemic is the proof the USA need universal health care is politicizing Covid. But it’s also true.
So I don’t see any problem in politicize an issue. That’s the politics job to found political solutions to large scale problems.
The problem of Trump is using the crisis to his own benefit as fuckin’ usual.
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Keep in mind that it was Trump’s team who 1st brought up this Democrats are politicizing the virus bunk. He and his propaganda team just pulled that bullshit up out of thin air. They offered no proof whatsoever. They tend to do things like that anytime his rating go down. This time it backfired hard.
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“I’m not politicizing this,” said Trump as he had the fed seize ventilators and other supplies from hospitals to give to political allies.
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For completeness sake, here is the full press conference. Dr. Tedros had to comment on this several times, as other reporters also wanted to give more attention to this issue than other, more pressing questions.
In the last weeks, the WHO’s press conferences have been one of my main primary sources of information. I am impressed with the tenacity of Drs. Tedros, van Kerkhove and Ryan repeating their plan of action (test, isolate, track, etc.).
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