The former First Lady, Michelle Obama, has just started a podcast. The first guest was her husband, President Barack Obama. I think if they had never participated in politics, they would have been much more popular.
The podcast was really deep, inspiring and insightful. Even if you hated the former president's policies, you can still forget the fact that he was once a president for a moment, and try to enjoy the talk. They barely talked about politics. I think everyone can learn a thing or two from it...
(This blog has been relocated. Keep reading it here.)
Before you hate me just by assuming that I am a “communist” or I am pro-authoritarianism, I am actually a liberal/libertarian. I strongly believe that, as a general rule, if your action does not have an impact on other people, then it should not be regulated/intervened by the government. Freedom is one central element to happiness. The government should just stay away unless something is going to create what is known as “negative externality” (the negative impact on the outside world).
I do not care if you watch porn, for example. But I care when you turn the volume up so high that your neighbors are forced to hear that, or when you watch it in front of young kids. A responsible legislature has to make laws to regulate that, and a responsible government should enforce it. Liberties: History’s legacy
When the 13 states became independent and formed the Union, everyone was trying so hard to prevent the miseries they had as colonies. So, they decided to form republic governments that are restrained by the law and democracy so that the people (okay at least white males) would never be under suppression. Ever since then, Americans have been fighting for all kinds of individual liberty for different groups for the past 200+ years. This history has led to the protection of and emphasis on individual rights and freedoms. The other side of the coin
But this does not come without costs. Although JFK famously said,
Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,
People’s sense of community/society has never been very strong. It is always about MY freedoms, MY benefits, etc. If we look at Asia, many cultures are much less individualistic and emphasize more on collectivism: before you act, you have to think about your family, your community, your company, your country, etc.
When dealing with the spread of COVID-19, many countries chose to shut down most economic activities temporarily, encouraging or even forcing people to practice physical distancing, and later on doing the same for wearing masks. You see very little push-backs in East Asia, for example, not just because people want to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus, but also they know very well that it is for the good of the whole. Sacrificing a little for common benefits is highly understandable and is rooted in the cultures.
But in the West, especially in the United States, there are much more push-backs…
[This blog has already been relocated to this Wordpress site.]
I've always had the thought that the lack of reasoning and ignorance would eventually result in some future disasters. Now that I think about it, the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is actually one of those disasters.
The disease caused by the virus, Covid-19, as we know, is hard to deal with by its nature in the first place. It is highly contagious, can be spread when the patient shows no symptoms, and has caused many more deaths in a year than the flu in, for example, the US. Also, it is still new to us so we (health experts and scientists) are not certain how to treat it yet.
That does not mean we do not know how to prevent it. It is quite clear to us how it is spread so we know how to keep it from spreading. Experts are quite sure that, we can lower the risk of getting/spreading it by physical ("social") distancing, washing hands, wearing masks (confirmed later on), etc.
Then that's great, right? Oh but people are not doing those things. Why? I have observed two major barriers*:
False information: Rumors and myths spreading around on the internet is not new, but those about the coronavirus cause much more severe consequences. All kinds of wrong or unproven ways to prevent/treat COVID19 are being spread. This only makes things so much worse.
False information could also be generated in your head. This kind usually occurs to people who are ignorant about lots of things but overly confident in their own belief and thinking (known as the Dunning-Kruger effect). They are also "experts" in all fields. They think they just know it (somehow).
Not weighing the risks and the benefits: There is no way we can estimate what the exact risk of getting the coronavirus is by, for example, going to a crowded party. But, we have to at least first take a moment to think about what benefit we are going to get, and understand that the likelihood of contracting the virus could be somewhat high. Then we may come to the conclusion that the risk outweighs the benefit.
Similarly, not wearing masks in a crowded place or not washing hands properly increases the risk of contracting/spreading COVID19, but many people still fight against it or refuse to do it just because it is not comfortable or convenient, or they feel that it restricts their freedom.
Perhaps if we all did our best to prevent getting/spreading the virus, it would have been almost over already. Oh, silly me. I do not live in a wonderful world where everyone is rational and well-informed. Nevertheless, that should be the world that we strive for, and that is exactly why I think (reforming) education is so critical.
*Very unsurprisingly, they resemble the reasons for anti-vaccine.
[This blog has already been relocated to this Wordpress site.]
Google's Blogger is easy to use but not professional and sometimes issues come up. At some point, I decided to switch to Wordpress after reaching 9,000 views. Now that it has, I have finally switched to a better platform. I hope you will like the new site! Thank you for your support.
