Nicely done David. On Mon, Apr 13, 2020 at 9:35 AM Jochen Fromm <j...@cas-group.net> wrote:
> I believe the cultural divide between China and the US is bigger than the > cultural divide between US and EU. At the moment I'm reading "River Town" > from Peter Hessler, an American who spent 2 years for the Peace Corps as an > English teacher in Fuling, Sichuan. Sichuan is located in the west of China > and it is known for Pandas and spicy food. > > The book is a few years old. Nevertheless Peter reports that many Chinese > back then saw both Hitler and Mao as great leaders (!), despite their > crimes and their millions of victims. Some even confuse the dictator in > Charlie Chaplin's movie "The Great Dictator" with the real Hitler. Of > course in the US and in the EU nobody shares this view. > > Peter also reports about the strong effects of lifelong propaganda from > the communist party of China. In Europe we have propaganda as well, but it > is mostly in form of marketing and advertising for corporations and their > products. Advertising for political parties only happens during elections > for limited periods of time. We have freedom of speech in EU & US, but > there is no freedom of speech in China. I believe that's a major difference > between EU & US and China. > > -J. > > > -------- Original message -------- > From: Prof David West <profw...@fastmail.fm> > Date: 4/12/20 20:52 (GMT+01:00) > To: friam@redfish.com > Subject: [FRIAM] anthropological observations > > I have been in Amsterdam for the past year and had the opportunity to put > on my anthropologist's hat and observe cultural differences in reaction to > the Covid-19 virus. I returned to the US two weeks ago and just completed a > two-day auto journey from Wisconsin to Utah — also in full ethnographic > research mode. > > My "research methodology" is typical for anthropology, observation, > conversations with as many people from as many different backgrounds as > possible, reading newspapers — most importantly, small local publications — > and, in the US, listening to radio broadcasts — again mostly local stations > including lots of country western and even religious stations in addition > to NPR, CBS, and Fox radio (I could not find CNN radio). I was trying to > gain insights into the population of those who listen to / read the > different sources, as well as attitudes of media to their audience. Both > country-western and religious stations reflect the mostly rural populations > of Nevada, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, and Utah along > my route. > > Some observations: > > 1) Covid-19 Numbers. Mainstream media in the US gives you opinion, > analysis, and interpretation with just enough numbers to "justify" the > conclusions. They are woefully short on "raw" or complete numbers. In > contrast, European media and local media in the US provide numbers with no > analysis or interpretation. And reasonably complete, e.g. total number > tested, number tested negative, number tested positive, hospitalizations, > available beds, used beds, available respirators, used respirators, > specific outbreak loci, including jails and prisons. > > CONCLUSION: mainstream media outlets in the US assume their audience is > composed of idiots incapable of making sense of the data and in need of > "guidance" and "leadership" while European and rural US information sources > presume a basic level of competence in their audiences. > > 2) Models, projections and actual. In Europe I encountered almost none of > the "the models predict and hence we are doomed unless ..." kind of > articles that seem to dominate US mainstream media. Instead, "spreadsheet > models" with data were published in tables by date, country, and raw > number. European readers were left to make their own conclusions about how > Netherlands data compared to Italian (for example) and make projections or > draw conclusions as appropriate. > > In local newspapers in Nevada, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska I saw > articles that compared projected numbers from the models touted by CDC, > Fauci, et.al. with actual local numbers. Local numbers varied from > national model projections by as much as -50% and never less than -20%. > (That is actual was dramatically lower than projected.) > > I saw and heard numerous editorial commentaries with regard the > discrepancy between what the 'experts" were saying and what was locally > observed and questioning why the variance. This leads immediately to > questions about "hidden agendas" on the part of the Federal government and > the "experts." > > CONCLUSION: A population that already mistrusts the Federal government and > the"intelligentsia" is given one more reason, backed by hard data, for that > mistrust. Also very clear — the population is NOT anti-science but IS very > mistrustful of "authoritarian scientists" — those prone to saying "you > wouldn't understand, but I do and you should trust me." > > 3) Medical science. In the past two months I have seen around a dozen > "treatments" advanced that have the potential to alleviate and/or treat > Covid. I have seen at least five articles from companies that have > developed tests and or testing machines (some of the latter capable of > 15,000 tests per day). There have been at least six articles from > Universities (including the one Frank shared from Pittsburgh) or > companies/organizations that have developed potential vaccines. Oxford > University has one that, they say, could be deployed as soon as September. > > In Europe you see stories about the use of tests and testing devices, use > of treatments along side data about effectiveness and heuristics for use, > and optimistic projections of the availability of vaccines.In the US you do > not. > > CONCLUSION: Science, and in particular medical science, has become > Fetishized in the US — that is to say that form and ritual is more > important than substance. The use of hydrochloroquine, for example is > widespread in Europe and backed by all kinds of information on indications > for use, heuristics for determining dosage, contra-indications, and > effectiveness numbers. Information is widely shared on all possible > treatments along with all the caveats, and physicians are encouraged to use > their best personal judgement. In the US, none of the above, because it is > not "scientifically proven to be efficacious" mostly because we have not > done a six-month double blind study. > > 4) Cultural ignorance, part one: non-medical masks. The use of ad hoc and > home-made masks is an astoundingly bad idea in the U.S., for cultural > reasons. In Asian cultures — for the most part — the wearing of a mask > invokes non-conscious, but very real, feelings of "social solidarity," > "conformance," and "consideration for others." In the U.S., even in medical > settings where we know, intellectually, the reason for the mask, invokes > non-conscious feelings of "threat," "mistrust," and "alienation." A simple > test: ask 100 black males if they would wear a medical mask in public. Ask > them is they would wear a home-made mask. Group responses by education and > economics. Among those with high education/economic status, maybe 50% would > wear a medical mast, but only about 10-15% would wear an informal mask. > About 10-15% of those at the lower end of the education/economic ladder > would be likely to wear a medical mask and 0-5% a homemade mask. Then ask > why. > > 5) Cultural ignorance, part two: social isolation. Supposedly, social > distancing is the best, perhaps only, means for "flattening the curve." > This is nonsense. Ethnographic (and,of course, therefore not "scientific") > studies of two previous 'epidemics;" AIDS and STDs show that a far more > effective means for controlling conflagration is the establishment of > "communities of trust." Communities of Trust were self-organized > communities of at-risk individuals, within which behaviors such as > promiscuity and needle sharing were allowed, even encouraged and expanded, > while such behavior outside the community was strictly forbidden and > grounds for permanent banishment if violated. > > Within such communities the transmission rate immediately dropped to near > zero. Because everyone in the community knew everyone else, contact > tracing, if needed, was also immediate and globally shared, leading to > effective and temporary isolation. Communities could scale. There were at > least two communities that were national in scope, using a kind of > federated model with local communities assuming responsibility for local > populations but allowing for individuals to participate in non-local > communities. Woe to the local community that allowed one of their members > to "infect" another community. It was pretty much a one-strike and you are > out situation, and that translated into each individual establishing a > local, long term, track record before being allowed to participate > elsewhere. > > I have seen this kind of community of trust in the Netherlands and Europe, > with regards psychedelic drug users, BDSM groups, even Naturist groups. In > the US is is very evident in the Mormon culture and in most rural > communities. > > OPINION: this possibility is not pursued because it is self-organizing and > not amenable to centralized government control. > > 6) U.S. Federal Bureaucracy and antipathy to "Medicare For All." > Conversations and editorial commentaries exposed a very pragmatic argument > for not entrusting health care to the Federal Government. Using FEMA and > the current situation as an example, people pointed out that FEMA has > failed to deliver because it is implacably bound to "PROCEDURE" and "FORMAL > PROCESS" to the extent that it cannot certify vendors and place orders for > equipment. Imagine if health care was entrusted to the same kind of "brain > dead" "lacking common sense" "exclusively by the lowest common denominator > rules" bureaucratic entity. > > 7) Cultural divide. I won't go into this in detail unless asked at some > point, but it is clear, to me, that the red-state / blue-state > differentiation is fatally flawed, but underneath is a > centralized-command-and-control-grounded-in-liberalism culture versus a > local-self-responsible-independent-anti-centrism-anti-authoritarian > culture. These cultures are implacably opposed and will be the basis for a > "civil war" of some sort within the next decade. > > davew > > > .-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- ... > .... . ... > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > .-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- ... > .... . ... > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >
.-. .- -. -.. --- -- -..-. -.. --- - ... -..-. .- -. -.. -..-. -.. .- ... .... . ... FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/
