6 Words to Describe America’s Reason Its Covid-19 Battle is a Lost Cause
COMPLACENCY
The United States didn’t take COVID-19 seriously enough, but they weren’t alone. The president of Brazil described it as a small flu. There was no organized plan to deal with the pandemic. It was as if the disease just went away with time and everything was back to normal in a few weeks. In April (2020), President Trump said, “I want everyone to go back to work by Easter.”
It wasn’t just the president who underestimated the coronavirus. The American people did the same as many of those who completely ignored social distancing and the rules of wearing masks.
ARROGANCE
The United States’ response to COVID-19 can be attributed to arrogance. It is an unwillingness to learn from the experience of other countries such as Italy, Spain and France. President Trump said, “Europe is the epicenter of the coronavirus,” but none of the state governors responded urgently. It’s like no one can teach them anything. Don’t you know that (United States) is the largest country in the world? How dare anyone tell us what to do? This is not entirely President Trump’s fault; it is part of the American DNA. Certainly, the United States has not become that way since Trump took office. It seems to be part of their DNA.
PRIDE
Pride sees what is happening in other countries and says, “That will not happen to us.” Once again, it is the inability of American politicians to learn from the experiences of other countries. Compare this to countries like New Zealand and Australia that have seen how other countries have dealt with covid-19 and have learned from their experiences.
SELFISHNESS
Selfishness is the main reason why the death toll in the United States from covid-19 is the highest in the world. When New York was the epicenter of the US outbreak, one of its neighboring states spoke about closing the border, but the response was: “We will take legal action.” It seems that many Americans are unwilling to make any sacrifices to save lives. In the Black LIves Matter protests, people went against health councils to participate in the protests and ignored the rules of social distancing.
APATHY
Apathy explains a person’s attitude towards anything. Apathy means: “You don’t care about anything.” The lack of social distance in the United States during the Black Lives Matter protests and the 4th of July celebrations shows how little they cared about the risk of contracting or transmitting COVID-19. So many have paid the ultimate price for America’s apathy in responding to the COVID-19 crisis that no one in particular should be pointed the finger at, especially the president.
INDIFFERENCE
Indifference is basically the same as apathy. The difference says: “If you are indifferent to something, you have no interest in it.” People who are indifferent about covid-19 think that other people are making all the sacrifices. As long as their own lives are not affected by the measures that their government is taking to combat the spread of Covid-19, they are happy.
Change is not easy in the United States; those who have struggled to bring about positive change in society have experienced it. Often times, changes in American society have come about as a result of changes in other countries. New Zealand was the first country in the world to give women the vote, then other countries followed suit. The same happened with slavery. Other countries outlawed this practice long before the United States.
Change does not come easily to the United States; Take racial inequality, for example, even in 2020 it is still a huge problem that has not been addressed. The same goes for justice reform and weapons reform. There is still a reluctance to improve things.
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