I had earlier thought that I would keep the topic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) off my blog. I have sent some thoughts about it (more or less political thoughts), to a handful of individuals by email. Soon I’ll post some more thoughts about COVID-19 but right now I want to get this out there immediately. (I get almost all of my COVID-19 news from Politico)
In general there are a lot of ways to criticize Trump for his horrible response to Coronavirus. But there is one thing that I don’t hear anyone mentioning. For about two months until about 20 days ago I read A LOT of stuff in The Times of Israel, an online and apparently mainstream Israeli newspaper which is only slightly pro-Israel (the founding editor is described here). I found an article that contrasts Trump’s response to COVID-19 with that of Netanyahu, which is the only good thing I can say about Netanyahu. When reading that article, remember that it was the 29th of February when Trump said that COVID-19 was a liberal “hoax.” (UPDATE 4/12/20 Trump can't accuse Netanyahu of predicting a pandemic because he's a liberal in love with the American media)
On March. 17th, Netanyahu said: “This isn’t child’s play, it’s not summer vacation, it’s a matter of life and death,” and “If you don’t have to go to work, stay home. I assume you know the English expression ‘My home is my castle.’ Please adopt that. Your home is your castle in defense against the coronavirus pandemic…stay home.” It was March 24th when Trump said: “I’d love to have it open by Easter, OK? I would love to have it open by Easter. I will tell you that right now.” On March 26th it was reported that Israeli police were handing out fines for violating social distancing regulations. On March 23rd, Trump said of schools: “In many cases, they are open now. But the schools are going to be open. In other cases, (New York) Governor (Andrew) Cuomo, Gavin Newsom of California, certain governors are going to maybe have a decision to make.” Trump has resisted calls for a NATIONAL “stay-at-home” order and continues to refuse to do that, despite the fact that Dr. Fauci supports it (an April 3rd article). Here’s a good (March 27th) article about the response of many Governors to Trump’s March 26th plan for lifting social-distancing restrictions in the near future on a county-by-county and state-by-state basis. A March 22nd article reports that the Isareli Health Ministry said that social distancing will probably last until the Summer and maybe beyond.
In an article here it was illustrated that the Israeli State wasn’t very well prepared for this. But I think that Netanyahu still did a better job. In a more recent article, on April 5th it was learned that at least 10,000 tests a day will be done, and it sounds like that was a pretty realistic estimate. It sucks, but it’s still better than Trump. According to this, only in late March did testing in America get to 100,000 a day, and America’s population is about 30 times bigger than Israel’s.
On production of things like ventilators, I haven’t found much info. But the first article I link to above strongly implied that Netanyahu was deploying the power of the national government to combat COVID-19. And I found an article here saying that Israel has already used a 2/3 public 1/3 private partnership to produce more ventilators. The new production line was set up in days and in one day produced 30 ventilators. From what I’ve heard, the new production lines for ventilators in America haven’t been set up yet. And again, America’s population is 30 times Israel’s. I don’t know how many ventilators America normally produces or how many were already being made in Israel, but again, if you consider the different population sizes involved, Israel might be doing better on ventilator production, and it was set up quickly and Netanyahu was a lot more willing than Trump to involve the State instead of relying, to one large degree or another, on the private sector. (I wish I could find more information about Israel and this aspect of responding to COVID-19, but I am kind of sticking with The Times of Israel and after doing a few searches using Google Advanced Search, I don’t think there’s anything more I’m likely to find). I know more about Trump’s efforts to ramp up production and I THINK it’s worse than Netanyahu’s. An article, from April 2nd goes into Trump’s efforts here.
1-2 weeks ago I tried to get this message out to people I know (and some politicians like Senators Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren) because I thought it could be used to pressure Trump to do the right thing (in addition to the thing about ventilators, there’s the first article I link to that strongly implies that Netanyahu was deploying the power of the national government to combat COVID-19- some would point out that they don’t have a federal system, but the point is that Netanyahu didn’t take a hands-off approach, and in America, the fact is that this situation is the sort where there is broad, bipartisan agreement that the Federal government is supposed to act (why else do we have the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Defense Production Act? (the states don’t have a DPA))). It might be too late for that, but when COVID-19 ends, this can be used to attack Trump. Why? Trump and Netanyahu are very good friends politically. Trump isn’t going to attack Netanyahu as a socialist or liberal or a pussy (on the other hand, there are reports that Trump likes to grab Netanyahu without permission). He won’t have a response. When I thought that this could be used to get Trump to do the right thing, I wrote: “I think it might help if people start pointing out that it's okay for a "tough-guy," right-wing, capitalist, racist motherfucker to take Coronavirus seriously.”
UPDATE 5/29/20 According to CNN (and this), at this point Israel has recorded 284 COVID-19 deaths. The US population is 30 times that of Israel's, so if we had the same death rate per capita, there would only be 8,520 deaths in this country and we just passed 100,000.
Showing posts with label social darwinism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social darwinism. Show all posts
Monday, April 6, 2020
Trump, Netanyahu, and COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Babylon 5 Reviews H
Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Sesason 3 Episode 12 “Sic Transit Vir”** See this for a plot summary.
Although the details were a bit unclear, part of this episode is about a Centauri, Vir, operating something like an underground railroad for Narns. Apparently he gets them off the Centauri-occupied Narn Homeworld and sent to better places. Speaking of which, we get more details of what the occupation is like. It’s even more genocidal than we knew earlier. Entire villages are wiped out. In fact, what Vir did might be more comparable to what was done by some people who helped Jewish people survive the Holocaust. The widespread and extreme racism of the Centauris towards the Narn is also illustrated some more.
**Season 3 Episode 19 “Grey 17 is Missing”** See this for a plot summary.
There is one political thing. After Delenn, the minbari Ambassador to B5, agrees to lead the anti-Shadow force the Rangers, her rival in the minbari gov’t tells her he won’t accept that. He’s military and thinks his caste should lead the Rangers. He says that is the tradition on Minbar, but Delenn (a member of the religious caste) points out that he violated that tradition when he took her seat after she was expelled from the leadership (a leadership that is supposed to have three members from each of the three castes (religious, warrior, and worker)). I almost didn’t review this episode but in season 4 there are a few episodes about minbari politics. Also, the military leader says something interesting about Delenn. He says: “a religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power? Always a bad idea”
In general of course I agree with that. But in this fictional case, if she’s representative of the religious caste, it must be a pretty good religion- better than Christianity in general, for example. I am trying to remember some specifics but in general minbari society seems a lot better than many very religious societies in real life. Delenn has expressed no bigotry, has undergone a transformation to strengthen relations between the minbari and humans, ends up marrying a human, attended a Christian religious service, is a strong advocate for peace, etc. She IS religious enough that she might be close to a zealot, but I think she doesn’t go that far with her religious beliefs.
On a related note, I am a little disappointed that the religious and warrior castes each have 1/3 of the leadership. That’s a lot. The military shouldn’t have that much power especially since it’s formal and they can recruit allies from the other two castes to win votes on policy, etc. And even though I am sort of religious, I don’t like the idea of the officially religious sector of society having that much power either. On the other hand, the idea of the workers having 1/3 of state power is better than most societies in reality.
**Season 3, episode 21 “Shadow Dancing”** For a plot summary see this.
There is one thing that I think is worth mentioning even though it’s sort of been mentioned before. While in a very poor part of B5 a tourist says to her husband: “President Clark says that people like this are the result of social problems, not economic problems.” First it confirms that Clark is a class warrior. Also, I imagine that he meant “bad morality” when he said “social problems.”
**Season 3 Episode 22 “Z’ha’dum”** For a plot summary, see this.
As I explained above, I was pretty sure there was nothing about the conflict with the Shadows that was political enough for me to mention. This episode is probably the only exception. (Part of why I say the Shadows are non-political is that they appear to be: without the societal divisions we see in reality; without ANY tradition of (or struggle for) democracy; without any recognizable capitalist or socialist tendencies; without any bigotry similar to what we have in reality; without any dissidents; and perhaps without imperialism as we know it in reality)
Sheridan travels to the Shadow Homeworld and listens to their human allies explain the philosophy of the Shadows. Here are some of their statements:
“[they] believe that strength only comes from conflict.”
“you bring two sides together, they fight. A lot of them die. But those who survive are stronger, smarter, and better.”
In response to Sheridan mentioning the destruction of entire races, one says “a few get lost along the way.”
They say similar things about the history of humanity, and attribute early space exploration and the development of atomic fission to war. They also say that Sheridan’s coalition building with the other races is getting in the way of their plans.
It’s incredibly darwinian, genocidal and fascist. Although war can encourage experimentation and invention, A) at least one thing developed in that context (splitting the atom) shouldn’t have been pursued and B) I’m certain that humanity could have invented the rocket without the help of Nazi Germany and could have pursued space exploration without the the Cold War. Although I wouldn’t expect this transformation to happen overnight or anytime soon, if we took all the money spent on “Defense” and invested it in research for things like medicine, we could save a lot of lives and improve a lot of lives.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Sesason 3 Episode 12 “Sic Transit Vir”** See this for a plot summary.
Although the details were a bit unclear, part of this episode is about a Centauri, Vir, operating something like an underground railroad for Narns. Apparently he gets them off the Centauri-occupied Narn Homeworld and sent to better places. Speaking of which, we get more details of what the occupation is like. It’s even more genocidal than we knew earlier. Entire villages are wiped out. In fact, what Vir did might be more comparable to what was done by some people who helped Jewish people survive the Holocaust. The widespread and extreme racism of the Centauris towards the Narn is also illustrated some more.
**Season 3 Episode 19 “Grey 17 is Missing”** See this for a plot summary.
There is one political thing. After Delenn, the minbari Ambassador to B5, agrees to lead the anti-Shadow force the Rangers, her rival in the minbari gov’t tells her he won’t accept that. He’s military and thinks his caste should lead the Rangers. He says that is the tradition on Minbar, but Delenn (a member of the religious caste) points out that he violated that tradition when he took her seat after she was expelled from the leadership (a leadership that is supposed to have three members from each of the three castes (religious, warrior, and worker)). I almost didn’t review this episode but in season 4 there are a few episodes about minbari politics. Also, the military leader says something interesting about Delenn. He says: “a religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power? Always a bad idea”
In general of course I agree with that. But in this fictional case, if she’s representative of the religious caste, it must be a pretty good religion- better than Christianity in general, for example. I am trying to remember some specifics but in general minbari society seems a lot better than many very religious societies in real life. Delenn has expressed no bigotry, has undergone a transformation to strengthen relations between the minbari and humans, ends up marrying a human, attended a Christian religious service, is a strong advocate for peace, etc. She IS religious enough that she might be close to a zealot, but I think she doesn’t go that far with her religious beliefs.
On a related note, I am a little disappointed that the religious and warrior castes each have 1/3 of the leadership. That’s a lot. The military shouldn’t have that much power especially since it’s formal and they can recruit allies from the other two castes to win votes on policy, etc. And even though I am sort of religious, I don’t like the idea of the officially religious sector of society having that much power either. On the other hand, the idea of the workers having 1/3 of state power is better than most societies in reality.
**Season 3, episode 21 “Shadow Dancing”** For a plot summary see this.
There is one thing that I think is worth mentioning even though it’s sort of been mentioned before. While in a very poor part of B5 a tourist says to her husband: “President Clark says that people like this are the result of social problems, not economic problems.” First it confirms that Clark is a class warrior. Also, I imagine that he meant “bad morality” when he said “social problems.”
**Season 3 Episode 22 “Z’ha’dum”** For a plot summary, see this.
As I explained above, I was pretty sure there was nothing about the conflict with the Shadows that was political enough for me to mention. This episode is probably the only exception. (Part of why I say the Shadows are non-political is that they appear to be: without the societal divisions we see in reality; without ANY tradition of (or struggle for) democracy; without any recognizable capitalist or socialist tendencies; without any bigotry similar to what we have in reality; without any dissidents; and perhaps without imperialism as we know it in reality)
Sheridan travels to the Shadow Homeworld and listens to their human allies explain the philosophy of the Shadows. Here are some of their statements:
“[they] believe that strength only comes from conflict.”
“you bring two sides together, they fight. A lot of them die. But those who survive are stronger, smarter, and better.”
In response to Sheridan mentioning the destruction of entire races, one says “a few get lost along the way.”
They say similar things about the history of humanity, and attribute early space exploration and the development of atomic fission to war. They also say that Sheridan’s coalition building with the other races is getting in the way of their plans.
It’s incredibly darwinian, genocidal and fascist. Although war can encourage experimentation and invention, A) at least one thing developed in that context (splitting the atom) shouldn’t have been pursued and B) I’m certain that humanity could have invented the rocket without the help of Nazi Germany and could have pursued space exploration without the the Cold War. Although I wouldn’t expect this transformation to happen overnight or anytime soon, if we took all the money spent on “Defense” and invested it in research for things like medicine, we could save a lot of lives and improve a lot of lives.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Star Trek: The Original Series Reviews H
This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I have been more or less ignoring this- the need for me to become familiar with The Original Series. In general I don’t like much of what I’ve seen. In any case, I am now watching it and will be doing reviews of those episodes. I will be giving pretty low scores, probably no higher than three stars out of five- I just don’t like TOS.
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Friday’s Child” See this for a plot summary.
It portrays what could probably be called a “warrior society.” There’s a lot rules, taboos, a lot of glorifying death (and death is usually a punishment for this or that) etc. Crucially there is a belief that the strong survive, and others should not survive- a fairly right-wing belief (the episode is far from a StarFleet endorsement of Capellan society).
I usually don’t bother noting inconsistencies like this, but the Capellans seem to be nowhere NEAR as advanced (technologically, socially or politically) as they should be if Star Fleet is doing business with them.
I give it one star out of five.
“The Deadly Years” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.
“Obsession” See this for a plot summary
A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.
“Wolf in the Fold” See this for a plot summary.
There is one very sexist part where Spock says that women are more easily and more deeply terrified than men. Obviously not an an example of ST’s progressive politics.
I give it two stars out of five.
I have been more or less ignoring this- the need for me to become familiar with The Original Series. In general I don’t like much of what I’ve seen. In any case, I am now watching it and will be doing reviews of those episodes. I will be giving pretty low scores, probably no higher than three stars out of five- I just don’t like TOS.
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Friday’s Child” See this for a plot summary.
It portrays what could probably be called a “warrior society.” There’s a lot rules, taboos, a lot of glorifying death (and death is usually a punishment for this or that) etc. Crucially there is a belief that the strong survive, and others should not survive- a fairly right-wing belief (the episode is far from a StarFleet endorsement of Capellan society).
I usually don’t bother noting inconsistencies like this, but the Capellans seem to be nowhere NEAR as advanced (technologically, socially or politically) as they should be if Star Fleet is doing business with them.
I give it one star out of five.
“The Deadly Years” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.
“Obsession” See this for a plot summary
A non-political episode. I give it one star out of five.
“Wolf in the Fold” See this for a plot summary.
There is one very sexist part where Spock says that women are more easily and more deeply terrified than men. Obviously not an an example of ST’s progressive politics.
I give it two stars out of five.
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