Why do so many Americans doubt the coronavirus? I think there are both admirable and repugnant traits within the American character that help to explain the phenomenon.
I don’t believe I am wrong in my observation that many of my fellow conservatives come across as “coronavirus doubters.” Someone has coined a clumsy phrase, “Coronavirus Truthers,” for those who think something is fishy about the pandemic and its lockdown.
No one is denying the fact of the virus’ existence and the horrific global death toll, but that is where the agreement seems to end. Some believe the threat has been exaggerated—maybe on purpose. Some think the globalist left-wingers are using the crisis to promote their agenda and that vaccinations made from aborted babies will be mandatory. Some take it further: The mandatory vaccines will include microchips so Big Brother will be able to track us. This will be the “mark of the beast” without which no one will be able to buy or sell.
Never one to waste a crisis, it’s a conspiracy of the Democrats, the left-wing loonies, the United Nations, and Rush Limbaugh’s “drive-by media” to induce a recession, crush President Trump, and (killing lots of birds with one stone) close down Christian churches and schools and wipe out American civil liberties in one fell swoop.
Some believe the virus did not originate from a Chinese woman eating a live bat (as if that wasn’t scary enough), but that it came from a bio-warfare lab in Wuhan. Among those who suspect the manufactured origin, some believe its escape was accidental. Others sniff out more nefarious sources and believe that it was released intentionally. China has launched its biowarfare weapon on the world.
All these theories—and more—are circulating amidst the genuine uncertainty about the lethal virus, but what interests me more is just why Americans, in particular, are so suspicious of the establishment narrative and are such rabid fans of conspiracy theories. I lived in England for twenty-five years, and it just isn’t the same there. Most Brits trust their government, shrug their shoulders at institutional incompetence, roll their eyes at corruption, and every once in a while get up enough energy to stage a protest, sign a petition, or take to rioting in the streets.
Why then do so many Americans doubt the coronavirus? I think there are both admirable and repugnant traits within the American character that help to explain the phenomenon. It is diplomatic, perhaps, to get the repugnant character traits out of the way first. The truth of the matter is many Americans are very badly educated. Furthermore, a certain strain of conservative American has been schooled to distrust educated “experts.”
Added to this squinty-eyed distrust is an isolationist attitude supported by the gigantic size of America. The country comprises a whole continent, and even in this age of a shrinking world, a huge number of Americans have not traveled far and are simply unaware of global issues. It must be admitted that, in addition to the distrust of education and experts, what often goes with the provincial attitudes are a distrust of foreigners.
Hit with a strain of flu that came from China via Italy and Europe, down-home Americans are suspicious and skeptical. The fact that the city slickers in New York got hit hard doesn’t surprise them, and they have a hunch that it’s not really going to be too bad down on Green Acres where the air is fresh and clean and there’s plenty of room.
If ignorance and isolation are combined with a feeling of being downtrodden and inferior, a real bitterness and low-level paranoia can develop that feeds the suspicion and conspiracy theories further.
There now, in a few paragraphs I have probably caused a fair bit of snorting and stomping in rage. So let me move on to the more admirable traits in the American character that I believe contribute to our national tendency toward, and our pastime of, composing and promoting conspiracy theories.
Who are we as a nation, and where did we come from? We are all descended from immigrants—our ancestors fled their terrible circumstances to find a better future in America’s promised land. Their terrible circumstances were almost always caused by a tyrannical ruling class of some kind. They may have fled the pogroms in Russian, the persecution of Catholics in Ireland, the hounding of Protestants in France, or they may have simply run from crushing poverty inflicted by greedy factory owners or obscenely rich aristocrats. Whoever and whatever their circumstances, they were the people with enough get up and go to get up and go, and woven into their experience and passed on to their progeny was a dislike and a distrust of the ruling class. Suspicion of the big guy, the big government, the establishment, the insiders, the experts, and the elite is written into the American genetic code. We’re born flying the flag that says, “Don’t Tread On Me.”
This “Show Me” man from Missouri is the typical American. He is down-to-earth, honest, hardworking, thrifty, and clear-eyed. His religion has taught him to believe in original sin, so on a good day he’ll trust, but verify. He checks his change and looks over his shoulder. He’ll give you the benefit of the doubt, but first he’ll give you the doubt. He’s ready to look after his neighbor, but he’ll look after his own family first.
This independent, somewhat stubborn, entrepreneurial American spirit is admirable. It may cause us to be overly suspicious of the ruling class and educated experts. It may make us unduly cautious of foreigners, politicians, billionaires, and celebrities, but it is also this same spirit that has made America great.
This is the spirit of the Wright brothers who ignored the mockery to make an airplane fly. It is the stubborn Thomas Edison who understood a thousand failures to be the stepping stones to success. It is George Washington Carver digging out the gold of the humble peanut. It is the cheerful, hard work, and sacrifice of the GI’s who went to Europe twice to settle that sad continent’s bitter quarrels. It is the indomitable, incorrigible, and ubiquitous Yankee spirit that sees an opportunity, weighs up the risks, realizes they are insurmountable and says, “How hard can it be? Let’s do this!”
If I am right, then America’s answer to the coronavirus crisis is not to lapse into bitter recriminations, campaigns to apportion blame, and wild-eyed conspiracy theories, but to use that same energy to roll up our sleeves, see the opportunities at hand, weigh the risks in getting back to work safely, and do so with the same spirit, energy, and optimism that shows America at her very best.
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Excellent and balanced essay. It is distressing to see so many seeing the situation through the lens of conspiracy and government venality. However, these are the descendants of Vietnam Vets, WWII vets, WWI vets (sometimes all three!) who sacrificed so much and were lied to so casually by their ‘betters’. Would the Marines have stormed Okinawa, or the Army endured the Battle of the Bulge so bravely, knowing that FDR had already traded Eastern Europe off to Joe Stalin at Yalta? As recently as a few years ago, we were all assured by Our Betters–‘If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance’–which was a bald-faced falsehood, which led to the country being caught flat-footed when the crisis arrived. So, some understanding is due–they may be mistaken, but they are not without reasons.
That said, we all do well to acknowledge that (regardless of its source in China), the first task at hand is containing the virus and saving lives. I would hope, after that, that instead of engaging in finger-point amongst ourselves, we turn our attention and and vitriol toward the Chinese Communist Party. In the wake of that, we turn our attentions to relocating all vital manufacturing to our own shores, especially in pharma, medical devices and gear, energy in all forms, metallurgy in all forms. Pack them up and send them home if they inhabit any part of our university and scientific communities, and take punitive steps against their capital investments here. Assume they are spooks and creeps, and in the main we will be correct.
Perhaps if these things are done, everyone in all corners, save the ChiComs, will feel they have not been betrayed by the current situation. Meantime, please, I beg on behalf of my doctor friends and my nurse daughter (on the urban front line with barely enough gear to keep herself safe), and her children–please, please, please–take the steps needed to shut the spread of the virus down. We’ll get to the rest later.
Please.
I agree with some of your analysis: the distrust of “official” or government sources; the distrust of “experts”; there is a degree of truth to the isolationist attitude. But while there may be some of the other characteristics out in the American world, those do not make up the “main” of the rejection of the COVID-19 narrative. The “education” narrative is just insulting, and to be honest a bit pejorative of the intelligence of the uneducated. Some of the smartest and wisest people that I know are uneducated. In fact, I would argue that often the education that people receive make them less intelligent and certainly less wise.
But why do these uneducated (rural) rubes distrust the “experts”? These are the experts that started telling us that 2.4 million Americans would die due to Coronavirus. Then it was ultimately reduced to 200,000 and then 100,000 and then 60,000. Then we hear that even to get there, places like New York counting things like deaths from hospice care as coronavirus deaths in addition to deaths where there was never a diagnosis.
What about these “experts” deserves our trust? What about these “experts” that say that the “only” way for us to make things better are to give up every freedom that we have bought with so many lives deserves our trust? What about these “experts” that excoriate South Dakota’s governor for not following the path of all these other governors in infringing on the rights of her constituents, but rather to treat them as adults that can manage their own lives and responsibilities, and yet 40 days into their infection rate seems to be peaking (as almost all infection areas seem to peak in 40 days) and yet they have virtually the same infection rate (0.19%) as my state (Indiana, 0.17%) which has had these draconian measures in place for about a month should we trust?
In short, there is nothing that the experts are doing or saying that DESERVE trust. The fact that so many trust experts without validating what they say does not speak for their wisdom.
I only wish that Joel Harris had written the main article. He seems to understand the character of those who are questioning the narrative. . In other words an imaginative conservative.
I was going to add a comment but Joel Harris said it perfectly. The “experts” lied and exagerated from the beginning and now that we can clearly see their lies you malign us for not believing them.
Fr. Longenecker,
So many questions about the pandemic remain unanswered that it is very difficult to know what, or who, to believe. Crises usually unify our nation. This crisis seems to have intensified the pre-existing divisions. President Trump and the crisis team are on TV for hours every day (transparency anyone…) and yet they (i.e. mostly he) must suffer through ridiculous second guessing and “Monday morning quarterbacking”. Of course Trump will always counterpunch. That’s his nature and I’m OK with it. I am a Conservative and it is very difficult for me to not see all of “the Left’s” (unfortunately most Democrats) reactions to the pandemic as attempts to sneak in “ideological time bombs” anyway possible. I pray that we find a way to “unite” but I must admit that I don’t have much hope. I certainly don’t think any form of “socialism” is the answer, so I guess we must accommodate to the continued tension.
I have noticed a bit of denial of the facts coming over from conservative voices, but perhaps my perception is that it’s a minority view. But I am one of those city-slicker New Yorkers, so perhaps I have not heard enough voices to gauge it’s depth.
Personally I think you’re off base if you attribute this to being ignorant, or as you phrase it, being uneducated. From my experience I have seen educated people hold many conspiracy theories. In fact, a PhD chemical engineer colleague of mine truly believes we are hiding evidence of alien contact. I’ve known educated Europeans who deny we stepped on the moon. Conspiracy theories are not just an American phenomena nor are they from the uneducated.
Personally what I think is going on here is that people are associating the mortality from Covid-19 as being roughly equal to the mortality of the common flu. Before the real data came out, I held that view too. It was unknown in the early weeks of this, before the complete shutdown. It comes down to a mixing up of data.
Manny, I think that there are two types of “denial” that are going on–and as Fr. Longenecker mentions, the denial is not over the basic fact that COVID-19 exists and it is deadly.
The first is (or was) that it would be no more than the annual flu. Well, why would they say that? Projected deaths of 60,000 is what we would call a “bad flu year.” I believe this to be a poor “denial” as this is a bit of an apples versus oranges comparison. It appears that once we really find out the final numbers that the mortality rate will be on a par with the “common” flu–we are now starting to get reports (whether they are valid or not is still in the air) that the number of people that have antibodies to COVID-19 are far higher than the reported number of people with the disease. We kind of expect this–it is true of the “common” flu as well. But the real difference is that this is a “novel” virus meaning that it is potential that many more people are likely susceptible to it than to less novel viruses.
The second, however, is where I am hearing a larger number of “deniers”. Maybe not a majority yet, but I think the numbers are growing daily. And that is denying that our government’s response is proportionate to the danger and just because someone with a “Dr.” title in front of their name means that they should be telling us how to react. This is coming across as “rejecting the experts.” And to a degree this is a true interpretation. However, as I said earlier, the experts are doing their best job to make themselves unbelievable.
“Experts” making policy decisions is always a bad idea as they, by nature of their expertise, are narrow in focus, yet policy impacts many things. You will notice that the doctors in the press conferences talk about a “new normal” and then the President takes over and says the old normal will be the new normal. Why? The President has a wider view of the impact of what the doctors are suggesting. For example, the “new normal” suggested by the doctors would eliminate concerts and sporting events (at least as they are done today). Not only is that economically devastating, but socially devastating.
The second “denial” is also fed by the fact that there is such overreach going on in the name of the “experts” that is clearly destroying the American people’s freedoms. And conservatives are far more sensitive to these freedoms than are the liberals or leftists.
And THAT is, in my opinion, the answer to the author’s question of Why Are So Many Conservatives Coronavirus-Doubters.
Joel, If you’re comparing the mortality total of the Covid with the mortality total of the flu, you are the one comparing apples and oranges. You perfectly prove my point that you don’t understand the numbers. As best as I can find the numbers, the contagion rate of the corona is twice as contagious as the flu, but get this, 350 to perhaps a 1000 times more deadly once you catch it. If you want to compare the deaths of the flu, take that 60,000 and multiply by 350 to 1000 times and that’s the fatality number you would get from the corona virus, and that’s not even factoring in double the contagion rate. You comparing the 60,000 deaths of the flu with this is as comparing a hurricane that has already passed through with the tornado that will pass through in another day. It hasn’t hit yet. There is no comparison. The only reason we may not get as many deaths as the flu is because of these extraordinary measures we have taken.
Manny
Your claim is that COVID 19 is 350 to 1000 times more deadly when you catch it.
The CDC estimates that at least 45 million people caught the flu last year and 61,000 died (14/100 of 1%) You claim COVID would kill 47.% to 140% of those infected…..
Current antibody tests indicate that as many as 1/3 of the population has been infected by COVID (Mass Genera – so, 110 million people infected in the US)), 50 to 80 times the reported number of cases (Stanford – so, 40-60 million US infected), and 15% of those randomly tested by the University of Bonn (so, about 49 million in the US). According to your claims then, we should expect somewhere between 47% of 40 million people dying (18.8 million) to 140% of 110 million (154 million dead in the US)
Perhaps you would like to reconsider your post. Not even Neil Ferguson – who imagined a completely unmitigated outbreak – made claims this absurd.
I do reconsider my numbers. I made a decimal place mistake. It’s 35 to 100 times more deadly. But that’s still pretty bad. Roughly the mortality rate of covid worldwide is around 3.5%. The flu, depending on which season you select is on the order of .14% if you accept your 61,000/45 million. That’s 25 times (3.5/.14) more deadly, but that 61,000 was the very highest season in recent memory. The average seems to be somewhere between 20,000 to 30,00 deaths. On the low end, 20,000 deaths results in a mortality of .04%. That’s 87.5 times (3.5/.04) more deadly. So to be precise you could say the coronavirus is 25 to 87.5 times more deadly than the flu given an occurrence.
Manny, the difference in the numbers that I am seeing is 1) the mortality rate of COVID is going to be roughly the same as the common flu once they figure out how many have had COVID-19 but were not diagnosed. They do the same thing with the common flu–when you see mortality rates for flu it is always “estimated.” Why? They add to the denominator (i.e. the number of people who have had it) when they report the numbers, however, when they are currently reporting COVID-19 mortality, they are NOT adding to the number of people that have had the COVID-19 that were not tested. But in both cases, they assume that the number of deaths were correctly identified.
Recent studies are finding that 30-80 times the number of people who are testing positive for COVID-19 have antibodies, meaning that they have had COVID-19. I have seen 3 studies so far all indicating this fact. That means the fatality rate is really much lower than what is being reported on the CDC (or Worldometer) sites.
Your point about the contagion rate was actually my point. I haven’t seen any evidence that it is double, but since it is “novel” that is going to imply that the contagion rate will be higher–double would make sense to me.
I corrected myself on the numbers Joel. See above in my reply to RRD. It’s still not the same as the mortality of the flu. 25 to 88 times more than the flu is a substantial number, and given the contagious rate of the corona is said to be twice that of the flu. I’m going by what’s been said. I don’t know how they figure out that number. Are you an expert on contagion rates that you would dispute the experts? From Business Insider: “The R0 of the coronavirus so far seems to hover around 2 to 2.5, according to the World Health Organization.” R0 is the R-naught, the transmission rate. You can Google that to find the link.
There are also plenty of people who have obtain the immunity of the flu but never had symptoms. That assumption you made also would apply to the flu.
Look, the obituaries in my local Staten Island NY newspaper are running about three to four times normal. I personally know of one who has died and a neighbor who has been on a ventilator now about for about two weeks. Read the experiences of the doctors and nurses who are fighting the front lines. This is not the typical flu. Even those that die from the flu don’t usually go on ventilators. I hear hourly ambulance sirens. I never used to hear that. Unless you live in a more rural area, you’re not experiencing the brunt and potential of this virus.
Sorry but you are still way off. Move the decimal point over 1 space and your estimates are still projecting 1.8 million to 11 million US deaths. Not sure what you are doing to come up with your estimate but I think you are off by 2 decimal points.
As Joel points out as well, the real problem here is the denominator. Case numbers at present only include confirmed (i.e. tested) cases and the tests are almost exclusively being given only to symptomatic people presenting to hospitals. Somewhere between 80 and 99 percent of those infected do not become sick enough to reach this state. (This is still subject to a lot more research but, for example, testing at a NYC hospital of women presenting to deliver indicated that 88% of those testing positive were asymptomatic and many other studies confirm that far more become only mildly sick than become ill enough to be tested)
In order to come up with a reasonably accurate mortality estimate, you have to estimate the TOTAL number infected. In this case, somewhere between 5 X to 99 X the reported cases. That makes the COVID mortality rate (worldwide) somewhere between 1/10 of 1% and 7/1000 of a percent.
More information will be coming but it would take huge changes in the patterns for COVID to be determined to be more deadly than seasonal flus.
That logic applies to the flu as well. If anything the flu has more undetected cases. I have never gone to the hospital for the flu and I don’t think I’ve even ever gone to a doctor for when I get the flu. Most flu cases are undocumented and I would surmise are also widely asymptomatic. I think the mortality rate of the corona if left to run its course is in the double digit factor over the flu. We’re doing all these heroic efforts (ventilators, widespread masks and social distancing, shut down of large groups and businesses that require interactions) and we’re still getting around the highest mortality of a flu season. It must be a rare case where people are put on ventilators for the flu. The mortality rate in Italy is near 7.5%. That 3.5% is a worldwide average. I think it’s the best number we have.
What’s you point? That we should have let this ride it’s course without the shut down?
From the article: “Who are we as a nation, and where did we come from? We are all descended from immigrants—our ancestors fled their terrible circumstances to find a better future in America’s promised land. …”
There are about 42 million Americans for whom this isn’t true. The writer even mentions one of them — George Washington Carver — later on in the article.
I noticed this elephant in the room too. Glad you commented W.
Almost nobody denies the existence of the virus or that it can be harmful to some people. However, people are not stupid and can see that the numbers of morbidity or fatality attributed to the virus in no way justify the draconian suspension of Constitutional rights. The so called expert models which justified turning people into “livestock” to be managed by our “rulers” have been incorrect by orders of magnitude at every turn. It is neither ignorant nor repugnant to oppose tyranny – even when it is promoted by doctors.
Wonderful comments ~ thank you … this article was a little hard to swallow ~
Thank you so much for this article. As a Canadian, like most of other Canadians, I cannot help but rise an eyebrow at the attitude of some Americans and the way they deal with information on an epidemic that is ravaging the country. We have our non believers too, but not one is taking to the street and cry over the menace of having their liberty, etc, hijacked. it is true that it is a very different system, from health to welfare programs. We hope the situation will not escalate to uncontrollable proportions in some states because of some in total denial.
Josee Sansoucy, Bradford, Ontario.
I find I agree with much of Fr. Longenecker’s comments, but take issue with his “uneducated” comment. I find it so condescending as to almost negate his other comments.
Why? Because the supposed educated experts got it so wrong. Dr. Fauci (the educated expert) downplayed the impact of the virus for months. Dr. David Heymann, who headed the WHO’s response to the SARS epidemic in 2002, told the Associated Press that “it looks like [COVID-19] doesn’t transmit through the air very easily and probably transmits through close contact.”
The health commissioner Barbot of NYC said the following: As we gear up to celebrate the #LunarNewYear in NYC, I want to assure New Yorkers that there is no reason for anyone to change their holiday plans, avoid the subway, or certain parts of the city because of #coronavirus.
Now he attributes the average conservative’s “distrust” to some character flaw including ignorance and lack of education?
“No one is denying the fact of the virus’ existence and the horrific global death toll, but that is where the agreement seems to end.” Actually there are doctors–I don’t think they are necessarily Conservatives, but they would not be allowed near CNN or BBC–other scientist, philosophers, as well as those lets say “uneducated” but with common sense that question if not the existence, but definitely how really dangerous the virus is. The main, and the very simple, argument posted by a German doctor is that if such tests that are used now were taken one year ago we would have the same results. But the problem is they weren’t. John Horvat in an essay written for this website stated: “Epidemiologists like Dr. John Ioannidis of Stanford University complains the coronavirus data thus far collected is “utterly unreliable.” Thus, important decisions are being made in the dark that could have devastating consequences for the nation.” We can look in the Wikipedia that in 2017–2018 United States flu season there were estimated 959,000 hospitalizations and 61,099 deaths, how many of them would have tested positive for coronavirus if the same tests as used today were performed?
Why did no one lose their First Amendment rights in 1968 when the Hong Kong flu was killing millions.?
Life went on as normal. People were not brainwashed then.
Dear Fr. Dwight,
I am a math professor, and I have looked carefully at the mathematics of this virus. It is just a mathematical fact that the probability of contracting the corona virus is significantly lower than dying in a car accident. It is lower than the probability of dying from HIV. I work with two PhDs in biology, as well as a PhD in chemistry; all 3 have questioned the extreme nature of this quarantine and restrictions. None of us doubt the existence of the virus. We doubt the extreme actions which do not match the science or math. Are we conspiracy theorists? Also, why should we trust a government that has promoted abortion and the breakdown of family and continues to trample on the dignity of the human person on a daily basis? Is it a conspiracy not to trust someone who has not earned your trust?
Let’s drop the labels. I certainly do not consider myself “conservative”. I do however, question the government (I’m allowed to as an American) and the mainstream media (their job is to question the government not to carry water for them). I am also a trained Hospice worker with an educated opinion. I have been working directly with compromised immune systems for years. Number one, the coronavirus is very common. There are hundreds of variations, COVID 19 being one of them. Many of us have been infected by coronavirus in the past probably without ever knowing it. Number two, there are many ways we can remain safe and control the spread while maintaining social engagement. I have been doing it for years while working with hospice patients who are always the most vulnerable. I also know that doctors continually disagree on methods and procedures. A 90% lockdown of the country is an extreme position and not necessary in my opinion. For every scientist that advocates for a shutdown until July I can name two who have a different opinion, which leads me to believe that much of the governmental action being taken lately has not to do too much with the virus but rather, a political agenda. Call me a conspiracy theorist if you wish but that’s the way I see it.
The reason so many are skeptical is that questions are being unanswered, and the narrative is constantly shifting.
Start with this. It is undeniable that the WHO, with concurrence of the World Economic Forum and the Gates Foundation, had ruled out, as a matter of policy any restraint on international passenger air travel from initial areas of outbreak, even knowing full well that such travel would be the primary means of spreading the virus worldwide. This was agreed upon policy BEFORE the first reported outbreak (See Event 201 #2 for details), and it was exactly how the WHO responded back in January when news of the outbreak first became known. That was of course AFTER the same WHO colluded with the Communist rulers of China to suppress information. In other words the leading health authority in the world was insistent on maintaining normal passenger air travel, knowing full well that such would lead to a spreading of the virus. Why? Answer that and maybe we can have a discussion on that and only afterwards decided who is being “paranoid” or “conspiratorial” and who is or isn’t “well informed”.
Beyond that, no one has bothered to explain the changing standards for reporting C-virus deaths. In the U.S. “suspected” C-virus contribution is all that’s required even without a confirming test! Again, by what rationale? It’s a fact that there is higher compensation rate to medical providers for treating C-virus patients. What impact does that have on reports of total cases and deaths? Further, all but emergency medical care has been suspended, presumably because of the expected demand for space for C-virus patients. Yet now, hospitals are actually closing and/or laying off staff, while there are numerous reports of ventilators going unused. Emergency hospitals have been built and are sitting empty. A U.S. Navy hospital ship was sent to New York Harbor and was sitting virtually empty, likewise another vessel in Los Angeles Harbor.
And further, in the name of “social distancing” there has been a widespread shutdown of businesses worldwide even though there is no clear supporting rationale based on proven science. There isn’t even a scientifically verifiable definition of what constitutes “social distancing”. Yet it’s being imposed as policy.
And, why the widespread closure of churches and banning of public mass, when a variety of “essential” businesses such as liquor stores, pot shops, and large retail stores remain open, many under conditions posing far greater potential harm than having a limited number of people attending mass, whether with or without public distribution of Holy Communion?
There is very good reason to hold our governments accountable and demand answers for this unprecedented intrusion on civil liberties. Further there is real concern that this shutdown will trigger a major recession if not a global depression. What will be the impact on public health when hundreds of millions are out of work, with no health insurance or health care? How many illnesses will be undiagnosed, unprevenbted, and untreated or under-treated? Is the C-virus the only conceivable health crisis we need worry about? When the unemployed and uninsured and their families develop major medical conditions, what will that do to our hospitalization and mortality rates?
Again, too many questions are going unasked and/or unanswered. Until there are clear answer, We the People will be rightfully skeptical about what we’re being told.
Thank you very much for this comment. Here in Poland “they” supposedly will allow people to go to the parks and forests for sometime, and the joke that circulates is that they did it so the small business owners can go and hang themselves after they got ruined because of this imposed craziness. Many people did not care for the mandated 5 person maximum at Mass, and many faithful priests did not ask anybody out of the churches.
I was going to reply, but Joel Harris beat me to it, and very eloquently.
One other aspect is more empirical in nature: 9 states as of this evening (April 20th) account for 78% of ALL attributed deaths (CA, LA, NJ, NY, MI, CT, IL, MA and PA.) And nationwide, 80% or more deaths are taking out folks 65 and older. For most Americans, their daily experience with CV19 is creating immense dissonance with the current political/medical narrative BECAUSE they just don’t see a spike in body bags in their local communities (66% of ALL US deaths this evening are confined to just 100 COUNTIES (out of 3141 in the US.) Absent DIRECT experience of something, it gets easier to distrust the folks telling you to close and lose the business you’ve been building for most of your life.
Father,
I am a 60 year old life long Catholic living in Connecticut.
My father’s Irish family came during the potato famine of the 1860s.
My mother’s Italian parents came in 1920 right before Mussolini took control.
Nearly every single male on both sides served in the military of our country throughout all the generations.
We have had infants and babies die from the Spanish flu. My father was paralyzed for 3 days and my older sister sick from the polio out break in the 1950s. I myself had the swine flu of 1968.
Never had the government forced businesses to shut down and people to stay locked down (unless it’s one they deem necessary).
Also the Church has never closed
to the faithful.
The way we are being convinced to live by the powers that be is UNNATURAL.
Don’t go near the elderly
Don’t go within 6 feet of each other
Don’t touch anyone
Don’t go to school
Don’t go to your job
Don’t open your business
Don’t go to restaurants
Don’t go vacation
Don’t go outside unless necessary
Don’t touch your face
Cover your face
Wear gloves
Do I need to go on?
I am highly suspicious and have been as soon as they started closing down business for “2”
Weeks and is now going on six weeks and into another month.
This is the purposeful destruction of the economy and the middle class
It is diabolical!
I am still waiting for 1 bishop in the north east to have the courage to open up Masses and say enough is enough !!
Souls are dying spiritually!!!
Only in communist/fascist countries have the people been denied the Masses by the Goverments and not their bishops
No government and no bishop can keep me safe from a virus!!!
Thank you, Mary, for your great testimony. One looking at what is going on spiritually (nothing happens without the permission of the Almighty) can see it as a test of faith, and looking around, as you point out, doesn’t look good. “But yet the Son of man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you, faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
The “uneducated” I would be interested in how you determine who is “uneducated”. I spent my whole career in a profession in which I had to go to the government for permission to do everything I did (to provide for my family) and if you don’t believe in conspiracy you are very naive.
I would recommend you start to become “educated” by reading the collective works of James M. Buchanan.
We should look to scripture for wisdom concerning plague.
Which did King David choose, that’s right, plague because war and famine (recession or depression) are man made . This man made depression will not be merciful especially to the poor.
The ever-changing goal posts are also cause for skepticism. We went from “nothing to see here,” to “we’re all going to die waiting for a hospital bed.” Even allowing for new/changing information to the ostensible experts, our liberties – which are tied to the economy – were shut down overnight with fear/panic inspired by false models.
Additionally (not trying to armchair quarterback), with all due respect, if Dr. Fauci predicted this crisis in 2017, why we are so ill-prepared? Was there not a team formed with a plan to gauge/order levels of beds, respirators, masks etc.? Were hospitals even given a heads up? What is their responsibility? What is our responsibility?
Lastly, what we should be asking is why the majority of Americans are so willing to cede freedoms to a government that was never created to keep us safe, rather to keep us free (#FineLineBigDifference). No one wants to get sick (of anything) and die, but the perfect love of Christ, and what He accomplished on our behalf, drives out a lot of that fear, which is true liberty, incomparable to any scraps from government’s table.
One of the biggest takeaways from this “crisis,” is that we need to reinsert the healthy component of responsibility back into the definition of liberty. Government will never do so consistently; we the people must, if we want to remain “free.”
Fr Longenecker,
I am coming to this a bit late and I have to credit Joel Harris will largely covering the very significant problems with your post, so, by now, I presume you can see how badly you stepped into it with your “uneducated” assessment and comments about why many Americans doubt the so-called experts.
I want to add a few key errors in your understanding of American conservatives. The uneducated meme largely stems from the fact that among those with graduate degrees there is a tendency to vote for leftwing candidates. However, that tends to relegate those with bachelor’s degrees, associates degrees, and “some” college to the “uneducated” – a seriously flawed definition regardless of how you want to parse it. The body of people with some college or more voted for More anecdotally, having earned my graduate degree late in life, I can tell you that a great many of the current generation of graduate students are not as well educated as those who earned BAs 30-40 years ago and arguably those who simply finished HS a generation of so earlier.
Conservatives tend to be more successful than leftists (Trump won all the income brackets of $50k and up despite losing in the highest cost of living areas) and their education is often very focused on achieving specific goals in their careers. If a graduate degree does not change your career path, then why get one – learn from experience or alternative sources. As a result, the case should be made that conservatives are truly more educated than their leftist counterparts – who are merely “credentialed”.
Therefore, when the more successful, older, wiser demographic groups express doubts about the experts, you should focus your gaze on the capacity of the experts. The rest of this page is full of examples of how badly the experts have fared on the specific issue of the outbreak and to open up the discussion to the host of other topics they have botched repeatedly and enormously would make the thread completely unmanageable, so instead, I will address what seems to be the underlying “why” of the ineptitude of ‘experts”.
Eisenhower, few remember, was as concerned about an academic/bureaucratic complex as he was the military-industrial complex. “The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”
He was right and we are paying a terrible price for it. Academia has become an insulated bubble where orthodoxy is required and dispute forbidden (at least until tenured), so those with opposing viewpoints move to the private sector. Government agencies are probably worse, recruiting those who can’t advance in higher education to be part of a nameless, faceless machinery of regulations and red tape with zero regard for actual achievement.
Common sense should have been enough, for example, to ignore the absurd projections of Neil Ferguson (an “unmitigated” outbreak in 21st century Us and UK – REALLY!) or to prevent acceptance of horrific “worst case scenarios” over most probable ones. In reality, it is those who are not skeptical of the experts who have an incomplete education and the COVID outbreak is emphatically reinforcing this notion.
I’m sorry, but this article is just an embarrassing collection of ad hominem remarks and stereotypical half-truths, and it is clear that the author has failed to educate himself on (a) the facts about the virus itself, (b) the hysteria about it generated by the media and servile politicians, an hysteria completely disproportionate to the actual medical facts, (c) the very agenda-revealing statements about this “crisis” from notorious leftists like George Soros and Bill Gates, not to mention (d) the lies generated by China and its mouthpiece the W.H.O.
Perhaps the author could take a breather from his fountain of pejoratives and explain the most recent “logic” of Dr. Anthony “All my computer models are wrong” Fauci – namely, that we must abolish handshakes but not sex hookups with strangers, if we are “willing to take the risk”!
There you have all we American rubes need to know about the wisdom of our “experts”: we can’t risk handshakes, church, sports, jobs, public gatherings…but casual hookups? Well, that’s up to us! Sounds like a direct promotion of immorality and an indirect promotion of pornography, along with an agenda that has a most unsavory dystopian character.
Open up!
I was reading some posts for and against reopening the. One was talking about being selfish and it got me to thinking.
There are those wanting to reopen yet they’re being classified as selfish. There are those that rely on all kinds of people to supply them while they cower in fear at home. Isn’t that being selfish too?
You expect your garbage to be picked up, you expect the grocery store to be open so you can get milk, you expect truck drivers to supply the stores, you expect farmers, meatpackers, fruit and vegetable pickers all to keep food in that grocery store.
You expect Amazon to still ship all the things you’re ordering while you sit at home shopping. You expect the delivery driver to leave it on your doorstep. You expect your phone to work, your power to stay on, and your mail to show up rain, sleet, or shine. And most important, you expect the doctors and nurses to be there if you need them although many of them across the country have been furloughed because their units and services have been shut down while the entire system focuses only on COVID19.
The whole premise of shelter in place is based on the arrogant idea that others must risk their health so you can protect yours. There is nothing virtuous about ignoring the largely invisible army required to allow people to shelter in place.
I know there are some of you that are screaming mad about what I just said but stop and really think about what is allowing you to stay safe in your home.
I truly believe that with some common sense on my part, I could easily go back to life as it was. I want to go to restaurants, I want to shop at the little store just up the road.
And yes, I could catch COVID-19. I could also catch the flu or a cold. I could get run over by a bus. I could get struck by lightning. We take risks everyday. If you choose to stay home, that is absolutely your choice. And please don’t start screaming at me about how I’ll just spread it. Why are you worried? You won’t get it because you’re staying in your home. Are you going to shelter in place every time a new strand of the flu happens?
Our economy can’t withstand much more of this. If our economy collapses, so will the rest of the world’s. If that happens, you will see the rise of tyrants.
I absolutely don’t want people to die…from COVID or anything else. I want people to live.
But sheltering in place is not living.
A thought provoking read.
This was a fascinating read. Not so much due to the observations made by the author, which were relatively commonplace, but rather because of what could be gleaned from reading the responses. Amusingly and most saliently is surely the reaction to Fr. Longenecker’s characterization of much of America being “poorly educated”. The level of vitriol almost makes me wonder if I’m not reading (on May 1st) an edited and toned-down version of the original article – there are at least a few responses that put the word ‘uneducated’ in quotations, when the author very clearly said “badly educated”, which I’m sure we can all agree are quite different. In any case, if this (i.e. this comments section) doesn’t serve to highlight the particular touchiness of Americans towards those they perceive to be haughty then nothing will. In fact, I would go so far as to claim that the answer to the author’s question is quite neatly provided by the colorful range of responses provided by this samples of American conservatives.
I’m sure Fr. Longenecker is as dismayed as I (and OldSouth) am to read these reactions, indicative as they are of the cultural reality that has rent such deep divisions in American society and portends such difficult times ahead.
For my own amusement (not, you understand, because I have any hope of convincing anyone of anything – such hope would be beyond forlorn under the circumstances) I will address some of the comments that Joel Harris has graced us with – for no other reason than that they appear to be reasonably representative and because his response has the most endorsements from others.
Editor’s note: Fr. Longenecker’s essay has not been edited since its original publication date.
(my reply to Mr. Harris.)
I agree with some of your analysis: the distrust of “official” or government sources; the distrust of “experts”; there is a degree of truth to the isolationist attitude. <<<< agreed, nothing controversial here.
But while there may be some of the other characteristics out in the American world, those do not make up the “main” of the rejection of the COVID-19 narrative. <<< again, OK.
The “education” narrative is just insulting, and to be honest a bit pejorative of the intelligence of the uneducated.
Some of the smartest and wisest people that I know are uneducated. <<< yes, here I certainly agree. Educational attainment should not be taken as a measure of intelligence. It is undeniably (highly) correlated with it, but that's about it. Many people with PhDs are quite average, and of course many "uneducated" or not conventionally educated people are highly intelligent.
In fact, I would argue that often the education that people receive make them less intelligent and certainly less wise. <<< Well, you certainly would not get very far with this argument.
But why do these uneducated (rural) rubes distrust the “experts”? These are the experts that started telling us that 2.4 million Americans would die due to Coronavirus. Then it was ultimately reduced to 200,000 and then 100,000 and then 60,000. <<< This is where things start to get highly questionable. There are two points here: a), it looks like you're quoting 'conditional' estimates, i.e. estimates of the form 'if we do X, then N people will die, but if we do Y, then M people will die'. b) an estimate by definition is made within a framework of uncertainty, and depending on how serious the nature of the uncertainty, one often comes up with estimates within a range that is quite large (and unsatisfactory). Obviously the whole point is that Covid-19 is a NEW disease, doctors don't understand very much about it, it bears some similarities to other coronaviruses but in some ways is quite different. Naturally I couldn't quite explain to you exactly how, rather I would defer you to EXPERTS. They obviously won't know anything, but the advantage with experts is that if there is something to be known, they know it, and best.
Then we hear that even to get there, places like New York counting things like deaths from hospice care as coronavirus deaths in addition to deaths where there was never a diagnosis. <<< I'm not 100% sure what you mean by this, but I think just about everybody agrees that deaths from Covid-19 are being underestimated, not overestimated (or if you prefer, undercounted rather than overcounted).
What about these “experts” deserves our trust? What about these “experts” that say that the “only” way for us to make things better are to give up every freedom that we have bought with so many lives deserves our trust? What about these “experts”… …had these draconian measures in place for about a month should we trust? <<< Several things need to be said about this point. Firstly, I don't think any of these 'experts' you quote have actually said that the "only way to make things better is to give up all our freedoms". Their point is better understood thus (and these are not real quotes) "this disease has the potential to be very deadly. How deadly? we aren't exactly sure, worst-case estimates are on the order of 2-3 million, and so, the best thing we can do to contain this is to implement serious lockdowns, which could potentially avert disaster in a short period of time, after which things may be able to return to normal". Your point about Indiana, of course, is valid – it is totally possible that the potential downside is miscalculated, and therefore that these lockdowns were a huge mistake. That is possible. But the experts think that isn't too likely, and they think that the risk is worth it. Who are we to know the truth? We are no one. But one thing is clear: the lockdowns won't work unless everyone complies, and theirin lies the answer to your question of "why should we trust the experts": because society works better if you do. Other countries that have high levels of trust in their 'experts' haven't needed lockdowns. No matter how the virus evolves, it is almost certain at this point that the US will fare much, much worse than other countries, and that can basically be boiled down to the fact that Americans don't 'trust the experts'.
In short, there is nothing that the experts are doing or saying that DESERVE trust. The fact that so many trust experts without validating what they say does not speak for their wisdom. <<< the whole point of expert opinion, and I cannot stress it enough, IS THAT YOU CANNOT VALIDATE IT OR INVALIDATE IT UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERT! (ok, I mean to a certain extent you can, and I'm not suggesting that if Dr. Fauci tells you to spit on your mother that you should do it, but really this point should be pretty self-evident). Most people simply accept this as a fact of life – which it is – and hence trust experts, because they believe it will lead to a better society.
And what if the experts greatly differ in their opinions, whom should I trust? Similarly to Del (who commented above) for each mainstream expert I could point to another one who doesn’t agree with the presented “facts.” Whom should I trust? And if the experts advocate something that goes against my moral code: should I listen and obey them?